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After getting told off by Jose Mourinho for the lacklustre atmosphere at Stamford Bridge during the QPR win, the Chelsea home support is understandably a little annoyed at the manager. For some time now the club seems to have been focused on doing open battle with the standing, singing elements of support, and to have the manager then blame it on the fans who pay money to see the club each week obviously hurts.
But the solution isn't to get angry -- it's to talk to the people who matter at Chelsea. And one enterprising supporter has done just that, reaching out to John Terry in hopes that he'd be interested in the debate. The best part? The captain responded:
Wow what a man pic.twitter.com/BAMp6agPsV
— Kurly Kane (@carefreedavies) November 2, 2014
In case you're having trouble reading all of that, here's the transcript.
joecfcdavies
Hi JT, I thought I would write to you because I feel you're someone in the club who would understand, because you're a fan like us and many of us believe something needs to be done. As much as we all love Jose, his comments yesterday was not called for and was completely bang out of order for people who pay ridiculous prices each week to watch Chelsea. Here lies the first issue, pricing. It has become so expensive following football now that many proper fans are being priced out of going to Stamford bridge and being replaced by tourists who of course won't be singing or making noise. Another one problem is the stewarding, the problem is as soon as people try to stand up and make an atmosphere (you're obviously not gonna have atmosphere sitting down) we get threatened with ejection if we don't sit down so no one wants to make an atmosphere now in fear of getting chucked out. Another problem is the away fans in the famous shed end. If the away fans were in the west upper or East upper then they wouldn't be heard as much as we have a bigger platform to make noise. There are many solutions to the atmosphere problem like singing sections, safe standing, cheaper tickets but the club has done nothing. As you know John our away support is brilliant, because we are standing all game, not being threatened to be kicked out and tickets are generally cheaper. The whole point i am trying to get across is ths all well and good Jose slagging off our support but will he actually do anything about it? Coz down thing needs to be done rather than just slagging off people who pay loads of money to be told to sit down or face ejection from the stadium. Sorry to bother you JT but as our greatest ever player and a fan yourself, I feel you have influence and understand what we are feeling.
Regards, Joe.johnterry.26
Joe
I'm just about to go and train but will contact you after training today.
Please send your number. JT.
Mr. Davies' points are well made. Chelsea's home support is widely considered poor, but the away fans are magnificent, and the problem, therefore, cannot be solely, or even mostly, down to the fans themselves. Blues fans have long complained about the stewarding at home, and as Mr. Davies says, being threatened with ejection for standing up and making noise is a good way to ensure that there is no noise.
The real story here, of course, is that the captain is willing to get involved. John Terry has won three Premier Leagues and the European Cup, but is still responsive enough to fans to get involved in this sort of issue. It's fantastic that Terry's still close enough to the community to recognise that this is an issue to be taken seriously and talked about. I'm sure Mr. Davies isn't the only fan who's reached out to Chelsea, but good work in talking to the captain. He's just the kind of ally supporters need here.
I have no idea what happens next, but I imagine that both captain and manager will be all aboard the 'increased support' train, and I hope that some of Chelsea's policies are re-evaluated. If Jose's words spark real change, then I think we can all agree that they're for the best, regardless of the slightly tone-deaf way in which they were delivered.