Fans' loyalty to a club.

So basically I became a fan of Chelsea because it was the first team I saw outside of Serie A, because I wanted to be different from my family who were mainly Juve fans or my friends who were Milan/Inter fans, because Chelsea was the only team I could win at fifa. After being a fan of Chelsea for those reasons, I became fond of the crop of players we had back then: Terry, Lampard, Cech, Makelelè, Drogba, Robben, Crespo etc. Then,;as a result of supporting the club that contained those players, I became a fan of the players that subsequently joined the team: the Coles, Ballack, Deco, Anelka, Ivanovic, Malouda etc. And thanks to supporting Chelsea from there till now, now I'm fond of the players that recently joined: Courtois, Azpi, Cesc, Matic, Hazard, Willian, Costa, etc and also Conte.
If something happens to break this chain, like for instance the chapecoense tragedy. Okay no, that's way too tragic to even entertain a hypothetical thought about. If something like the Juventus 2006 scandal happens to Chelsea, we get relegated, all of our current players leave, Conte leaves, our board is banned from football, why should I still support Chelsea? There's the saying that players and coaches come and go but the club remains. Does it really? I don't think this Chelsea is the same as the one I started following more than 10 years ago, I just stuck with it for the reasons I've enlisted, and I will probably stick with it because of new players that I'll get fond of and so on. So, would I be considered unloyal if I stopped supporting Chelsea in this scenario? I don't think so, I'd literally have no reasons to be loyal to. Why should I still support Chelsea in this scenario if not for inertia? Chelsea is not the club of my city or anything like that, so I don't have that going for me. I don't know anyone outside this forum who is a Chelsea fan either. What is Chelsea really for me other than a corporation that contained the players I've cheered for for years? Is there something more to it? Is it mes que una corporaciòn? If yes, how so? If not, should there be loyalty between me and this corporation?
Am I too closed minded? Is there something more to all of this that I'm missing? Thanks.

I can't speak for Chelsea specifically, but Juve went through what you mention (the 2006 relegation scandal) and even though everyone left, very much the "club remained". Moggi, Capello, and a lot of the players left and we were thrown into Serie B but it was still very much Juve. Deschamps (former player) came as coach, Buffon, Nedved, Camo, Trezeguet and Del Piero (and others) stayed for the shirt. So it was still the same spirit if just a worse team.

This conditions also gave way to the rise of Chiellini, Marchisio and De Ceglie. Eventually the management changed with Andrea Agnelli becoming president, Nedved on board, and Conte (former captain) as coach. So things were as Juve as they could be.

That's what it means for me that "the club remains" the culture and traditions are carried on by people who embody what they are supposed to be. Managers, players, directors, etc. these people carried through what it meant to be Juventus. And now, you wouldn't be able to distinguish this team's spirit with that of Cannavaro's or Zidane's team.

When I think Juve I think Litchsteiner, Bonucci, Marchisio, Chiellini, Buffon, etc just as much as I do Del Piero, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Deschamps, etc. These cycles of core players have plenty in common when they represented the club.

Maybe the same can happen to Chelsea.

Katy Perry wrote:
There's the saying that players and coaches come and go but the club remains. Does it really?

I think the saying comes from a different time.
Today you can really "choose" your club. It's perfectly normal that you as an italian support an english club. No one bats an eyelid really.
But obviously that wasn't always the case. Go back in time far enough and most people would just support one of the clubs from the city they grew up in. Of course a big reason was that you could actually watch this team play. In Germany for example you can only watch the Bundesliga live on TV since the mid 80s. Not a foreign league, just the Bundesliga. Before that you'd have to go to the stadium.
It was a very different situation to the one we have now. You couldn't just change your team. It's also a different connection that way I think. The club is very much a part of the city you live in as almost only people who live in the city can actually watch the games. Clubs were a regional thing really.

Loyality is everything, I don't identify club with players or city, but with myself. It 'd be like changing my skin.

You can't build a sense of belonging, you must feel it.

That's reason why basically who cares about Italy NT for me, while Inter changes my mood ( I'm Italian but not from Milan).

Yet you are Italian, you are born and always lived there, you should support it more ... "should" ... but the matter is simple : you can't make rational something of irrational as the support for a football team is.
That's my answer for this thread.

you are Italian and it's rare to meet an Italian who supports a foreign team ( never happened in my life lol) , I don't know how much you are Chelsea supporter, but it you are a real supporter, you can't have doubts on it.

p.s. I realize just now this a thread old 2 years , perhaps meanwhile you are  became a Genoa or West Ham fan (anwyay it'd be nice if you came back on GL ffs, great poster) and Katy Perry might have had a breast reduction.