Pittsburgh resident and Chelsea fan Curtis Kaminski is the latest supporter in the hot seat to recall his first US Tour experience in 2004 and share memories from down the years.

Chelsea has always been my club ever since first going to a game in London back in 1998.

I’d already been over to the UK a couple of times before, but one night I asked someone at my hotel desk where can I go and see the football.

He replied 'you’ve got to go and see Chelsea', so gave us directions for the Tube to Fulham Broadway and we got tickets at the box office.

I fell in love with the atmosphere from the word go. Everything was magical. We beat Crystal Palace 6-2, with our two Italians Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola scoring.

Fast-forward six years to 2004 and the news broke that Chelsea were coming over to Pittsburgh for the first time. By this point I was affiliated with other US Supporter groups, including the New York Blues.

One day I got a call saying we're getting Chelsea over in Pittsburgh. 'They're playing at the Steelers stadium and you're hosting a fan event, so figure it out.'

Finding a host venue was easier said than done - not that we knew how many Chelsea fans there would be in Pittsburgh.

I checked around, but we couldn’t use our local pub which unfortunately geographically is not near the Steelers stadium.

It looked like we wouldn’t have a venue for the fans to meet. Finally I found a convention bureau in town with availability, but you had to have a group of over 100 people.

So I got Barbara Harris from the New York Blues to help ensure we’d have enough fans with people travelling over.

Eventually we just about got to the 100 people we needed. Probably 80 or so came from New York, so I had her to thank!

There’s really only one soccer bar in Pittsburgh so I put the word out there to get some more people after inviting 10 or so myself.

They ended up giving us a banquet room at the top of hotel in Pittsburgh about a mile or so from the Steelers stadium.

We had half-priced drinks, a couple of bartenders and there was a great atmosphere with Blues from all over mixing in a pre-game party.

We took the long walk over to the stadium but it actually went really quickly because we were so excited!

I’d obviously been to London a few times but I’d say most of the American Blues hadn’t, so were learning the chants as they went along. You were seeing people swept up in the fandom - it was special.

Most people in the crowd had never seen Chelsea in person, and we had some expats that saw them as kids and maybe hadn't seen them for a long time.

There were probably 25,000 fans there in a 60,000 seater stadium, but the noise and the atmosphere was incredible.

A lot of Pittsburghers loved the Premier League but didn't have a team yet, but we recruited quite a few of them after that – so they actually had a connection with Chelsea.

We had some of the local sheriffs come over to police our section in the stadium, expecting it to be a bit rowdy because of the chanting and not realising it was all good fun. They weren’t familiar with supporters of English clubs back then, but by the end of the game once they realised what the atmosphere was like, they were laughing and joking with us!

Chelsea won the game 3-0 and after not knowing what to expect, it was an amazing night.

It was the first year for Mourinho and for Drogba so it was a really exciting time for the club.

My sister actually took a bus to the team hotel to get Frank Lampard to sign a ball for the raffle and so she was thrilled. I actually could have done it, but I thought at the time better to let my big sis do it.

She came back giddy like a starry-eyed schoolgirl.

Five years on and we had a fully-formed supporters club – The Pittsburgh Blues.

We then got the banner at Stamford Bridge that year after a few of the members asked me if it would be possible and it’s still there to this day.

I’ve been to countless US Tour games since, certainly all of them on the east coast, New York, Philly, Miami, and we’ve also been over to Seattle for games.

We’ve had some amazing memories down the years, spending a week with Chelsea greats like Frank Sinclair and Paul Canoville in 2012 was a particular highlight.

They were really personable with the fans, so that was fantastic. Even when Frank sees me now he’ll make a point of remembering us and say hello.

But any American fans who haven’t been to a tour game should definitely experience it.

The games are great but I think it’s also the social experience, mixing with other Chelsea fans from all over the country and feeling part of a movement.

My other favourite moment from Tours gone by came only last year in Philadelphia.

We had a big get together with about 150 Blues from New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, DC, and we hadn't actually seen each other in the three years since before the Covid pandemic. I'd really missed it.

That was such a great day - suddenly you are seeing loads of your best friends that don’t just live next door.

That is what it is all about really. It is great seeing the players on the pitch, but being with your fellow Blues is what it is all about.

Chelsea’s USA Tour 2024

Don't miss your chance to make your own unforgettable memories when Chelsea visit the USA this summer.