Soulboy

Regarding JT- for a good month while Man City were trying to pry him away he kept that thing between his nose and chin firmly zipped. He did indeed stay- got a pay rise- went on to say he was never serious about leaving us, he loves us too much etc... Well he could have killed the speculation stone dead a month previous. One of our all time great players, a small blemish on his copybook in my eyes never the less.

How many Chelsea players can you think of who've had our own fans turn against them? Trevor Aylott springs to mind. He made a name for himself scoring in the 3-1 against the bin dippers, and it rapidly went downhill from there. Rember a game when half the shed were chanting AYLOTT OFF. Couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the bloke. He was standing there hand on hips shaking his head. Alan Mayes weren't too popular either. Not too many cheers when his name was announced on the tannoy. We were coming back from somewhere on the train- passed Swindon where we got him from. The general consensus was shame he weren't on the train so we could sling him back. This sort of treatment was far more common back then. In my view football fans are far too forgiving now eg. Potato head Rooney holds Man U to ransom post season angling for a pay rise, comes back then the fans chant his name. If we're honest JT did similar when Man City were interested a few years back. Drogba angled for moves too don't forget, but well let them off. Back on track an ex- player who got some. stick was Clive Walker, who had the temerity to score against us in the semi against Sunderland. Can't remember whether he was given a rough time before the goal, but do recall a fat bloke chasing him around. Any memories?

Can't really argue with the Ossie shout. Faves of mine would include Fillery against Spurs in the cup in 82. Not long before half time if my memory serves me- shame about the second half- they tore us up for karzi paper alas

Got in through the back door in 94 too. As the song went- we didn't win the football league we didn't win the cup...but we're all going to Europe

There's plenty of Wimbledon fans in Raynes Park- on my road there's several bring the Dons back to Merton Stickers- talking of which if they move to the dog track, I reckon that's SW17 and Wandsworth borough not merton- the dividing lines the lovely old Wandle, which separates the two. So they're not coming back to Merton at all if we're splitting hairs. Ps It wound me up something rotten the allocation for the semi at highbury they received. No chance of selling yet they wouldn't put the tickets back our way. Ps ps what with rocketing property prices the Wombles can't afford to live on Wimbledon common these days. They've all been forced into Raynes Park !

Am I right in thinking that George Cole and Ashley Cole are related?

Can't speak highly enough for wee pat- never worked that moniker out by way. Did he have a weak bladder? However do ex players really count as celebrity fans? Dennis Waterman perhaps. By the way does anyone know if his old sparring partner George Cole was a Chelsea fan? Both are South Londoners- waterman from Elms Rd in Clapham and George Cole originates from Tooting. Ps as Arthur Daley he'd had fitted in perfectly at the Bridge- 70s and 80s. There were lots of self made men in the East Middle smoking big cigars and wearing camel coats. Didn't Mears sometimes wear a fur coat?

Interesting stuff. By the way hope I didn't come across as derogatory in what I knew, or didn't know about that part of town. Ps know a couple of CFC who are Oxford St traders out of Lisson grove. Top people

Parddington was chelsea. Ditto Lisson Grove, Harrow rd, Mozart estate etc. Old mate of mine was Labroke Grove- reckons it was 50-50 CFC- Rangers. In terms of FV it always suprised me we didn't have more well known bods from north of Fulham ie Shepherds Bush, North Kensington, Kensal Green etc- Kilburn, Wembley excluded. There's a big rough area from Hammersmith to Kilburn which traditionally was mostly CFC yet can't think of many top boys from over there. Other than a little chap who got pulled after Cardiff

Live in Raynes Park now, and Wimbledon before that. Many Chelsea in both these but Id say there's more a little bit further out ie Worcester Park, North Cheam. Theyres also bundles round Bognor, Pagham and Selsey. A lot of SW Londoners holidayed in the caravan parks down there, liked the area then decamped there permanently. Ps lost me cherry in a static caravan in Selsey. Only the other week it was too!

CB- weren't there meself but told Spurs were late and a lot of ours had gone home by the time they bowled up

Here's a curious one- apparantly Gravesend is a West Ham stronghold even though its the wrong side of the Thames. Can only guess that a lot of East Londoners got transplanted there after slum clearance I know it's all changed now because of the racial make up of the East London, but in previous decades Im told the inner East End was more Arsenal and Spurs than West Ham. Jah Wobble was on the radio saying that growing up in Whitechapel Spurs had a big following- might be something to do with the Jewish thing but I thought they'd all migrated to North London by then. A lot of its to do with transport links. From Bethnal Green or Hackney it's a lot easier to get a bus to Arsenal or the rattler to the y*dhouse than traipse over to Upton Park. By the way West Ham aren't strictly speaking in the East End, they're in East London. The East End is from Aldgate pump to the River Lea, the other side of the Lea ain't the East End. Just like we're in West London, not the West End.

Good to see the old green flight jacket. Went to Newcastle once- we only took about 1500- and a good three quarters of us were wearing them. That was the game where the locals emptied a skip outside and threw its contents over the wall at us. It was raining picture frames, pram wheels, rocking horses you name it

Might as well kill this one now before we all start building our expectations. The neighbours won't allow it, the local authorities won't allow it, and crucially the RFU would never approve of it in a million years- they despise the round ball and all it stands for. It's no coincidence that to my knowledge not a single minute of associated football has ever taken place at Twickenham. There's more chance of Dagenham and Redbrige winning the Champions League than us setting foot in the place

Where do most Chelsea fans come from? Since we've starting winning things you could say just about everywhere, but where would be the highest concentrations of CFC support in the old days and now? Areas I didn't think had many Chelsea but was to suprised to discover otherwise would include Kennington- Im talking in the 80s. Always assumed it would be mainly Millwall, and there were many Im sure, but also plenty of Chelsea. And on the other side of the water Pinner; lived there briefly in the mid 90s- geographically it should have been Arsenal all the way, but even though we were outnumbered there was substantial Chelsea support up there too. Bromleys another one, I reckon due to the fast train service to Victoria, then on to the Bridge, even though its by no means on our doorstep. Ps I can't fall back on my own old programmes to confirm this- they all met a grisly end in a damp garage- but pre Bates the old official supporters clubs were forever opening up branches in far flung parts of the country. Has anyone got a list showing exactly how many and where exactly they were?

Never been a mod meself but some of the stuff I wear can appear that way. John Smedley v or polo necks, Bally bowling shoes, three quarter length leather trench coat, submariners jumpers, a crombie boating blazer. Was having a beer on the Portobello Rd when this Mod sidled up to me- thought I was a card carrying mod meself- didn't know whether to laugh or cry

A few of us were drinking at the reserve a couple of years ago- all seemed to be wearing similar stuff- Cordings overcoats. cashmere car coats, tassel loafers etc. Rex Harrison terrace chic I guess you could call it

Got some churches loafers from a charity shop in Wimbledon Village for not a lot recently. Not quite in the same league but decent all the same, aquired some Red Wing boots- the long haired general absolutely detested them- said they looked like a casserole dishes- she sold them behind my back to a stranger - had to drive home from a pub with just me socks on

California Wine was a funny drink a load of us got stuck into one time. It was about the forth round of the cup against Everton, met a few Liverpool fans who knew a few of ours, next thing we've gone from Arkles to pub crawl of backstreet/ mostly dodgy local boozers. Absolutely everyone was on this California Wine for some reason- the locals probably worked out it was the cheapest way getting rat arsed, so we did the same. When in Rome etc. ps the locals we were all sporting the latest fashion. These funny ankle bracelets provided by the probation board were all the rage! Rotten bleeding drink, but a memorable afternoon. Ps off to the pub to roar on the mighty, mighty blues

Maybe room for a thread regarding watching Chelsea whilst pi..ed out your brains. On more than one occasion I've watched the match with one eye shut, otherwise theyred be two of each player. Theyres a well known CFC fan who many times has had to be walked into the stadium with the aid of a bloke on each shoulder, due to his over enthusiasm for for a pre match tipple. One of the lads who came with us to the QF at Bayern in 2005- started on the sauce at Stanstead at 5 in morning- cut a long story he went back to the hotel for an late afternoon kip- slept through his alarm- woke up at half time and watched the second in the hotel bar.

Some afternoons you can't be too choosy!

If your trying to turn me into a big sticky mess your doing a pretty good job. PS did Ossie get to bend over the lovely RW? Urban myth me thinks

Liverpool get queues like that every fortnight- at the post office picking up their giros

There's only one thing you can say about that photo. Coooor!

I'm not so sure about the knocking down of the shed being the turning point when it comes to atmosphere. The shed was a bloody long way from the pitch for starters, and as mentioned previously most of the singers had migrated to the seats long before the wrecking ball flattened the terraces. I think that the best consistently noisy days at the bridge were mid to late nineties DURING the redevelopment. SB was often described as a bear pit back then. Virtually all the West Stand sung, ditto the sway- the temporary shed to those that weren't there, the Matthew Harding and sporadically in the East Stand- even the upper. I'm not sure the cult of young men singing their hearts out at football exists anymore. Sure they're priced out of the premiership, but what's to stop them doing so at the likes of Brentford or Wimbledon? Regarding the morbidness of the older support- ie my age, I tend to agree. We could all do with taking cod liver oil capsules as suppositories- loosens up the joints and makes us more inclined to clap- and some throat pastils to get the voice box going. Ps rather than hand out those proxy flags, the club should provide every spectator with a load hailer. Wouldn't half sound good on the telly