Chelsea
Chelsea Supporters
By Gary Watton
November 10 2015
There is a growing trend in recent weeks of Mourinho apologists denouncing Mourinho critics as 'plastic'. This would be laughable if it wasn't so insulting. Well, speaking as a so-called 'plastic Dick' as I have been described the other day, I first wore a Chelsea top in 1975 or 1976 when Chelsea were a Second Division team struggling to get out of that league and a shadow of the glory team from the start of that decade. The first match that I ever recall was us losing 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace, a Third Division club at the time, in an epic fifth round FA Cup clash on Valentine's Day 1976. I have been following Chelsea's fortunes and lack of them for much of the time since, long before anyone had ever heard of Abramovich or Mourinho - so clearly I must be 'plastic'!
Furthermore, my Chelsea video collection until very recently included the unforgettable triumph in the 1990 Zenith Data Systems Cup, a ninety minute epic production that includes our conquests of Bournemouth, Ipswich Town, West Ham United, and Crystal Palace. Gee, you can't get much more plastic than that! Then of course I underlined my plastic credentials even further by first watching us at home in March 1994 when the Blues were a bottom half of the Premiership team. Oh this guy is soooo plastic.
Well, if criticising a failing coaching staff means that one is 'plastic', then I must be very plastic indeed. I would suggest that any sheep who dare not criticise the sheepdog, Mourinho, are just plain fools. They have become Scousers in disguise. It was not so long ago that condescending Scousers, and others besides, denounced Chelsea fans as plastic presumably because our club was constantly ditching managers, some of whom had been quite successful. Now our own lot are turning on one another and using the same mocking vocabulary.
I have mixed emotions about Chelsea followers. When I grew up in Northern Ireland, I was honestly the only fella in my classes who followed the west Londoners. The number of Chelsea supporters that I encountered in my childhood could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Now I cannot walk five minutes in a town centre without viewing someone with Chelsea clothing of some sort. This is good. Of course, the question could be put: where were you when we were shit? Now I welcome new supporters, and the more the merrier, but I don't think that I need anyone to lecture me about loyalty to a football club. This blind devotion to the special one is nothing short of disturbing. It reminds me of a Housemartins song 'The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death'. The lyrics include the following:
The people who grinned themselves to death
Smiled so much they failed to take a breath
And even when their kids were starving
They all thought the queen was charming
I would translate that as the people who grinned themselves to death, smiled so much they failed to take a breath, and even when their team was struggling, they all thought that Mourinho was charming.
Now nobody can deny that Jose Mourinho is charismatic, but hey so was Adolf Hitler. Does anyone really need reminding at how such a flawed individual succeeded in bewitching virtually an entire nation. They disregarded any human rights abuses and anti-semitism, because as long as there were peaceful conquests of foreign land and full employment at home, then these 'controversies' could be waved away. Similarly, the defeats are heaping up for the current Chelsea team, but Mourinho has Blues followers so far under his spell that his recent catalogue of failings are excused because of former triumphs that he presided over. Of course, the double standards is in full swing when the Mourinho disciples all state that Chelsea reached a Europa League final in 2013 despite Benitez, not because of him, while Grant merely steered Mourinho's team to a Champions League final in 2008. Every success has to be attributed to Jose, while any failure or setback has little to do with him. A whole mass of Chelsea supporters have been hypnotised by the special one. He is proving to be special after all. He's certainly not so cosmic about transforming the fortunes of a struggling team, but then this is uncharted territory for him. It seems that this exceptional manager can only cope when circumstances are favourable. Perhaps this show pony is in fact a one-trick pony. Whatever becomes of Chelsea and Mourinho in future weeks and months, I am certain that he will never lead Chelsea to a Champions League final.
Of course I will be condemned as plastic by the hordes who shuffle in behind the main man in their circle who exhorts his assembled cronies in the pub to keep the faith. Then after downing several pre-match concoctions, the supporters troop off to the match itself where some of them will engage in singing abusive items at opposing players, which they consider to be 'banter'. I recently heard supporters at a footie match (not an EPL fixture) yell 'paedo' at an opposing team's player. If this is what constitutes 'support' for your team nowadays, then Heaven help us. Again, I don't need any supporters trying to claim moral high ground when in reality they couldn't be further from such a position. I think that people who actually watch a match on television are more able to study the proceedings and feed off the match commentary, replays and analysis considerably better than those who are so half inebriated that they sing and jeer without really paying the same close scrutiny to the unfolding events.
I guess that football supporters at any given club will contain an assortment of the good, the bad, and the ugly - and my club Chelsea is no different. Just don't go confusing your pretty little heads that criticism of Mourinho equates to being plastic, while having the good fortune to be able to attend most matches and sing your questionable terrace songs renders you a superior supporter, because it simply doesn't.
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
Stumbleupon
10/11/2015 15:12
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
