Chelsea fan who was bored with football now big believer in “The Magic of the Cup”

When Charlie Abercrombe-Smith strode into the office earlier this morning — white collared blue shirt, navy pants, ankle-high burgundy RM Williams boots, cinnamon latte in hand — the last thing his colleagues expected to be subjected to was a 30 minute sermon about the magic of the FA cup.

For Charlie, born and bred in the plush confines of Pimlico, a Chelsea fan since June 2003, had spent the last 17 Friday work-drinks talking about how over football he is. Often interrupting conversations about summer travel plans, or family updates, with lines such as:

“life’s just too busy for football these days”

“the game’s gone hasn’t it?

as well as the classic weekly declaration, after one-too-many Madri’s, that “City have ruined it for the fans with their money”

It appears Chelsea’s 3-1 victory last night away at Aston Villa has breathed new life into the man. And so he continued, long after his takeaway coffee was empty, passionately proclaiming that Chelsea is just “a young team with a high ceiling”, about how great it was that “Mauricio Pochettino is willing to give youth a chance”, and how “The Magic of the Cup is very much alive”, his colleagues quietly slipped in their earbuds and went about their work.