PAT NEVIN: OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE
In last week's column, Pat Nevin wrote about his and others' experiences on the recent Champions League away trip. This week the discussion continues.
One thing you can say for sure is that Chelsea supporters are an honest bunch. Last week I mused about how travelling fans of the Blues, as well as other British clubs aren't always treated as well as we would hope.
I did also underline that all travelling fans aren't exactly blameless, the precise phrase being 'Okay yes, I know they do not always behave impeccably and when they do not I have precious little sympathy', but I received a huge number of stories both good and bad about following the team on foreign soil.
It is strange to say that outside of blogs, there are precious few chances to get these stories across to the wider public, who I maintain are fed a fairly one dimensional and unfair view of the devoted fan flying all over the continent following his or her beloved club.
To give a balanced view many wrote in to say the people of Madrid treated them very well, though I also was by impressed by the locals in general unless they happened to be wearing any sort of uniform - from security, to police, to airline staff at the airport.
Others also contacted me to say there were more than a few undesirables floating about sporting Chelsea colours and that some who claimed they were badly treated were in fact far from angels themselves in the first place. I am not so naïve as to fail to understand this, but it remains that some law-abiding, well-behaved fans did get a far rougher time than they deserved. Maybe Michel Platini, our man of the people representative in the higher echelons of Uefa, could have a look undercover at what is happening.
He was a wonderful player who I was disposed to like and support the moment he rose to such high office. Maybe he went down slightly in my estimations when talking about his view of the organisation after the Champions League final between us and Manchester United in Moscow. He claimed vociferously that everything went smoothly at the event and that there were no delays in getting everyone back home once the final had been decided.
He said that he himself got to the airport and boarded his plane with no delay at all, after he had schmoozed with the other officials for an hour or three.
Maybe he didn't notice the dozens of buses of fans that were made to wait hour after hour into the wee small hours at the airport periphery, until dignitaries such as himself were ushered through without having to mix with the great unwashed…such as me and those thousands of other Chelsea fans.

I understand that it is hard to stay grounded (as we were in Moscow), if you are ferried about in limos and wafted on to private jets, but I just thought Michel would have been a little bit more understanding of reality. If I ever bump into him I promise to try to give him a flavour of what can happen outside the prawn sandwich bubble.
Anyway I digress, as usual, the point is that loads of you got in touch with me not just to answer the quiz question but to get serious points across and my apologies if I didn't get round to personally answering every one of them, even though I do read every single last one. I wonder if I am turning into a distant figure lurching towards the prawn sandwiches instead of spending the necessary hours hammering away at the keyboard answering every question with a considered essay?
Anyway there were many good answers to the question, why were Chelsea fans so poorly treated in Madrid, some of which were actually even printable without fear of legal action on either the club or me. A selection are below and can I underline they are meant to be in jest, so my apologies in advance to any offended Spaniards and a certain lack of political correctness…please feel free to have a go back at Glasgow and Scotland if it makes you feel better.
So the winner chosen was Ashley Ellen and the prize will be on its way within days. This week to stand a chance of winning a DVD of the 2009 FA Cup Final win, could you tell me how many times the club's official badge has changed in the over 100 year history of the club? Answers as ever to pat.nevin@chelseafc.com the winner to be picked at random by my glamorous assistant who has this week been indoctrinated in the live joys of the The Flaming Lips, a bit of a quantum leap from her previous Girls Aloud gig I am sure you will agree…Oh dear now I have probably offended Ashley Cole as well.
Here are some of your answers sent in to the question - Why were the Chelsea fans treated so badly in Madrid?
Is the answer that on parts of the continent there seem to be only two levels of policing: non-existent and riot?
Wouldn't you be upset if Ronaldo had moved in near you?
The police were MAD and wanted RID of us!
Chelsea fans were treated so badly in Madrid, because Anelka played for Real Madrid before.
Some fans were talking about Zola and one idiot said Franco was useless; after that it all went off!
Because they still haven't forgiven us for 'El Dorado'.
Because some of the middle class Johnny Come Lately CFC fans dared to criticize the local paella for not having the right chorizo sausage in it and then went on to complain about the Rioja being 'slightly above room temperature'. Local restaurant owners were offended and this gave the outraged Spanish Plod carte blanche to crack a few Chelsea skulls.
The whole of Spain blame English people for the arrival of Ronaldo in their land. The country has since lost its entire supply of high-end sports cars, most of the girls ages 17-24 have a new job/ambition (being/to be Ronaldo's girlfriend), and the country has also run out of hair gel/cream, moisturiser, and hair removal wax/cream. England's (thus Chelsea's) fault.
To be sung to Carefree (roughly): By The Madrid Police.
Penned in, we never see the sea,
So we take it out on the CFC,
Or any British fans, whoever they may be
Cause we're "Franco"philes, and we never see the sea.
Nasty, that's how we can be,
And we'll keep you here, until you miss your tea,
And pen you in Jus' so you all can see,
What it's like for us, as we've never seen the sea.






















