August 4 2003

Crystal Palace

A cracking football match, wonderful weather and a nice little earner for CPFC. But some are still complaining

I have a confession to make to all the members who posted on our board complaining about the massive Chelsea presence in all parts of the ground last Saturday.

I bought two tickets in the main stand for two friends who are, wait for it, yes, Chelsea supporters. Let me elaborate.

Both people are, like me, lifelong and loyal supporters of their club since boyhood. They are not glory-hunters, hooligans, psychopaths and were far too polite to even wear any blue on Saturday.

They, like me, enjoyed, a smashing day out and, on the whole, an amicable atmosphere which was a credit to both clubs and their supporters.

I bought the tickets weeks ago when they were really cheap. Had I thought I was depriving any legitimate Palace fan of a seat, I would have felt bad about it. But the gate was several thousand below capacity so nobody should have lost out.

Also, who could have possibly have guessed the enormous demand there would be for tickets? In my memory that was unprecedented for a friendly.

Both my friends, because of Chelsea's place in the elite nowadays, rarely get to Stamford Bridge. They cannot afford the huge price of a season ticket and, of course, Chelsea's big games sell out almost instantly.

So it seemed a friendly gesture on my part to let them see their team and new stars on parade.

If there had been any problem getting tickets one of them would have been welcome to mine. Unlike them, I have got a season ticket and all the rest of the season's games to look forward to seeing.

So what if the amount of blue apparel on view in Thornton Heath High Street last weekend did make you think you were in the Fulham Road?

And, although Chelsea won the game, we looked several cuts above the somewhat lacklustre bunch who turned out against PSV a few days earlier.

Email Jamesey with any of your comments to Jevans3704@aol.com

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