Attn: 2017-18 Chelsea in America Members RE: New Season Member Update - April 2018
We're headed to Wembley 'and' only days away from Chelsea initiating the 2018-19 registration process. This year seems to have flown by. This year: For CIA, our membership grew, all 5 regions reached Platinum status, we have 35 local chapters with a couple more forming, have more than 15,000 follow us on Facebook and 25,000 on Twitter. Hopefully you find your membership of value. We certainly appreciate your support. Here's an update on Chelsea in America for 2018-19 and the plans to provide more to our chapters and membership next year. CIA Board Changes: There are a number of changes coming to our management team. • New Club Secretary: John Costello (me) is the new Club Secretary handling the day to day business activities of CIA. We thank Erik for being our first-year ‘guinea pig’ as the first Club Secretary. It's a lot of work handing the club business and preparing correspondence for the 5 regions to/from Chelsea. We are pleased he will remain on the Board and continues as Desert-Texas chapter head. • The Board: With the Club Secretary change, Allison Kasic has been elected as the new National Chair and Brian Wolff our new Vice Chair. Both have been very involved this year and have ideas for further growing CIA. A full list of the Board is at the bottom of this email. We also are looking to expand the Board to ensure two members per region, so there is a good representation throughtout. Those additions will occur with the next Board meeting. Lastly. we'd like to specifically thank our Finance Chair, Jonathan Sharp, for sorting all the ticket payments to CFC and exchange rate refunds for the 547 ticket purchasers. It's detail work and we greatly appreciate his volunteer effort. 2018-19 Membership: We expect the 2018-19 membership process to begin within the next few days. We try to time our membership process with CFC opening their new True Blue member window. Regions need to get to 50 Platinum members ASAP to maintain CFC Platinum status. There are only 32 Platinum spots available world-wide and last year some other clubs got shut out. So we urge you to support our local and regional groups by signing up for 2018-19 membership asap. New CIA Website: We will launch a new CIA web site when registration begins in the next few days. Our old site had been outdated and poorly updated for some time. • The new site has a more active presence with news, twitter feed, and offers some tips designed to help members get to the UK and how pick up tickets. • NEW CIA merchandise store to purchase all sorts of products and gear. Those products will expand over time as we clear out existing inventory. • Local Club pages: Every local chapter, with 10 or more CIA members, is listed to help new supporters find your group and to assist those travelling around the US to find a place to gather on match days. • Ticketing for Platinum members: This is your place to buy tickets via our Shed End page. It is password protected and you need to buy tickets at least 8 weeks in advance for most matches per CFC requirements. Mid West Blues now American Heartland CFC: For those of you in the mid-west, please be advised that your Official Supporters Club chapter is re-branding to be American Heartland CFC. The Twitter page has already changed and your will see this new name progressively occur. This new web site has been a volunteer effort begun last fall and we thank those involved. New CIA Initiatives For 2018-19: We had very good and mostly positive feedback to the recent survey. The most frequent request was for better and more frequent local activity (emails, gatherings). We encourage our local chapters to increase their communication and gathering efforts. Your CIA Board does plan to do new things in 2018-19 to that end:
Monthly email update (club news) to all members.
Quarterly ‘newsletter’ (more comprehensive, regional news) to all members.
Three CPO share contests for all members for a chance to win a share of Stamford Bridge
Budgeting $500 per region to ship enhance contact with local chapters and other potential membership support endeavors.
Local Participation: CIA is a coalition of local and regional chapters. As noted, local groups are what we really are and strong support requires local participation and leadership. Get involved. Ask what you can add. Through the participation of local members the support of Chelsea grows and your enjoyment increases. CIA will do our best to assist local and regional chapters. Ultimately we are our membership. Summer Tour 2019: No US Tour this year but we certainly expect CFC to be back in July 2019. You will be able to watch at least 3 CFC summer matches in Europe live on the ESPN networks. That's the news. 2018-19 membership registration will be opening in the next few days. We are excited to begin our second 'post Beth' season as we continue to evolve and conduct CIA in support of our five regions, 35+ local chapters and all our members. CIA is truly here to help your group as best we can. And we look forward to each of you packing your local pubs for the FA Cup Final v United on Saturday, May 19th! (The FA have not yet announced the kick off time as they try to dodge the Royal Wedding earlier that day). Please feel free to reach out with any questions on any subject. Often a little information can answer questions and concerns quickly. Keep the Blue Flag Flying High! John Costello Club Secretary Chelsea in America Club.Secretary@chelseainamerica.com
2018-19 Chelsea in America Board: John Costello, Club Secretary (Club.Secretary@chelseainamerica.com) Allison Kasic, Chair (Allison.Kasic@chelseainamerica.com) Brian Wolff, Vice Chair (briancwolff@comcast.net) Andy Burbidge, Board Member Erik Coulbourne, Board Member Jonathan Sharp, Board Member Tim Whitehorn, Board Member Beth Wild, Chair Emeritus