Upsetter

Scouse c**ts. f**k 'em and their precious f**king iistree..

Another couple of images from Working Man's Ballet: Alan Hudson with Ossie and George Best for Ossie's 1975 testimonial: And with Matthew Harding before Chelsea v Southampton 1995

Alan Hudson describes himself as having been born "within an Ian Hutchinson long throw of Stamford Bridge." He first lived in Elm Park Gardens, and then moved even closer to the Bridge, to a prefab at 23 Upcerne Road. Here he is outside the prefab on the day of the 1970 FA Cup Final, for which he was unavailable having done his ankle in during the game at West Brom.

Another legendary track from a reggae/ska legen: RIP

How The Shed was named The naming of the famous Chelsea landmark can be traced back to a fan’s letter published 50 years ago today. Season ticket holder Tim Rolls tells the story… Chelsea’s matchday programme, twice winner of the Programme of the Year award in the mid-1960s, introduced a letters page in 1964, the first to do so. Over the next couple of years, along with complaints about ticket touts and suggestions for club songs, a number of letters were published on the need to improve the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge. These included a couple from legendary Chelsea supporter Mick Greenaway, now sadly deceased but fondly remembered as a cheer-leader by many supporters of that generation. In the 1965/66 season Chelsea manager Tommy Docherty had upset many supporters by claiming there ‘are about 200 who follow us home and away… who are worth their weight in gold’ but that ‘the rest are a waste of time. Useless’. Atmosphere at Stamford Bridge was variable but at Fairs Cup games against Roma, Milan and Barcelona that season it was excellent. Among the 200 home and away supporters praised by The Doc were Greenaway and his friends. Fan culture was changing. Singing and chanting were becoming more common and many clubs had a terraced ‘end’ where like-minded supporters could get behind their team. Blues supporter for over 50 years, David Collis, remembers that at the start of the 1966/67 season a few supporters discussed the need for Chelsea to have its own end to enhance the atmosphere. Clifford Webb, a passionate Chelsea supporter, came up with the name ‘The Shed’ (apparently derived from Leeds’ Scratching Shed south terrace) for the area at the back of the Fulham Road End, the only covered terrace area in the ground. He wrote a letter to the Chelsea programme advising that that end should thus be renamed, and that ‘fanatics’ should congregate under The Shed, looking to make it as fanatical an end as The Kop at Anfield. Webb’s letter (a copy of which is shown below) was printed in the Leicester City programme on 7 September 1966, exactly 50 years ago. In those days around 80 per cent of match-going supporters bought a programme so most of the 29,760 crowd would have noted the name, and also the request for like-minded supporters to congregate there. The letter had a definite impact. Increasing numbers of supporters stood, sang and chanted in The Shed. The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge significantly improved, though its distance from the pitch, because of the dog track, meant some of the noise was inevitably lost. The Shed became home for those who wished to chant, sing, sway and get behind their team for the next 28 years, until it was demolished in 1994. It is fondly remembered by a whole generation of Chelsea supporters. The name was retained in the rebuilt, all-seater stand and it is to be fervently hoped that it will be used if a Stamford Bridge redevelopment does go ahead. It was named by a supporter, unlike most ends which were named by their club after roads, locations, compass directions or club luminaries. The Shed is an integral part of Chelsea’s history and should be recognised as such. Below is Clifford Webb’s letter as it appeared in the match programme in 1966, with comment from programme editor Albert Sewell at the bottom.

Maybe we cab get David Luiz to give him a few tips.

To be honest, I wouldn't describe any of those quotes as massively insightful. I just really like the idea of Frank asking Pirlo about Conte and then coming to the conclusion that Conte and the club are a perfect match.

The only track I could find from their hugely recommended Balboa Island album:

Taken from the Daily Star. slightly amended from the original which includes a fairly obvious typo:

Frank Lampard: Why Antonio Conte is perfect for Chelsea Frank Lampard, who quizzed New York City team-mate and former Conte player Andrea Pirlo on Chelsea’s new boss, is delighted with the way things are developing under the Italian. “I spoke to Pirlo about him as soon as I got here. “Obviously I am interested in Chelsea and he was very highly spoken of how his former task master works I know their pre-season has been very tough for starters, you saw that a bit in the West Ham game. “He is the perfect fit for Chelsea after what happened last year. It was a real slump of performance. “Physically I thought they didn’t look as sharp and the game was too slow. Now, it is early days, but you see the start of a team who is going to press and play with a quicker pace.”

The new layout also works like a dream with Android. I'd never previously used the tablet to log in because it always looked/felt a little clunky. This time round though it's as smooth as silk. Many thanks to all concerned.

You're right of course. Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing. However, the intention of my previous post wasn't to gloat, so I won't apologise for including some of the less extreme pre-match comments. By the sane token, neither am i going to highlight any of the more blatantly cringe-worthy comments for ridicule. All I actually did was to take a selection of comments from pages 5-7, i.e.from the time the starting XI was announced up till kick-off. So it really didn't take much time or effort at all. In fact it's probably going to take me longer to write this post than it did to make that one. Saying all that, the increasing tendency to bitch and moan and whine and winge gets a little wearing at times. Prior to this match we'd played three competitive matches and won then all. With a new manager, who has no previous experience of the Premier League. And yet I've seen people bewailing the awful position we we were in. It gets a bit much, you know? I'm vaguely considering making a the Hall of Shame a regular feature, but at the same time I'm hoping against hope that it won't be necessary. In which case I might actually have achieved something. Where there's life and all that.

Hall Of Shame/Excruciating Cringeworthiness The same sh*te team again, awful 70 minutes coming up until Fabregas and Batshuayi come on and save us No cesc, no michy, same old same How many times does he except this crap team to get bailed out by the subs? Sick of the sight of Oscar and Ivanovic. Too conservative a lineup IMO. Only 3 games in, but please Conte, do not fall into the trap of playing the same names, no matter how poor they are/how well their replacements play. Cesc and Michy should be in, 2 uptop rafa > conte 0-0 at half with that boring ass lineup. 0 creativity... no Moses, no Aina, no Fabregas, no RLC. It's time to lose points. Where is the proverbial Conte flexibility? What's the likelihood that ivanovic has inflammatory text exchanges on both mourinho AND conte? Dissapointing that Fabregas is not starting atleast, Burnley will in the most of this game stay deep and Oscar/Matic will struggle with finding the right passes. Conte what r u playing at??? Oscar been crap the last two games yet still picked in front of cesc what a joke.... No Fab, Matic and Oscar both starting. SIIIGGGHHHH. We are playing at home aren't we? I thought with that line up we were at Turf Moor.....what a load of bollocks...it will be as bad as watching f**king paint dry. I was hoping for some exciting football this year. We are hosting a team that will sit back with 2 banks of 4 why are we fielding a defensive team? If anything you would think get a couple of goals with fab and bats on then tighten up when we have a lead not 80 minutes of dull then panic stations last 10 mins? Negatively starts already just thought it would be different i will stay away again. Just support the manager with his choices he picks the team he believes and his paid for to win. Conte makes mourinho look like an attacking manager Names have been omitted in order to avoid further embarrassment,.

In a perfect world. I would be more than happy to oblige/ Trust me. However. this being anything but a perfect world. I'm afraid you're going to have to wait your turn for the Grim Reaper to get round to you. Patience is a virtue, you know.

The 1980 side training in front of the Shed:

Christ are you still rattling on about this nonsense? First game of the season, we won and we deserved to win. Granted, on another day Costa might have been sent off. But then on another day, neither Costa nor Kante would have been booked earlier by an over-zealous, inconsistent referee. Oh and on another day West Ham wouldn't have been granted the chance to score their equaliser. And a clear cut chance can be defined as one where the attacker can reasonably be expected to score, as opposed to a half chance, which isn't... quite so clear cut. So do us a favour, give it a rest eh.

I was never part of the old CSR, ten years ago I had never heard of this site. I've got no idea of my original membership number, but I think I first registered sometime during early 2007. Ten years ago today, I was celebrating my fiftieth birthday. So now you know.

I remember Lukaku stating that his deepest desire was to emulate his hero, Didier Drogba, that his aim was to become a Chelsea legend. As it turned out that Lukaku wasn't prepared to stay and fight for his place. Not only that but the early promise never materialised. His touch is as poor as ever, his hold up play, his footballing brain, have shown little or no improvement during his time at Everton. If we were to re-sign Lukaku, I'd give him my support, as I would any Chelsea player, putting aside - temporarily at least - the eagerness with which he jumped ship, my annoyance at the club for splashing out an exorbitant fee that could undoubtedly be better spent elsewhere. Romelu Lukaku, a lumbering oaf, a legend in his own mind. That's how I see him. If we do re-sign Lukaku, I can only hope against hope that I am very, very wrong.

HD Stream, Excellent quality: http://singidunum.us/chelsea.html

An all time classic:

Posted this in the International section but is more appropriate here, perhaps. Fat Sam's finest hour:

Fat Sam's finest hour:

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme Taken from the official Chelsea site, a look back at the role of the club during the First World War. The Khaki Crowd, 5 December 1914 The ultimatum to withdraw from Belgium ignored, Britain declared a state of war with Germany at 11pm on 4 August 1914. No aspect of life in England would ever be the same and football neither enjoyed nor offered sanctuary from the horrors that followed. Four days later the Defence of the Realm Act made it illegal, amongst other things, to buy binoculars, light fireworks, use invisible ink when writing abroad or buy strong alcohol in a railway refreshment room. In August 1914 many British ex-footballers had training jobs based in the heart of the conflict, in Germany, Austria and Belgium. A former coach at the Bridge, Harry Ransom, was in Budapest, ‘but managed to reach London safely after being twice stopped on suspicion of being a foreign spy.’ At first football attempted to carry on regardless, but a ferocious attack by the media and parliament on so-called shirkers among the playing staff and supporters knocked the game back on its heels. In many walks of life hordes of workmates were going off to fight in ‘pals regiments’. But recruitment drives at London grounds were unsuccessful. Notoriously, not a single volunteer joined up at Stamford Bridge, where a Colonel Burn had lectured a crowd of 16,000. (Perhaps announcing that his own son had already been killed in France was not the cleverest enticement.) Chelsea had responded regularly in the matchday programme with contempt for the ‘mud-slingers’, publishing a photograph of a crowd comprising almost entirely of men in uniform and therefore ‘doing their bit’ for King and country (pictured top). They also printed dozens of letters from fighting men craving to hear how their beloved Pensioners were faring, particularly as they progressed to the FA Cup final for the first time ever in 1914/15. Exiled Belgians were handed tickets to games, including a 2-2 draw with Oldham. They were ‘Chelsea partisans to a man – and woman,’ cheered the Chelsea goals and ‘seemed almost to forget their own terrible sufferings.’ The club was also quick to collect money in a ‘Footballs for Tommies’ scheme to dispatch 50 top-quality footballs off to servicemen on the frontline who applied for one at Stamford Bridge (see programme extract right). They were sent in November 1914. One of them may even have been used in the legendary Christmas truce match a month later. ‘The Southdown Battalion of the Sussex Regiment are proud in the possession of the ball used in our match v Liverpool,’ it was announced. Two representatives from that battalion, Lieutenants Clifford Whitley and Ernest Wenden helped establish a ‘Chelsea Supporters’ Company’ with a recruitment drive at the Bridge. (Perhaps as a result, both went on to marry Maie and Julia, daughters of Chelsea director Fred Parker.) The Chelsea hierarchy also supported the grand initiative of a Footballer’s Battalion, the 17th Middlesex, created on 14 December 1914. Not only did several current and former players sign up, but club secretary Bert Palmer became ‘Honorary Recruiting Officer’ for the 17th, prompting the attestations of 60-70 soldiers. One of the first was Chelsea’s star winger Teddy Foord. An odd memento of the club’s closeness to this fabled battalion lies in a unique engraved silver plate on display in the Chelsea FC Museum. The inscription reads: ‘In Honour of the Khaki Recruits – Our Chelsea Diehards. Presented to the Earl of Lonsdale by the men of the 17th Battalion Middlesex Regt. and Chelsea Football and Athletic Company Limited, Feb 12 1916.’ By then the Football League had been suspended and regionalised. The Pensioners had lost the FA Cup final at Old Trafford 0-3 to Sheffield United and, disastrously, finished in a relegation slot. However it later emerged that players from Liverpool and Manchester United had colluded to fix a match, saving the latter from the drop and condemning Chelsea. The football community was scandalised, and when the war was over the League made sure the Pensioners were reinstated in the top flight. In the meantime the small-scale football served up 1915 to 1918 offered little succour from the bad news hitting nearly every family. Among the Chelsea-related, past and present, Max Seeberg was interned simply because of his German surname; Vivian ‘Jack’ Woodward was wounded in action but recovered; George Hilsdon was gassed; coach Harry Brown and board members Parker, Palmer and Mears all lost immediate family; while Bob ‘Pom-Pom’ Whiting, Arthur Wileman, Bob Atherton, George Kennedy, Philip Smith and George Lake all died of wounds suffered in the conflict. Kennedy, a half-back during the 1908/09 season who emigrated in 1914 and was a company sergeant-major in the 42nd Canadian Highlanders, died during the capture of Passchendaele on 16 November 1917. He was Chelsea’s most decorated former player, receiving the Military Medal and Distinguished Conduct Medal earlier that year (his attestation paper is shown on the right). Most poignantly, Lake died just a four days before the armistice of 11 November 1918. He was the only serving first team Chelsea player claimed by this most brutal of conflicts. Key Matches: Chelsea 0 Sheffield United 3, 24 April 1915 FA Cup Final It took 10 seasons to reach Chelsea’s first FA Cup final, but it was a far from joyous occasion. The 1914/15 season had continued despite the outbreak of World War One and with casualties rising, the football authorities were coming under increasing pressure to abandon professional football. Nevertheless, a crowd of 50,000 attended the final at Old Trafford, many of them soldiers on leave from the front and still dressed in their uniforms. It was a dark, dismal, overcast day and the majority of the crowd cheered for our opponents. Our captain, the England international Vivian Woodward had been granted leave from the war and travelled back for the game but, despite pressure from the directors, refused to play, stating that Bob Thomson who had played in the earlier rounds deserved his place in the team, this despite Thomson not having fully recovered from a dislocated shoulder. Yet it probably made little difference to the result. Chelsea were poor and managed just two attacks on the United goal. Mistakes by the normally reliable Jack Harrow and keeper Jim Molyneux gifted United a first-half goal. As fog enveloped the ground United added two further goals and the game was over long before the final whistle. To make matters worse the team stayed north to finish the League season but managed one point in fixtures against Everton and Notts County and were subsequently relegated for the second time in our history. . Chelsea 3 Fulham 0, 26 April 1919 London Combination Victory Cup final From summer 1915 and for the duration of the war, professional football was broken down into regions. Clubs in the capital and south-east, no longer under Football League jurisdiction, formed the London Combination, and in December 1918 its committee created the Victory Cup. By the spring the finalists were decided: west London neighbours Fulham and Chelsea, who would play at the recently reopened Highbury on Saturday 26 April 1919. Despite heavy rain a crowd of 36,000 came to celebrate peace, normality and Chelsea’s second cup final in five years. It had been the nature of Great War football that guest players might appear in team line-ups and this was no exception. Chelsea’s key man on the day was borrowed from Arsenal’s books: Jock Rutherford. Behind him the ‘Great Dane’, midfielder Nils Middelboe, was magisterial, with his intelligence and raking stride, and inside-right Ben Whitehouse had a hand in all three of the Pensioners’ goals. Two were scored by Gunner Rutherford, the other by regular royal blue Harry Wilding, and all came in the last 20 minutes of an engaging contest. The trophy, presented by Arsenal chairman Henry Norris’s wife Edith, was never contested again, although the London Combination morphed into a competition for reserve teams. The Cup marked the end of Great War restrictions. Chelsea rejoined Football League Division One a few months later and would set a new record average home attendance in the English game of 42,860 in 1919/20. Football was back – thankfully without the bangs. 1914 Matchday Cover Roll of Honour Serving and former Chelsea footballers who were killed during World War One. Robert Atherton Died 19 October 1917 George Kennedy Died 16 November 1917 George Lake Died 6 November 1918 Philip Smith Died 29 September 1918 Robert Whiting Died 28 April 1917 Arthur Wileman Died 28 April 1918 Norman Wood Died 28 July 1916

Apologies, I've been rushing around like a blue arsed fly, and managed to misread mez's post. The point remains, I think, that she's either highly principled or out extremely greedy. If the latter, then how can we possibly blame her, given that the modern game is populated by massively overpaid, overtly money grabbing - and in the case of the higher echelons of the game - corrupt to the core.