\n After signing a new six-year contract with the Blues, Reece James wanted to convey his feelings in an open letter to you, the Chelsea supporters…
\n <\/p>\n
Chelsea is special. I\u2019ve always known it. I\u2019ve always felt it. And it\u2019s why I had no hesitation in extending my time here.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve supported the club for as long as I can remember. My love has never changed. I have the same feeling wearing a Chelsea shirt as I did when I was six years old. It matters to me. Every time. <\/p>\n
So when I\u2019m out on the pitch, battling for the ball or trying to get us forward, know I\u2019m one of you. That I feel what you feel. I\u2019m representing our club, just in a different way.<\/p>\n
So many of my childhood memories involve Chelsea. Our games meant so much to me. My brother, Josh, was a Manchester United supporter. Lauren and I were Chelsea. You know the finals we played against them over the years\u2026there was a rivalry in our house! <\/p>\n
We all lived football. Playing. Watching. Learning. My vision was always to play for Chelsea \u2013 even once would\u2019ve been enough for me. So to have achieved what I have, I can honestly say it is a dream come true.<\/p>\n
But I want more \u2013 that\u2019s the Chelsea mentality. It was drilled into me in the Academy. It\u2019s what I learned from the legends of this club that I watched at Stamford Bridge. It\u2019s the example I set as captain. <\/p>\n
I remember watching us win the Champions League in 2012. What a night. Didier Drogba, my childhood idol, helping us become European champions. Then, nine years later, I got to live that experience in Porto. Another dream fulfilled. <\/p>\n
I felt the same pride last summer. Winning the Conference League, my first trophy as captain\u2026what a feeling. But we weren\u2019t done; it\u2019s that Chelsea mentality I was talking about. We go again. We push for more. And we became world champions. <\/p>\n
Lifting that trophy in New York is something I\u2019ll never forget. It showed the world the best of Chelsea. It demonstrated what\u2019s in our DNA. <\/p>\n
You, the supporters, are part of that. You make Stamford Bridge special. You drive us on in the difficult moments. Know that it is always appreciated. Know that it has been crucial to our successes. <\/p>\n
Personally, I will be forever grateful for the support you\u2019ve shown me, from that debut against Grimsby Town to the present day. You know it\u2019s not always been easy, and there have been challenges, but you stuck by me throughout. Hopefully, in the seasons to come, I can repay that further. <\/p>\n
My journey with Chelsea has lasted almost twenty years, but there is still so much more to come. I\u2019m convinced of what we\u2019re building here under this ownership, the Sporting Directors, Coach, squad, and all the staff. We all want more success. We all want to lift more trophies. We all want to create more lasting memories. <\/p>\n
As Chelsea captain, I\u2019ll do all I can to make that happen. As a Chelsea supporter, I truly hope it does. <\/p>\n
See you all at the Bridge. <\/p>\n
Reece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After signing a new six-year contract with the Blues, Reece James wanted to convey his feelings in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-823886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116224096022206338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}