Chelsea Football Club landed in New York City yesterday ahead of their match against the New York Red Bulls, which will kickoff today at 8 pm Eastern time and 1 am in the United Kingdom. The club spent their day assisting in the management of Adidas’ #BeTheDifference event at FC Harlem. As well as this, news broke on The Daily Mail that Frank Lampard was among a select group of Chelsea favourites who attended a special club-hosted dinner in NYC that same day.
But what you may not know is that Lampard and the others also dropped in on a special event late last night, and I was there!
I’ve just recently joined Chelsea In America, the club’s official supporters’ group here in the United States. Truth is, as soon as Chelsea announced that they were venturing across the pond this summer for preseason back in April, I became a CIA member. I’ll be attending the match against the New York Red Bulls, my local club, tonight, as well as the match against Barcelona that’ll be taking place in Washington D.C.
Anyway, I was notified that there was to be a special event taking place the night before the Red Bull match at The Football Factory, also known as Legends Sports Bar, in New York City. I saw this as a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone: I could both pick up my tickets for the match and enjoy the ‘special event’ that was planned. We (the Chelsea In America members) were told not to tell anyone about the event prior to it’s happening, and all we knew was that there were to be very special guests in attendance. So, I made the short trip from New Jersey into New York City, and strolled into the Football Factory shortly before 8 pm.
Man, I was in for something special…
Yesterday during the day, I had been getting extremely excited for what was in store. On Twitter, I noticed that the Chelsea Fans Channel, whose videos I watch quite frequently to say the least, was in town flaunting a piece of cloth that can be described as nothing short of excellent.
https://twitter.com/ChelseaFansYT/status/623465057834377216
Sure enough, the first thing I saw upon walking downstairs into The Football Factory was that beautiful banner draped across the railing. Later on, I took a picture with it. I just had to!
Even funnier, I bumped into Rory Jennings of the Chelsea Fans Channel himself, and I was able to grab a selfie with the legend. Nice to meet you Rory!
However, Rory wasn’t the only legend in the building last night (I know, I’m hilarious). I was standing around, drinking in the lovely atmosphere that was building inside, when all of a sudden I heard a commotion coming from the other end of the room. Someone was being shoved by a bodyguard through the crowd of people. Before I knew it, Frank Lampard was standing on the stage before all of us. WOW. Just, wow… I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Frank’s appearance was absolutely massive, so it was only right that he was welcomed by his fans accordingly. I’m sure Super Frankie Lampard enjoyed the serenading we gave him throughout the night!
One of my favourite moments of the night was easily what was sung right after our initial rendition of ‘Super Frank’. The entire pub belted out, “We want our Frankie back, we want our Frankie back, we want our Frankie back, we want our Frankie back…” Lampard couldn’t help but smile the entire time, and he grabbed the microphone and interrupted the singing with “I’ll be back”. What an absolute legend.
Lampard was joined on stage by the great Bobby Tambling, Chelsea’s first black player Paul Canoville, and 2000 FA Cup winner Mario Melchiot. On stage, the boys discussed various topics such as favourite goals they’ve scored and so on.
When looking back on 2012’s historic Champions League triumph, Frank Lampard said that “no one else in world football” could have scored Didier Drogba’s 88th minute equalizer, but that his run-up for the shootout’s final penalty was “far too short”. Although that made Frank nervous, Chelsea’s former number eight noted that he knew it was destiny for Drogba to bury the final penalty into the back of Bayern’s net.
Lamps did have a really touching moment with us fans, though. When asked about his move to Manchester City, Frank explained that he wasn’t offered a contract extension at Chelsea after the 13/14 season, but he was quick to express the fact that his thirteen years in west London were amazing. He went on:
And you know what I was really pleased with? The reception I got from the fans everywhere, but particularly at Man City when I scored, the away fans were amazing.
Frank explained that leaving Chelsea for Manchester City was not an easy decision, and that he is so delighted to look back on it now and see that the feelings between him and Chelsea fans hasn’t changed an ounce.
I couldn’t help but smile after this one…
I don’t need to say much more than that, but what I will say is that there’s not every team in England and in the Premier League with the fans who would act the way you act all the time, and I think that needs to be talked about a little more.
Frank Lampard spoke a lot, and laughed a lot, during what was an amazing event to be a part of. After the conclusion of the program, he was mobbed by many of the people in attendance for autographs and pictures. Sadly, I had no way of getting anywhere near him while he was signing shirts and taking pictures. After a while, Lamps himself had enough and was ushered out. My attempts at taking selfies with Lamps in the background were so poor that I’ve decided to spare your eyes from seeing them!
However, after buying some Chelsea In America merchandise, I was able to catch both Paul Canoville and Bobby Tambling on their way off the stage.
Being in the presence of both Frank Lampard and Bobby Tambling was truly breathtaking. They, along with the others all had some great things to say to us fans last night and it was an honor to be there.
Even now, hours after getting home, I’m still a bit shocked about what happened. The best part is, the party is only just beginning…
Follow me on Twitter @EvanMcMurtrie for updates as I watch Chelsea take on the New York Red Bulls tonight from Chelsea In America’s standing and singing supporters section!
