Do you know that BlueChampions Blog turned 5 this September? Yup, on Sep 1, 2011, this blog completed five years of service to Chelsea FC and its fans. In internet terms, 5-year completion calls for some golden jubilee celebrations. I’ve been so busy that I didn’t even do a blog to celebrate this proud moment for us. Last few months have been quite difficult – family, work, fatigue and travel. I’ve been too tired to even tweet regularly.

Do you know that 80% of the blogs are abandoned within the first month? And that the average lifespan of a blog is only 4 months? So if this blog has turned 5 years, it’s quite special and we should be extremely proud for nurturing and growing it. In the last 5 years, there have been numerous challenges that have threatened the existence of the blog. It has survived all these tests because you have continued to come back and support through its good and bad times.

Maintaining BlueChampions Blog has always been a pleasure for me but then it does get challenging by the day with progression in my career and family. No matter how casual it is, writing a few paragraphs does need some time and focus – both are at a premium now for me. But trust me when I say that the blog will go on – as regularly as it used to be.

Though I haven’t been active on internet but have been watching the Chelsea games. Last week I was in London. I was keen to see the Chelsea vs Man City game at the Bridge. But it was so cold that I feared that I could fall sick and I didn’t want that on my work-related travel. Saw the match in a pub and as always I was the lone Chelsea supporter but that didn’t stop me from my pump-fisting, incident-applauding and yesss-yelling.

Thought it was a very good game. You can see that when this Chelsea team decides to drop deep, they are so hard to beat and they have so much to gain. Against Valencia and Man City, it was bloody obvious that the depth of our defensive line made a telling difference. Having seen us play Valencia that way, I kinda expected AVB to play against Man City the same way. We just couldn’t risk losing that game.

By the way, below are couple of my very relevant tweets on the Man City game:

Before the match:

Back in 2004-05, the team that stood between Chelsea and an unbeaten league season was Man City. Fast fwd to 2011-12. You know the rest.

After the match:

What did I say? Arsenal beat Chelsea. Man Utd beat Arsenal. Man City beat Man Utd. Chelsea will beat Man City to complete a full circle!

I couldn’t see the Wigan vs Chelsea game as I was in the flight. Got to see the highlights later. When you drop points like that in an away match, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for AVB. The guy has been giving his best. Of course, he’s made some mistakes but you can’t doubt his commitment or passion. It’s not great going. That’s for sure. Having shown the league that Man City can be beaten, we should have finished off Wigan. That would have made today’s Man City vs Arsenal game quite interesting. We could have had a chance of being only 4 points away from Man City. After the game tonight, we could be at worst 9 under par.

What is my preferred result today? Anything but a Man City win. Yes, that includes a painful Arsenal win too. For the greater good of the season, I don’t mind Arsenal winning this game. But then, I’m okay with a high scoring draw too – the one where Arsenal go 4-0 up in the first half and concede four in the second half with a stoppage time equaliser. That would be something.

Meanwhile, the champions league draw happened. While all the group toppers were looking to avoid two teams – Napoli and Milan – we got one of them. It’s going to be a really tough tie. Napoli could beat any of these champions league contenders (barring Barcelona and Real Madrid who are in a separate ultimate league). Topping the group means we would get to play the second leg in Stamford Bridge and that’s a plus. I expect to see Barcelona, Lyon, Benfica, Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Bayern and Marseille in the quarter finals.

Before I wrap this one up, few words on my whereabouts. One sure shot way of reaching me is Twitter. I’m almost ALWAYS on Twitter. So reach out to me @bluechampion if you’re on Twitter and want to ping me or check my tweets. Catch you soon! Cheers!

When I first got into Facebook, they had already got their 500 millionth user. I was late to join because I didn’t quite see the point. Only when I moved to Singapore, I started appreciating the value of Facebook. Naturally, ever since I returned to India for good, I’m not so much into Facebook or any other social networking site. All that’s from a personal side. But as you know, I have two identities. One is a professional accountant working in a bank while the other is a Chelsea blogger and football fanatic.

As far as BlueChampions goes, the need for social networking always exists. We, the writers, readers and contributors of the blog are spread all over the world. As you’re aware, I’ve made a few attempts to integrate this community and get the best out of it. With some of the changes that Facebook have made recently, it certainly is the best ready-made option for this purpose.

From a BlueChampions point of view, you know that I’m all into twitter. I’m just loving it. But I’ve always wanted to have a facebook page for BlueChampions. I’ve had several attempts to create a facebook page for the Blog. Being an Apple afficianado, I find setting up stuff on facebook to be a cumbersome process as my demands and expectations were high. Too many questions and too few answers. Anyways, finally, after all these struggles, BlueChampions Blog is now on Facebook.

Here is the link for the BlueChampions Blog. It would be nicer if this is a smartlink right? As per Facebook regulations, this page needs to have at least 25 fans before we get a www.facebook.com/bluechampionsblog address. I’m sure we can reach this figure fairly quickly, with your help. Right now, it’s liked by only one person and that’s me.

UPDATE: Thanks to you guys! We got past the required number of ‘likes’ within an hour so here is the smartlink – http://www.facebook.com/bluechampion.

The BC Facebook link is right up there in top menu bar in the blog now. So, you don’t need to store this long boring weblink until we get a smartlink. Visit the blog, click on ‘BC Facebook’ on the menu bar and you’ll be in the BlueChampions Community on Facebook. I’d be looking for admins for the facebook page. That’s for later though.

With my incredible iPhone 4, I’m always on Twitter and Facebook. I’ve still not managed to link my Facebook page and Twitter. Anyways, that should happen soon. I’m looking to update facebook through direct updates and also through my tweets.

So the facebook page is the fourth dimension, after (a) the BlueChampions blog, (b) blogging on the official website (c) Twitter. With all these things, I must say that the BlueChampions Blog has found a definite place on the social media network. Catch you there!

I’m extremely proud to say that I’m now blogging (also) on the official Chelsea FC website. Any sports blogger will tell you that this is a dream moment. I’ve known for about a month that my blog would appear on the official website. I’ve been preparing for some time along with the Chelsea FC representative for this. Despite all this, when it did go live, it was an extremely proud and surreal moment. My 4.5 years of Chelsea blogging flashed before my eyes.

It gives me goosebumps to find my name, photo and blog in a space that’s frequented by Chelsea FC players, staff and coaching staff. It is similar to the feeling I got when I was in the Chelsea dressing room as part of my stadium tour a couple of years back. I was thinking, on a different day, Lampard, Terry and Mourinho could have been right there with me. It was such a thrilling feeling.

The day when I registered the domain name www.bluechampions.com, did I think that I’ll feature in the official website one day? No way. But I always knew why online communities are important and how their voice can be heard. Many times, in this very blog, I have talked about how significant these fan forums such as blogs and discussion boards are.

It’s natural that some of you might wonder if this will have an impact on my blogging in BlueChampions. Yes, you’ll have a more proud blogger on the key board. Some might wonder how will this change my style of blogging (will I become more politically correct?). There will only be positive changes. I’ll continue exactly the same way as I have so far, when it comes to expressing my thoughts and opinions.

The club loves to hear from the fans and supporters. They want to know what we feel about the club and the blue revolution. We will only help the cause by being honest and open. To invite the Chelsea bloggers to share some space in the official website is a great indication of how much the fan communities are valued by the club. There’s no two ways about it.

Most important part of this post now. Here are the links of the post and that of my bio. Here is the link to my first post – Who would have thought?. And here’s the link to my profile there. Pardon me for the pretentious look on the picture. Would love to see the BC folks get in there and show your support by adding your tuppence. I’m sure you’ll do.

My sincere thanks to Luca Massaro (Digital Marketing Analyst, Chelsea FC) who is the main man behind all this. He’s been extremely patient and supportive. It’s been great to know him and work with him. I’m sure this new relationship with him and Chelsea FC would continue and get stronger.

Finally, I must say I never thought I’d get to share the stage with Michael Essien. Note that I’m a few notches above him there (thanks to the alphabetical listing)!!

I’m all set. Tomorrow, I’ll be there at the West Upper at Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea extend their lead at the top. To say that incredibly excited would be an understatement. I’d be going with a couple of buddies one of which thought I was supporting a team called Jersey until I clarified to him that it’s Chelsea.

London’s very cold this week. The temperature is in the region of about 6 degree celsius. It’s clear that my protective clothing will do no good in the Stamford Bridge stance at 8pm in the evening. I’ll leave office early and would pick up a cheap but decent coat that need to keep me alive to write my experiences at the Bridge.

I’d also get my dark away jersey tomorrow. I’ve already seen a few wearing that. It looks great. I’d get a few memorabilia stuff too. There’s this miniature of Stamford Bridge that I’ve got my eye on. Not sure if I’d buy it in this trip. It’s expensive and can be a challenge to carry. Let’s see.

I’m planning to get there very early so (i) I just don’t allow myself to be late, even if the sky falls down (ii) I can let the excitement build up and enjoy ‘being there’ (iii) I can watch the pre-match warm up and such stuff. I’m really confident that we would win tomorrow.

The weekend was just perfect. We beat Aston Villa 3-0 with three very good goals while Man Utd dropped points against Blackburn. Nothing’s over yet but certainly Man Utd are falling apart. They have a very good team and a great manager but the disappointment of the last couple of weeks would certainly be a setback for them in the title race.

Hoping for a big win for Chelsea tomorrow. Hopefully it’s a 4-0 or 5-0 with a hattrick from Malouda. I’d love that.

Relief for you people! We’re getting some trials for new writers in BlueChampions. I’m discussion with some volunteers and you’d be seeing some new cast on the blog soon. One such volunteer is our dear Karma CW. The match reactions of the Hull City vs Chelsea match would be posted by Karma CW. We hope we’ll be able to post the article sometime tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t watch the match as ESPN went off sharp 15 mins before the match. Then I realised that it is an issue being faced by many in India for the last few days. I was only going by the BBC updates and the numerous text messages sent across by my cousin. Purely based on his (he is a Chelsea fan, of course) text messages, I’d say that we had a poor first half filled with nervy defending and purposeless attacks. The second half showed some promise and we should have certainly won with the number of chances we created. Drogba was invisible and lazy until the free kick goal which was taken even before the wall was ready. Overall, the score did reflect the match. Both of us were disappointed but Man Utd will also drop points, you’ll see them do it big time, trust me.

Fergie and Wenger must be quite pleased with this result. This might even have given a ray of hope for Wenger. In a way this result helps as we don’t go to the Arsenal with complacency. With a great opportunity to extend the lead being squandered, Chelsea must know that they need to be on top of their game to ‘batter’ Arsenal and regain and extend the lead. Okay then, let’s wait for Karma CW’s first ever post in BlueChampions then!

Surprise for you lot! My interview is up on ESPNStar website. I have answered a bunch of questions surrounding Chelsea’s performance so far and our expectations for the rest of the season. You can read that interview here. You can comment on my responses right here in the comments section or provide your own responses to those questions.

I do see some new visitors arriving at BlueChampions from ESPNStar. If you’re one of them, warm welcome to this Chelsea community. Take your tour of this little blog. Let me help you there a bit. If you want to know who am I and how I became a Chelsea fan, read this page. If you want to read some of those 750+ posts on this blog, check out the archives. If you want to get in touch with me, it’s here. As you’ve made out by now, the menu bar would take you to various important links of the BlueChampions Community.

That’s it for now. Take care!