madmickeyt

well yes normally it would be. Sorry memory is a bit hazy after all these years, but weren't they giving out toilitries or something before the game? it was a one off, like the Sweeney thing above.

My dad and my grandad had terrific seats in the old West Stand 1969-70 season, third row. You would enter the stand from the top and walk down to your seat, that was quite unusual I think, but it was very impressive. Bit like walking up the aisle! As my grandad got older he didn't go every week so that was my introduction, and we kept those seats for quite a few years. Then as we started to go downhill a bit my dad stopped going regularly and I would either go in the benches or The Shed. Like a lot of fans i expect, i had all sorts of matchday superstitions involving parking/clothes/scarf/crossing legs all that sort of thing so it is weird that i don't remember standing anywhere in particular, it was just a case of getting a space where i could get a decent view. Generally this would be halfway up/halfway down and either "middle" or "west side". The white wall seemed to be for the nutters! Too near the front and you couldn't see the other end of the pitch, too far back and you could only just about see the near side of the pitch! Too squashed in and you couldn't see anything except the bloke in front. But wherever you were, the atmosphere in The Shed was great and I now had a chance of hearing the words to songs that I had vaguely been able to listen to from the West Stand - oh, your old lady is a ....! Been back pretty infrequently the last 20 years and just think myself lucky to have watched football in the vintage years before all seaters.

I have just found out that by changing internet browser i am now able to reply to topics on here, so I might be doing some catch up...!!! i do remember this game. Went with some non Chelsea school mates who were looking to see some of those star names. But from where we were in The Shed you couldn't make them out to be honest and the game itself was not that memorable. What I do seem to remember though is a great atmosphere in The Shed and some stupid songs about Chelsea Brut Boys - ring any bells with anyone? That was what had us talking the next day, not those foreign stars!

I don't remember Paddy getting injured in the League Cup Final. To be honest I don't remember much about the day at all except that we were rubbish and had seemingly thought we only had to turn up to win. However, I did used to watch Palace quite often when Chelsea were playing away, and for several seasons they were "paired" ie home and away games co-ordinated. So I do remember the 2 (TWO!) games they beat Man Utd 5-0 including the game when Paddy got 2. So it's disappointing to read that it was not a happy time for him and he was glad to leave. Not as disappointing though as his fave player being Johnny Giles - ugh! I suppose his Irishness trumps his Leedsness as far as Paddy is concerned!

A great read, thanks for posting. Must admit I was one of Houseman's detractors - clearly I should have gone to that game (was at the home 2-2 game).

Yeah, great question, could go on for ages. Must admit my first thought was Dimitar Berbatov. Also a couple of flair players that i have personally witnessed beat us single handed back in the day, Trevor Brooking and Tony Currie. Many good shouts above already, like Bowles, Le Tissier and Malcolm MacDonald. Charlie George too. I would not have said we ever really needed a goalie, we have always had good ones, but Pat Jennings would have to be up there. We probably needed a centre half in that 1970 team, maybe Jack Charlton, I cant think of too many others off hand. I recall we almost signed Paul McGrath once, that would have been good.

As the original poster said, this is an age thing. I was Johnny Hollins (or Bonetti if in goal).

I started going to games in 69/70 - my dad and grandad had season tickets in the West Stand and I used to go to evening games or when my grandad wasnt up to it - of course we won the FA cup that year and had a real flair side, a great introduction to football and a great era. i was incredibly lucky to start following the team at that point. right place, right time. However for atmosphere in the ground it was good but not great. the main chant for example was chelsea clap clap clap. that was it. so in a way the later seasons such as Eddie McCreadie's team or John Neal's team were even better as not only did we have a fantastic team (that we loved, even if they were never going to win the league) we had so much more atmosphere (and fun) in the ground. plus i think there is something to be said for being a fan when you are winning nothing, as anybody can latch on to a winning team and call themselves a supporter. also, just to add, reading through the comments, that the feeling of hope rather than expectation is something i have tried to explain to many latter day chelsea fans with little success!

I can only remember being confronted twice, both as a kid - once was at an away ground somewhere and I was approached rather aggressively by a Chelsea fan who, once I had reluctantly confirmed I was Chelsea, proceded to lecture me that I should never deny or hesitate to confirm that I was a Chelsea fan and if you were with the Chelsea you were alright. The other time was after having watched a Palace game with some mates - we were just walking home and were outnumbered by Burnley fans - I think my mates had their scarves taken but that was about it. i remember having a laugh at the time that it was more dangerous watching Palace than Chelsea! I credit my lack of confrontational experiences not to nimble feet but by simply not going to places where you are going to get aggro! just go to the game and watch the football!

incredibly a third post on this subject from me, very sorry if that is considered bad form. it's another game that we lost, this time it was 3-0 at home to Oldham. late 1970s maybe or early 80s. i was in the West Stand. the away support on the North Stand terraces was always woeful, made worse by it being such a large area and no Chelsea fans allowed in due to segregation issues. But there was a chap sitting behind me in the West who was out of his seat the whole game shouting "coom on Oldham" and of course going potty when they scored. we were too shocked and stunned by the result to give him a hard time.

going back to that Palace cup tie in 76 which we lost 3-2, that was a game we expected to win, should have won, and would have won but for that Peter Taylor free kick. But Palace were on the up at that time under Malcolm Allison and they did bring a lot more fans than usual. I canot comment in detail on the crowd trouble but from my view in the west stand it was all over quite quickly. That game sticks in the memory for me as I am from the Crystal Palace area with a lot of Palace mates.

if i was answering the question before seeing all the responses i would have said Newcastle was the most impressive away support I have seen at The Bridge. Not sure why anyone would have a problem with that but we all have our own different recollectios i suppose. I am particularly thinking of a game probably 1980s where their vocal support had been unbelievable all the way through the game. usually any away fans trying to sing quickly stirred our lot into a vociferous response which shut them up, but on that particular day they gave it loads and there was little vocal response from us. they ended up winning the game, 1-0 i think, and I remember walking out of the ground thinking that was really disappointing but i was happy for those fans who had come all that way and were going home delighted. they deserved the win not for being the better team but for having the better fans. not often i have those sentiments!

couple more players to comment on: darren wood used to get some stick, although i think we realised he was trying his best. not his fault that he was put in midfield instead of micky hazard - i dont think hazard ran around enough for Hollins' liking - great player though, couldnt care less about what team he came from. graham wilkins - not sure he would have played as many games were it not for his brother - i seem to recall he scored more than his fair share of own goals? durie - really hurtful when he left, and would have been bad enough if he had gone to rangers but spurs was unforgivable. we didnt have a bad team then and it really was a let down, so he deserved all the subsequent stick. i dont like the abramovitch era much when you can just go and buy players for millions of pounds, but it is nice not to have to sell your best players like we had to with durie dixon and others.

the one that springs to mind because it was about an established player and one who continued to receive abuse despite being a regular first teamer for many years (although being pretty rubbish most of the time) was Houseman (RIP) yes, crowd really turned on Joe McLaughlin after that one game when he gave away the penalty, but I also didnt know the background about his family, thanks for putting that straight. we used to sing all the players names pre match, and joe's tune was joe joe, super joe, super joe mclaughlin. that changed to eff off, eff off joe, eff off joe mclaughlin. his replacement in the team was kenny monkou and we dreamed up a similar song for him which went ken ken, super ken..... we were telling joe to eff off long after he already had!

hi, just joined this forum today (i was googling something else and this came up), and as a long time Chelsea fan (1969) it has been a superb couple of hours reading the previous 24 pages of memories - thank you all who have contributed, and keep them coming! i must admit i havent been to the ground much since it went all seater, but did about 30 years of standing on the terraces trying to work out some of those chants/songs, so thanks for clearing up a few of those unheard/mis-heard lyrics! i think it is clear that a lot of singing goes on either in the pub or on the train and if you just go to and from the games (as I did) you will never get to understand a lot of the songs. i do have one recollection of a taunt that hasnt been said yet - it was when we played Liverpool at home on the last game of the season late 1980s. It ended up 3-3 and was a fantastic game, although we should have won, Wicks and Bumstead scored for us and Speedie hit an absolute screamer (at the other end of the ground so didnt see it properly) that i am sure would have won goal of the season if it had been caught on camera. Anyway, the taunt. Liverpool had a certain centre-forward called Ian somebody and they loved to sing a song about when he gets the ball he scores a goal. We changed their song to suggest that when he got the ball he didnt do anything particularly useful with it (when he gets the ball, he does f-all, Ian Ian Rush). about half of us were singing it and the other half were superstitious about it - thinking dont antagonise him otherwise he'll score, which of course he did. DOH! The i-told-you-so's had their moment! sounds similar to the Steve McMahon story earlier.