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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A very, very good book, 15 Jan 2001
By A Customer
A lot of crap has been written on Chelsea. None more so than by people who claim to be connected to the club, no matter how tenuously. The last few years in particular have seen any Tom, Dick or Ken hop on the Chelsea bandwagon hoping to make a few quid out of a turgid book. Who can forget the leather bound complete Chelsea History that was published and hawked by the club as a limited edition for £125. You can now see one of these propping up the wonky leg of the table football machine in the Megastore.It's a blessed relief therefore to read a book from someone who actually supports the club. Someone who has followed the Blues for decades and until the recent birth of his two children travelled to both home and away games. In short this is a cracking book. In fact I'd rate it as probably the most enjoyable book on Chelsea I have ever read. Meehan covers the whole history of Chelsea Club from its inception in 1905 to the present day. The first few chapters cover the Club's early history but rather than being a boring slog down memory lane and being plastered with irrelevant information (like who scored the own goal against Ipswich on December 26th, 1928) Meehan keeps the book tight and informative. The 1930's, for example, are covered in a single page of text. But the brevity of the book is not to its detriment and unlike most tomes on Chelsea there are few moments when the reader is bored stupid. The book, however, only really comes alive during the years that Meehan actually started going to watch the Blues. Factual history is interwoven with witty anecdotes from someone who actually attended the games. It's all there - the creation of the anthem 'One Man Went To Mow' on the 1981 Swedish pre-season tour to the Norwegian Police handing out chocolate bars to Chelsea fans in Tromso in 1997. The European adventures in particular make highly amusing reading - like the blind Chelsea fan who lost his mates in a Sofia disco and still managed to walk the three miles back to his hotel whilst pissed as a newt. Perhaps of most interest to Blues' fans is Meehan's analysis of the state of Chelsea Village plc. All the accounts are listed in full and are presented alongside a very thorough analysis of Ken's empire. It makes scary reading - from the over-priced hotel rooms to the £400 Valentine Weekend special that featured a free ticket to see Wimbledon at home. Happy Valentine's love! He also recounts the attraction of the Village to a punter who regularly attends training courses at the Bridge who says, quote: "after we have finished our seminar we want to hit the town, have a skinful and then pull a bird - what chance have you got of getting a shag in Chelsea Village?" However, interspersed with the humour is a serious message - for Chelsea Football Club to survive intact and pay off the £75 million Euro-Bond as well as other debts the future depends on the sale of the Millennium suites in the West Stand. Ken aims to raise £170 million. Don't hold your breath. Like all books there are some niggling annoyances. The biggest gripe is that Meehan veers on the safe side on some issues where he clearly knows more than he's letting on. Perhaps this is for legal reasons because there is no doubt that lawyers will be trawling through this book with a fine tooth comb. Still, when Meehan tells of a fan who bumps into a senior Chelsea FC figure in a Vienna sex shop and fails to give the official's identity one feels slightly let down - indeed there is very little in the book that isn't already in the public domain. The book could have also done with some more pictures and I'd have to disagree with the inclusion of a photo of Pat Nevin alongside the caption of 'the most talented player to ever pull on the famous blue'. The words 'rose tinted' and 'spectacles' spring to mind along with the names of Gullit and Zola. Still, minor gripes aside, this is probably the most complete book on Chelsea available today. It is well written, thoughtfully researched and in parts very, very funny. More than that, it is written by one of us - a true fan. Jez Walters
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(5 customer reviews)
