As I sit down to write this, it is the lastday of August. The ﬁrst month of theleague has ended, and we are top of theleague! One of three undefeated teamsin the EPL, but our goal di

erential iskeeping us in front. What a crazy ﬁrstfew weeks. Though we do always like tosee the teams in red falter, but what hashappened is really amazing. I knockedon wood before I typed this, but we lookby far the best in the league. Andhonestly I don’t know when I have seenthe team play better and with so muchspirit. We have had outstandingperformances by so many players, I havea feeling it is going to be a di

cult jobat the end of the season to pick a POTY- oh, what a nice kind of problem. Itseems that Carlo is working out. Thoughthe ﬁrst game might not have been a4-0 thrashing like last season, I wasreminded by a comment by Spy thatwhen we have had a big victory for theﬁrst match it never ended well, and inthe two years we won the league we didso starting the season with a smallvictory. So could this be a harbinger of agreat year. I sure hope so.

We got a decent draw in the ChampionsLeague. My only regret is that the awaygame in Cyprus is first and not last, butthat is only a selfish regret. But Porto,Athletico Madrid and Apoel look likeinteresting teams, and hopefully it willbe a good group seeing us top at theend of the group phase. It could havebeen a lot worse, and I hope our friendsat the Bridge enjoy the southern flavor of our away games - much better than tothe furthest north and east like someother groups.

And we have a London derby for the ﬁrstround of the League Cup. Not bad,though honestly I don’t have the fondestmemories of a long ago trip to QPR, buthere’s to hoping the boys take it to themand we get that out of the way and on tothe next round.

The transfer window is just about toshut until January, and though theremight be a few that rue that we didn’tbring a “big” name to the club, I for oneam happy we got the coverage at theback and some “young guns” in attack. Iam anxious to see young Daniel showhis courage and be the player we needfor club and country. Yuri is just aboutready to come back, and I know we allwould love to see him play again like wedid in Baltimore.Then there is this “new” guy, one JoeCole, I hear he is fantastic and I am mostanxious for him to get fit. All kiddingaside, I have missed Joey more thananything and will be so thrilled to seehim tearing up and down the sidelinesbringing his flair and skills to our team.We have missed him, and I have a feelinghe will be arriving like the gunslinger of old, both guns at the ready and firing infor the shot on target. HE’S HERE, HE’STHERE, I really shouldn’t swear, JOEYCOLE! And today at the close of thetransfer season I wake to news that JThas penned a 5-year contract to confirmthat he is not going anywhere... DID YOUHEAR THAT SPARKY?

What will the season bring? Well, I wish Ihad a crystal ball to find out how it allends, and I know my hopes are high andmy confidence is in place. We have achance - a great chance - and I guessnot knowing makes it that much moreexciting, frustrating and nail-biting, butthat is one of the many things I loveabout following Chelsea. What I do knowis it will have twists and turns,celebrations and heartbreaks (though Ihope only minor ones), but through it allwe will keep that Blue Flag flying high.

So now that the season is well stuck in,are you? Are you taking full advantage of what CIA brings to you? Have you been

•Deep From theHeart•Tel's Season inQuestion•5 Questions For...•Stamford theLion in MunnyForm!•September Dates to Remember•1984 Revisited•Podcast Q&A

DEEP FROM THE HEART

Notes from the Chairwoman

Beth keeps the blue CIA flagflying high in Texas!

The Bluesletter isn't possiblewithout your help! If you have anopinion, idea or somethinginteresting regarding Chelsea orfootball to share, we'd love toinclude it! Just send an email tonewsletter@chelseainamerica.com!

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 5SEPT 2009Continued on Page 2

CONTRIBUTORS:

A big thanks to everyone whohelps make the CIA Bluesletterpossible!Editor: Jamie EdwardsChairwoman: Beth WildLogo and Graphics: Raciel DiazDates to Remember: Tel StevensCIA Crest done in collaborationwith Who Are Ya Designs -www.whoareyadesigns.comWant to contribute or make asuggestion? Send Jamie anemail at newsletter@chelseainamerica.com!

on the board,www.chelseainamerica.com/bb? Haveyou signed on for Twitter,CFCinAmerica? I know there are twittersfor local and regional clubs as well.Have you been listening to the podcasts?You can download them from ourwebsite, but have you called in? Haveyou been reading the newsletters? Well Iguess if you answer that question, Iknow the answer! Are you thinkingabout attending one of the regionalmeet ups? A big one is planned for theMidwest soon. Have you been able to getdown to the pub and stand and sing withyour club members and enjoy thematches with friends?Have you gotten your CIA membership? Just go to www.chelseainamerica.comand click on the banner at the top of thehome page. We are working hard tobring more and more beneﬁts tomembership, and there are a number of things in the works, so be sure to do so,or you could miss out.And have you decided to become a TrueBlue? If you have, have you let us know? Iwant to clarify Chelsea does not attachTrue Blue members to supporters clubs;it is up to the member to make theirclub aware of their True Blue status. If you sign up for True Blue membershipand are a member of CIA, then you getaccess to tickets BEFORE they go on saleto members. It assures you a ticket intime to book ﬂights and all of that. It isso much easier with none of the hassleof trying to get in on the membershipwindow before all the tickets are soldout. So if you have signed up for TrueBlue membership and did not inform usof the number, please let us know. If youcome to us looking for tickets and yourmembership is not attached to our club,we are not allowed to help you gettingtickets.

OK, that is it! There are still so manythings going on - for instance, do youhave photos from the summer tour,speciﬁcally those of our Legends andSpy? We are working on a “thank you"gift for them, and we need your photos.So if you have photos that you wouldlike to have included in the gift, justsend them tophotos@chelseainamerica.com. You caninclude a short note or message withyour photos if you like, and we will getthat in there as well. Remember we needhigh-res jpeg ﬁles, which is why wecan’t download them from Facebook,Flickr, Photobucket, etc. They might lookgreat on your screen but when you go toprint them out, they print horriblypixilated and not very nice. So pleasedon’t be shy, we do want your smilingface with a Legend!

So that’s it for now. CAREFREE!

BethOur Kent Blues, Gill and Graeme, have been representing the CIA at each match thisseason, including at Wembley and the Community Shield! They have some greatphotos up on flickr and regularly update us on each match through the CIA messageboard. They tagged along on the Summer Tour and enjoyed a great time with ourgroup, and we appreciate them flying the CIA flag on our behalf!

Deep from the Heart,continued from Page 1PAGE 2

This month I have decided to go with theseason in which I think Chelsea's futurehad started to change (for the better).The season is 1996-97.With a Dutch master in charge (RuudGullit), things were looking kinda rosyaround the Bridge. Nobody thought wewould win the League, but with some of the players we brought in surely wecould do well in the

Cup games. Westarted the season away, on the Southcoast at Southampton. It didn't go quiteto plan as we sneaked away with a 0-0draw. Our next game was

a nightmatch

at home to Middlesbrough. Thisgame will always be remembered for thegoal celebration of Di Matteo in front of the old West Stand. Our last game inAugust was against a team we alwayshad problems with - Coventry.Thankfully, with goals from Leboeuf andVialli we got a 2-0 win.Our ﬁrst game in September was away atthe Library and after completelyoutplaying L'Arse and a very late DennisWise goal, we got away with a point in a6 goal thriller. Our next game was againaway, this time at table topping She

eldWednesday (how times have changed!)with a very full Leppings Lane. Chelseatook all three points with goals fromBurley and a rampaging Andy Myers,who by the way didn't know how tocelebrate scoring. The game wasn'twithout its low points though, as we lostKharine with a knee injury which kepthim out for the rest of the season.Hitchy replaced him and got a standingovation as he ran towards us in theLeppings Lane Stand. Our next gamewas at home against Aston Villa and,after going 1 down to a Savo Milosevicgoal (yes, he did score in the premguys), we dominated the game withLeboeuf getting a deserved equalizer.Next up was a di

cult away game atBlackpool in the League Cup. In thosedays the first and second rounds wereplayed over two legs. After going 1-0down at a very windy Bloomfield Road,we ran riot and scored 4. Next leg at theBridge should be a breeze right?Wrong... Chelsea, being Chelsea, didwhat in them days you would expect usto do; we tried to let Blackpool win thegame. Blackpool played really well,scoring 3 to our 1. Thankfully we wentthrough 5-4 on aggregate. Only 11,732turned up at the Bridge that night. Inbetween those two games we went up toMerseyside and lost 1-5 ......Enough saidon that one. Our last league game inSeptember was against NottinghamForest. This was an infuriating game aswe played them completely of the pitchonly for Forest to score with probablythe last kick of the game, so we droppedtwo points at home to lowly opposition...sound familiar?Our first two games in October wereagain versus lower opposition. Wegrabbed a 3-1 win away at Leicester,again after going 1 down. We then lostat home to a very "physical" (Leboeuf'swords, not mine) Wimbledon, 2-4. Thefollowing game was again in the Leaguecup, away at Bolton. We lost 2-1 but it iswhat happened after the game that willalways be remembered. This was thenight that Matthew Harding was killed ina helicopter crash coming back from thegame. I'm sure anyone who is readingthis can remember the memorial set upoutside the Bridge. As you can imagine,the next game would be a veryemotional a

air; it just happened to beagainst Spurs. There was a weirdatmosphere around the Bridge thatSaturday. I think everyone went to lookat the memorial and that every team inthe League had a ﬂag or scarf there. Onething I will always remember is the guywalking from the West Stand with a pintof Guinness and putting it on the CenterCircle - that was Matthew Harding'sfavorite tipple. Before the game, therewas a minute's silence which wasobserved by both sets of fans. The onlything I heard was a helicopter in thedistance... ironic!Once the game got underway, again welet the ﬁrst goal in from ChrisArmstrong, but then we decided to turnup, and things started with a penalty infront of the newly named MatthewHarding Stand. Up stepped David Leewho brutally smashed the ball in. Furthergoals from Ruud & Robbie saw Chelseaget the result they so dearly wantedafter a wretched week.The following week we were intoNovember and it started o

with a 2-1win at the House of Horrors... sorry,Theater of Dreams, with goals fromDoobs & Vialli. Our other two gameswere both at home and we drew themboth, but the last one against Newcastlehad some guy from Italy make his debut.He put in the cross which went straightin and didn't touch Vialli's head - I'mtalking, of course, about GianfrancoZola.December started badly. We didn't winany of our ﬁrst three games, butthankfully as Christmas came and wentwe did beat the pikeys 3-1 at home andthrashed Villa 2-0 at their place, bothgoals coming from the Little Italian. January 1st, I always want a win as itstarts the New Year on a good notemplus it's my birthday so it's always a nicepresent to get. Chelsea didn't disappointas we got a 1-0 home win againstLiverpool. If anyone else remembers thisgame, it was freezing cold and there waspeople selling bits of carpet to sit on

inthe West Stand benches.Three days lated started an FA Cup runof epic proportions. First we had arelatively easy game against WBA. Wegot this one out the way with goals fromWisey, Zola and Burley. Our next twoLeague games were in the East Midlands;one at Forest one at Derby. We lost atForest and won at Derby's baseball mudpit 3-1.Our next game was a 4th round FA Cupgame at home to Liverpool. I'm notgoing to say anything about this game,as everything as probably already beensaid. No, I will say something - bloodyamazing! There were moments only27,950 can say they were there for. If you haven't seen the whole match,please watch it. The best bit was whenCollymore fouled Super Dan down by theWest Stand benches. Dan got up andcounted 4 on one hand and two on theother and stuck them in Collymore'sface.. classic moment.February started with

a win at 3 PointLane... well, did you expect anythingdi

erent? Then we played out a 1-1 withManure Nited. In between those twogames we played Leicester in the Cup attheir place, and thanks to an EddieNewton own goal we had a replay at the

TEL'S SEASON IN QUESTION: 1996-97

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