What period was our mob at its peak

[Garrison]

I thought the Kop had never been taken.

That's what they brag about, but find an Honest scouser, and he'll admit we did it.

[Carshalton Blue]

I'd say from 1967 to 1976, there was trouble every week, home and away, with mobs of over 2,000 on away games, street battles where over 500 on each side were the norm. The filth didn't have a clue, and were only organised in the early Eighties. in the mid '70's turning on the filth and giving them a kicking was common. All the Classic Battles were in this period, The White Heart Lane Massacre of 1967, The taking of the West Ham North Bank in 1971, The taking of the Kippax in 1971, The Battle of Brugge 1971 (still the biggest Football Riot in Europe ever, it was bigger than Hysell but as no one was murdered, it only made the press the next day, even thou there were questions in the House of Commons about it) The Battle of Stoke in 1972. Taking the Liverpool Kop in 1973, The Monday night battle of Charlton (that was the fight that stopped Millwall running with Chelsea and stated the hostility) And taking the CBL in 1976.

Nice to see you on here mate, i saw you outside the Finboro before Spurs ;-)

Edited May 17, 2016 by Carshalton Blue

[MKBlue]

I'd say from 1967 to 1976, there was trouble every week, home and away, with mobs of over 2,000 on away games, street battles where over 500 on each side were the norm. The filth didn't have a clue, and were only organised in the early Eighties. in the mid '70's turning on the filth and giving them a kicking was common. All the Classic Battles were in this period, The White Heart Lane Massacre of 1967, The taking of the West Ham North Bank in 1971, The taking of the Kippax in 1971, The Battle of Brugge 1971 (still the biggest Football Riot in Europe ever, it was bigger than Hysell but as no one was murdered, it only made the press the next day, even thou there were questions in the House of Commons about it) The Battle of Stoke in 1972. Taking the Liverpool Kop in 1973, The Monday night battle of Charlton (that was the fight that stopped Millwall running with Chelsea and stated the hostility) And taking the CBL in 1976.

Was that the night we lost 4-0, promotion year. Little mob of Millwall at the snack bar under the home terrace who got a bit of a shock when it kicked off?

[Peckham Blue]

Was that the night we lost 4-0, promotion year. Little mob of Millwall at the snack bar under the home terrace who got a bit of a shock when it kicked off?

I remember quite a lot of them there the year before up in the top corner of the home end after we'd taken and filled it.

[Nitro]

Never knew we took the Kop, although late 70s large Chelsea contingent on the Kop-

[sparkplug]

Went to Liverpool a few times in the 70s can't remember even having a good mob up there until the league cup game in 1977.

Got chased a couple of times before then I was one of the lucky ones getting back to Euston with the clothes I went up there in unlike some others.

[The Leigh Limpet]

That's the first I've ever heard of it!. As it held 24,000, no way can I see how any club would have held their ground for over 1 minute?.
Big difference between having a 'pop' at the home end, and actually taking it.
At West Ham in 71, our Stockwell mob steamed the North bank from the back, but were run out within a couple of minutes.
Remember a game at Stoke in the 70's, think it was on a Sunday?. We went in their end, walking up the steps to the terraces gave it the 'biggun', but they swarmed down like ants, and sheer weight of numbers, had us on our toes.

[Garrison]

Nice to see you on here mate, i saw you outside the Finboro before Spurs ;-)

Always up for the y*ds, I might be 70 this year but I'll turn out when I'm 90 for those bar stewards :-)

[Garrison]

That's the first I've ever heard of it!. As it held 24,000, no way can I see how any club would have held their ground for over 1 minute?.

Big difference between having a 'pop' at the home end, and actually taking it.

At West Ham in 71, our Stockwell mob steamed the North bank from the back, but were run out within a couple of minutes.

Remember a game at Stoke in the 70's, think it was on a Sunday?. We went in their end, walking up the steps to the terraces gave it the 'biggun', but they swarmed down like ants, and sheer weight of numbers, had us on our toes.

On the week before the game we went around the Shed telling people to go to Liverpool, then on the train, we told all the Shed we were going in the away end. Outside we told them to keep quite, as there might be some Everton in there, but a few of them sussed we were going into the Kop. We got in on the left side as you look out to the pitch, we started singing "We're The North Stand" and steamed in, the fighting last three or four minutes, and they came from all side, but as there were around 500 of us, they couldn't move us. Then the Scouse al pulled back and started clapping, and to this day I don't know whether it was because they couldn't move us, or because the filth were moving in, in numbers. They put a cordon around us, and there we stayed for the whole game. in my book that's taking their end!

[The Leigh Limpet]

Well if that's what happened, then full respect. Was'nt there that day, and never heard anyone mention it over the decades!.
Only thing i'd question is the definition of taking an end?. To me that was clearing the home end over to the side, or even into the sides (paddock).
By staying in the 'home end' with a police cordon all around you, is not the same as Highbury 77 or many other examples.
Just maybe a difference of interpreting definitions.

[Garrison]

Well if that's what happened, then full respect. Was'nt there that day, and never heard anyone mention it over the decades!.

Only thing i'd question is the definition of taking an end?. To me that was clearing the home end over to the side, or even into the sides (paddock).

By staying in the 'home end' with a police cordon all around you, is not the same as Highbury 77 or many other examples.

Just maybe a difference of interpreting definitions.

At any other ground I'd agree with you, but this was the Kop, and to this day it pisses them of just reminding them of that day.:-)

[forbzy]

At any other ground I'd agree with you, but this was the Kop, and to this day it pisses them of just reminding them of that day.:-)

I remember hearing something similar from the game at Liverpool in 1985 when we drew 1-1 (Nevin scored). Wasn't there a large contingent of our support (mixed with Rangers) that spent the game in the Kop? I actually heard that off a Liverpool fan at the time so perhaps not the most reliable source ;)

[Richard P]

Rangers were in with us on the terrace in the corner. Old bill put a cordon around us and them!!! So funny as they didn't know the relationship.

[erskblue]

Some amazing reading on here.

Cheers.

[Oldschoolcfc]

I was there that day l was in the visitors end we just laughed at the kop they still can't understand the tie up with us and rangers how we have each other backs and

[Garrison]

Was that the night we lost 4-0, promotion year. Little mob of Millwall at the snack bar under the home terrace who got a bit of a shock when it kicked off?

We had arranged with Bomber & Tiny come with us, as West Ham were gonna be with The Charlton, but they didn't show at the station, so we went in and cleared the end, then Wall turned up, and we all started celebrating. But the Shed down the other end must have thought we were being attacked by West Ham, as they came across the pitch, and steamed into Wall, we tried to stop them, but it was too late. The Fog of War had reared it's head. It weren't Wall's fault, or the Shed's, as they weren't to know we'd invited Wall to come with us.

[The Leigh Limpet]

And as we know, what followed in the subsequent decades is history!.

[Unclezillion]

76 at cold blow lane was a game. Everybody young everybody eyeing each other lol. was about 20 of us who thought we were well handy at the time.

 

charged in to the ground giving it a big Chelseeeeeeeeeeeeeea and never got touched. bit of a shock really as it was kicking off down one side.lost 3-0 :(

Arsenal in the league cup the same year was fun in the North Bank it kicked off at the back shelf  and suddenly we were really mob handed.

 

Great laugh in the 70's and early 80's how i got out of it unscathed ill never know.

 

 We were From Watford/Hemel Hemstead area  always ending up drinking at Euston on the way home

 

York in the FA cup was fun with the guys wearing plastic roman centurion stuff marching up the road

 

in the 90's there used to be stuff kicking off in Camden when Leeds were about but i was a sensible guy  then ;)

 

Northstand lad myself also the East stand when it opened in 73? great times

 

60 next year :( living in Thailand for 10 years which is great. 2 visits in 10 years and no home games :(. the great thing is i have a Chelsea TV subscription and every game is shown live so i never miss anything.

 

4.30 am in 2012 when we beat munich screaming in the street almost got me arrested lol

[We WERE there whe]

On 01/09/2015 at 13:54, Mike Carefree said:

When i think of the mobs ive seen from boy to ...erm.....bigger boy.........The skins in the late 60s.....Greenaway, ECCLES, BABS .....then Hickey, i feel privilaged to have lived those CHELSEA eras......The fans of today, or some of them , wont be able to grasp the magnitude of our fans especially away from home...The ends that fell to us....Some very easily and some not so.......The fun some of you boys n girls would have had would be beyond your dreams of footy related fun.......The comrads......The friendships....The love interests..AND THE LOYALTY.......We werent like vikings like i once quoted on here...We were better....Although in my near 50 years as a BLUE ive not been a part of a CHELSEA tribe that has fully taken the park lane, which would have been the pinnacle of my chelsea life, ive had bloodbursting wonderous times..I have been in a chelsea fan only in the park lane in some mickey mouse tournament which doesnt count, and with millwall when they decimated WHL...None of those count.....When i look back the sadness i have of the nostalgic feelings eats me......Goodbye to the teams we loved ,but generally were quite inefectual followed by great support most of the time......Now....Over a decade of being traumatised with the amount of trophies aquired, great fans dispersed amongst other chelsea fans of less greatness, im a dissatisfied old man..

Coming from North London I rarely missed a Spurs game. At one in the mid eighties I think, I was proud to start a few songs with the whole of the packed Park lane joining in.I reckon I was a bit high on puff at the time because I recall smoking furiously parked up hours before the game, parked in White Hart lane.So many memories of this fixture.I think in 78 when Ardiles and Ricky Villa made their debuts, I spotted myself the next day on "the big match" in the background walking across the half way line just as the match was kicking off.I was turfed in head first into the park lane, amazing I was not hurt.I had hassled coppers up the paxton along with a load of y*ds to get in the section next to the park lane but instead of joining the y*ds there I made a last minute beeline to join my fans.Amazing what libs you used to get away with than.People would not believe this now.Another game, when I think we one 6-1 and Chelsea fans were banned as one side of the ground was being built.I managed to get a ticket from an ex girlfriends boss. I got a bit tanked up because I foolishly did not feel I had the right to remain quiet if we scored but needed a bit of Dutch courage.I jumped up for the first 4 goals but heard a few other Chelsea fans scattered around getting hit so I finally kept quiet for the last 2 goals.I was wearing a green diamond jumper of some sort which was all the rage at the time so not even inconspicuous.It was hilarious to hear from my girlfriend that her boss got it in the ear for the rest of the season for giving his season ticket to me.3 other scary times I can recall One of nearly getting crushed at seven sisters waiting for a train,I think our mob were tooled up on an incoming train I believe and the massed ranks on the platform stampeded there way out of the station before my very eyes..I was stopping a young Spurs fan with his dad getting crushed,u sing recovery last ounce of my strength, I recall. I had another time where a big y*d  was threatening to kill any Chelsea fans he sussed  walking all the way down to seven sisters.I could not seem to walk away from where he walking despite trying my best to do so.Another time a mob of there's met us scarfers walking out of the away end and steamed into anyone in their paths.My funniest time was bringing my red,white and green scarf into the park lane packed with 25,000 man u fans, supporting them against Spurs, thinking my scarf would "blend in" and look a "bit" like theirs (lol) You look back now and wonder how you got away with these strokes.I do recall definitely getting a few funny looks that day though!

[Garrison]

Millwall August 1976, there were three Chelsea firms that went in the CBL that day. we got there before kick off; “E” knickname) from the Shed was with us, we walked along the road outside the CBL, then a Rag & Bone horse and cart slowly walked by, with a tarpaulin over the cart.

I noticed it was moving and stopped everyone, then the tarpaulin was pulled back and (I won’t mention names, but they were six of Wall’s top faces), jumped off shouting “E you’re a dead man”, they were all carrying ice picks, and I looked at “E” and told him to run; he stood, but I knew that if he didn’t run he’d be killed or very badly injured. I shouted “Run!” again, and this time he did. To me when faced with 6 guys all tooled up with Ice picks, and we didn’t carry weapons, there is no shame in legging it.

Then Wall boys gave chase, and we went into the CBL, my firm (The North Stand) got in and just stood there, knowing we were going to get battered. “A” and me decided to take the bull by the horns, so I shouted “We’re The North Stand”, and the rest joined in. We charged, and Wall taken by surprise backed off a bit, but then those at the back steamed down and it went of like crazy.

As the teams came out “B” (nickname) lead the Shed in, at this point we were about in the middle of the CBL, and surrounded, but it quietened down a bit for us, as Wall seeing the Shed, turned to attack them.

The fight was no-stop, and after about 20 minutes, the Shed had been battered and melted, so Wall once again turned their attention to us; the fight was on and off all through the game, and at the end there were just a dozen of us left, in the far corner.

I can say without doubt that that was (apart from every season in the Lezers, and even 10,000 Rangers couldn’t take that end), the worst beating we ever took.

After the game we managed to get out of the ground, and walk hobbling back to the station, when we met “B” “T”, & “G” form Wall, and most of their firm, and the 6 of us North Stand thought “we’re f**ked”, but luck was in for us that day, and they took us to a boozer, where they piled it on thick that they had battered us.

I must add that this only happened because we knew them well, and ran with them, on many occasions, including the Everton Cup game, and they came up to Everton with us, for the away Chelsea game.

[sparkplug]

Millwall September 1976 can't say what happened in the ground before KO as I was in the 'shed' mob with B consisting of a Few Fulham lads, us Lewisham lot Nutty, Bulldog, Lighty and Lavenue sadly all no longer with us Rumpole Smiffy Shandy Ernie Tash etc, Slough boys and a few other odds and sods including a coach load from Bletchley.

We met in the Swan pub in Lewisham the original plan was for DH to meet at Fulham Broadway tube and make their way to Lewisham unfortunately it nether worked out that way we got the train to New Cross had our first row at the New Cross Inn the windows went through. Found out Plumby and a few others were drinking in the pub as well we joined up and continued on the way to the ground outside the CBL met a few others including Tommy Gloves (RIP)  who had already been in the ground they said we was getting done in there and we were mad to go in told them we are going in most of them decided to join us.

After going through turnstiles we waited at the bottom of the stairs till everybody had got through then went up the stairs at the top turned right and stood in front of the bar there didn't appear at first to be too many of their firm in there a few of them were up the Ilderton road end after a Chelsea mob who had gone on the pitch and run up that end we started to be sussed out think it was Lavenue and Nutty who led a charge into them they scattered at first but we didn't fall into the trap of chasing after them we wanted to hold the Bar and the back of the Terracing soon they was coming from all three sides a few rows broke out but they seemed a bit wary of coming into us there was a few Old Bill there but not really enough to stop them the onus was on them to get us out the numbers of Old Bill grew throughout the first half so by half time they decided to start taking us out the ground through the second half a couple at a time seeing this a few started making their own way out. I got taken out with a couple of others there were a few Millwall waiting outside decided not to hang about walked up to New Cross and got a bus to Lewisham where we managed to meet up and made our way back to the Swan to await Millwall to come but they nether showed up.

None of us got really battered that day apart for some of the the lot on the Bletchley Coach including one who I thinked got stabbed by a screwdriver.

[Nitro]

Having got separated near that refreshment stand at the back of the CBL I got stuck in the middle of a crowd of Millwall who had come over the fence from the right and a bloke with a small hunting horn, there were quite a lot of recognisable Chelsea fans who had become isolated on their own in this area.

Never seen anything like it before or since, the middle bit of the CBL was loads of people rolling around on the floor scrapping and punching each other, also a backs to the wall full scale punch up going on against that concrete up-stand by the floodlight pylon.

As posted before they were as confused as us as quite a lot of the crowd in the CBL had blue and white bar scarfs on.

All these years later it is strange to think this is how it was!

 

 

[Hemel Blue]

Reading all this really takes me back.Went to CBL a couple of times (what an apt name).The locals sussed you very quickly there.The terraces were mayhem in the seventies and the old bill had to earn their money the hard way.You could get thrown out for fighting and be back in the ground in no time lol.

[Garrison]

Talking about which era was best, I'd say the mid '60's to mid '70's was the best, as we got away with far more, due to lack of camera's and the Filth weren't clued up, plis fines were £5 to £10. wrote this a while ago, about the first classic post war terrace battle . . . 

The

White Heart Lane

Massacre 1967

 

         About 50 of North End Road Boys met up at Liverpool Street Station, From there we went by BR and arrived just before 11 O'clock, walking round the corner onto the High Street, we found it deserted so we crossed the road, and went into what is now Valentino's. A lot of us were wearing Tottenham scarves, so we didn't get stopped by the police. In the pub the landlord took us as Spurs fans and served us, then around 11:30, the real Spurs turned up, and we took the scarves off and chanted “Chelsea”, and steamed in; they never knew what hit them. Over the bar, grabbing the optics, they went flying through the windows, tables and chairs were smashed, then the sound of Police cars, so we scampered up the High Street toward Edmonton. Those of us that made it around 20, went into a café, and had dinner.

         Then around 1:30 we strolled down the High Street, now packed with people, we met up with some of those that were in the pub with us, and went in the ground. Once inside we straight away realised we'd got in before the main y*d firm, so we kicked off with those standing on the terrace near the entrance gate behind the goal. Clearing it we waited for the inevitable and it came from behind as the y*ds came onto the terrace from an entrance gate further down. They charged, we stood, and it went toe to toe. More Chelsea arrived to swell our numbers, and we forced the y*ds back towards the other entrance gate. A few of our number were attacking those that tried to come through the gate we were at. One of our number had a wooden mallet, and was knocking y*d's out right left and centre.

         Then the police arrived, and formed a line between the us and the y*d's and started throwing people out, but moments latter they'd reappeared after paying to get back in again. DA reappeared Five times, I myself three times. The fighting continued as more of the Shed arrived to swell our numbers. But the y*d's were also increasing their numbers, and the fighting continued as the teams came out. Then a breakthrough. The y*d's who were down by the pitch wall, were getting battered, and started to climb over the low wall, and onto the pitch. Some of us followed them and the fight continued on the grass behind the goal. Then a few of the y*d's ran, and it lead to a Sheep like stamped. We stood there cheering, but were charged by a group of Filth, so jumped back over the wall, and took a large group of y*d's from the rear, who were fighting the Shed.

         Taken by surprise they started to run. I then noticed that we had cleared the Park Lane End, and it was totally under Chelsea control. We then saw that the ref had taken the players off the pitch, and it was 3:20, when things stared to calm down. But small pockets of y*ds, kept being found and dealt with.

         It was the first time in Post War football history that a kick off was delayed for so long. And when y*d's were seen to be massing on the Shelf we charged them, and the fighting carried on till half time. By now the Filth had grown in number as reserves must have been called up. And they formed a number of human barriers; although fighting erupted a few times more as the Shed cleared the Shelf. The Park Lane Terrace and Shelf were firmly in Chelsea hands and stayed that way for the rest of the game.

         With the game over, we left the ground en mass, and saw a huge mass of y*d's waiting on the High Street. Holding everyone back, till we were all in the street, DA shouted charge. There must have been around 5,000 of us, and we went through the police lines like a knife through butter. Steaming into the waiting y*d's our momentum forced them back across the road, then they started to run.

         As a footnote, the Evening Standard ran a back page story about the riot, and had a photo taken of the fighting from the pitch. And there in the middle was one of the North End Road Boys, in a Stripped T-Shirt, and some old biddy wrote in saying he was the one with the mallet. A few days latter he was arrested and got 6 months.

 

[Thebone]

On 16 November 2014 at 09:59, bluegraham said:

Harry the dog and the gang

As they used to sing over Tottenham "we all agree, Harry The Dog is a poodle"