Hello there. Thanks for calling by.
I am a Chelsea Football Club home and away season-ticket holder and this site details my travels around the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond in support of my club. From Moscow in 2008 to New York in 2013 – and all games and places in between – I have shared my experiences on the Chelsea In America website. All of those various match reports are archived here.
From season 2013-2014, I intend to continue my detailed illustration of life “On The Road” with Chelsea; a personal journey which will describe my infatuation with the club, my appreciation of travel and my love of football photography, Lacoste polo shirts, Archibald Leitch stands, McDonalds breakfasts, season 1983-1984, pin badges, motorway service stations in the dead of night, Nike Cortez trainers and Pat Nevin. It will also, no doubt, result in many pathetic attempts to shoe-horn Morrissey lyrics into as many CHELSEA/esque tales as possible.
I have added a gallery containing a small percentage of the numerous photographs that I have taken at Chelsea games over the years; often abstract images, here the focus is never on the game itself, but rather the surroundings, the stadia, the colours, the social context and the landscape of the sport.
There is a rogues’ gallery featuring some good friends in a variety of widespread locations and also a small gallery of those lovely occasions when I have met some former Chelsea players and managers.
Additionally, there is a photographic section devoted to Stamford Bridge itself, where I detailed the various changes that I have witnessed over the past few decades, and an additional gallery containing some of my favourite match photos over the years.
I sincerely hope that you enjoy the contents of CHELSEA/esque.
Chris, July 2013.
CHELSEA/esque 
Chris. Lovely site. Yup, the season has officially started. You are writing!
Chris my good man, I have yet to read a word on this your new site, but I am confident that it will soon become my favorite Chelsea fan blog as you are more than a supporter, you are indeed a Chelsea treasure and fan legend if ever there was one. Please keep painting colorful tales and spinning yarns about your experiences and our beloved club, from your shores and shores abroad, for those of us separated by seas and still further distanced from matches by simple means and geography. I look forward to each and every account. Carefree!
Hi Chris. We haven’t met, but I came across your blog in the New York Blues group. I’ve loved reading your accounts of matches home and away, especially the insights on other clubs, their grounds, the local traditions and history. It’s sort of an inside look on English football, one that most American fans cannot get just by watching matches on tv. I’ve only followed the Blues since Ancelotti, so I might be a little typical as far as American Chelsea fans go. So I wonder if you can recommend any good books or film on Chelsea history. Though most of us Ameri an fans cannot claim to have a long standing relationship with the club, the least we can do is understand its derivations, and know where they came from.
Thanks for any insight you can provide!
Thanks for the comments. Rick Glanvill’s excellent history of the club, marking our centenary, is as good a place as any to start. For a little more colour from a fan’s perspective, any of Mark Worrall’s books – “Over Land And Sea” and “One Man Went To Mow” for example – are recommended. Martin King’s “Hoolifan” exposes the darker side of the club’s social – or should that be anti-social? – history, but is a great book with many rich passages depicting what it was like to follow the team in the not-so-recent past.
Great blog, Chris! Mind revealing what camera you use?
It’s a Canon 600D. I also have a smaller Nikon, which I call my “pub camera.”
Hi Chris, hope all is well. Will the Tales continue this season?
Oh yes. A new improved, low cholesterol, version.
🙂
I really like your blog. :). Keep up the good work.
Many thanks.
Really look forward to every edition, thank you
Many thanks.
Hi Chris we have never met although I was going up the bridge and away from 71 to 2005 so our paths must have crossed in some far flung outpost of this great country . Don’t go now for various reasons but admit I nip onto the vintage thread on the shed end web site and also this blog as both give me an old and current fix .Keep going and win or loose up the blues ,cheers Rich also known as F1905
Thanks for the feedback Rich. I appreciate the support.
Hi Chris
Just thought that you might like to know that I’m using this site to help with one of my pupils. As you know, I’m working with excluded primary-age boys who are reluctant to engage with any form of writing etc. Turns out one of mine is a Chelsea fan… this site is helping him to see why he might want to write.
Cheers
Chris
This really is lovely, Chris. Thanks. It has made my day.
hi Chris
i am also a Chelsea fan. my favourite player is Hazard.i hope to go to a match soon.
NG
Hiya NG…thanks for dropping by to read a little of this. Really hope that you get to see Chelsea soon. Take care and Keep The Blue Flag Flying High!
Hi Chris
Really enjoy your blog.
I think you capture the feel of games and what it all means to us as fans who have been through winning at Bolton (to stay in 2nd div) as well as 2012 glory and everything in-between.
I’m a member (can’t get season ticket) so sit wherever I can. I must’ve been close to your seat on Tuesday but didn’t spot you. Will be good to say hello sometime. Keep up the blog, even when we’ve lost, reading your match review is part of the recovery process. Cheers!
Well, that is very kind indeed Alan. Thank you very much. Appreciated.
Hi Chris, I’m not a Chelsea fan but, as you know, I’m a friend of yours and I love to read your tales of following the Blues both now and in seasons gone by. Keep up the good work mate.
Fran
Sorry. In that case I will have to charge you Chelsea Tax…