Fruit Bat

Absolutely no unfulfilled ambitions as a Chelsea fan. Between the ages on nine and eighteen ( 75-84) we only had two years in the top flight. We’ve won everything under the sun, and what do we have to show for it- a silent stadium full of tourists looking at Facebook the game- fans- use that term loosely- from across the globe who only supported the club for reflected on glory/- who are now moaning like f**k cause the wheels have fallen off You can’t change your team, but kinda envy the likes of Brentford fans- get a bit of noise going, no one’s in it because they expect to win trophies every year. Thought it might take a relegation to get rid of the w....r tag alongs who claim to support CFC, but suspect our current mid table malaise will do the trick

Think the bloke with the tache might be Jerry Kelley RIP

I liked Fabregas. Brainy player. Interesting stat; however many years ago it was, his top running speed was the second slowest in The Premiership. The only player more sloth like was Peter Crouch

Sellafield got expanded 92- Major construction project- my firm had 150 blokes and I was the only Londoner. They used to call me The Drury Lane fan dancer. Couldnt hack Cumbria, so got transferred to Sc**thorpe, which made Workington look like Vienna. Quite handy for watching Chelsea games- Sheffield Wednesday midweek etc

We’ve had some of the best defensive midfielders- Didier Dechamps the water carrier- was Essien DN? For a muscle man he had great stamina. Its one of those positions which looks easy- Dechamps hardly ever left the centre circle- however to operate that role at top level is a skill in itself

When the 3rd round draw of the FA Cup came out everyone thought “ I hope it’s not Carlisle” Worked at Sellafield briefly in the 90’s. Had nights out in those wonderous fairylands otherwise known as Carlisle and Workington.

Our predicaments a bit like rearranging deck chairs on The Titanic. And the band played on..

Only nailed on spots from where I’m standing are Silva ( whose marching on a bit) Enzo, James, Chilwell and Kante

Was also 18, and had been stripping a roof which is very dirty work. Planned to go home and clean up, but job run late so drove up in my rusty white pick up with no hub caps or road tax, parked on Bagleys Lane, met me mates and The Rose. Cut down jeans, hobnail boots, black as a Newgate Knocker. Cross between Al Jolson and Dick Van Dykes chimney sweep. My copper brothers Leeds supporting mate who he went to Hendon with, and was a bit of a headcase, got arrested that day and thrown out the Met.

Learnt on this thread over the last couple of weeks we put in a bid for Joe Jordan at the start of this season. Wonder how that would have worked out....he wouldn’t have scored as many goals as Kerry. Couldn’t dribble or create like wee Pat. Most similar to Speedie- aggressive jocks, both good in the air, albeit Jordan probably six inches taller. I did rate and like JJ. Suppose his Scotland international career came to an end pretty much when Speedie first got capped.

Great book title. Can’t say I’ve heard of it- any good? Some of those burgers and hot dogs were rank. West Ham in 84. Very strange episode. Saw a bloke stick his hand in the steaming hot brine and nick half a dozen hot dogs whilst his mate grabbed a bag of buns. Off they ran to Fulham Broadway

Modicum of sympathy. Good intentions and ginormous outlay for players who don’t appear to be capable of gelling / and or were plain overrated in the first place: Footballers are like second hand cars, you don’t really know what you’re getting.) Not as if they’ve deliberately raped the club for their own financial game such as The Glazers. ( Time will tell) Guess we’ll have to just wait and see...

“ He suffers from cold poor little sod, that’s why he’s brought his hot water bottle’

Get an orange, make an incision through the peel, using a syringe suck out as much orange as possible. Fill back up injecting with vodka. Cover up incision with orange coloured sticker. Jump on train with bin liner full of ‘em

Just checked online the Persil tickets- the offer ran from 83 till 86. Six vouchers allowed a “ child” to travel with a ticket carrying adult for free. There were other deals with Kellogg’s before but not sure football fans cottoned on. Only went Inter City in the 80,s a handful of occasions, probably because the Special was sold out or no one fancied driving. The rolling stock was a million times more luxurious than the Soecials, plus you could get some beers in. What year did the Specials become dry? They were non drinking when started using them in 82, though we found ways round this

2.5 Billion acquisition cost. 600 million on unproven players locked into long contracts. Potentially another 1 Billion plus on new stadium which looks increasingly unviable financially The purchase/ high spend rationale being TV rights were undervalued and there were other untapped markets, however I can’t for the life of me see how they will make a return on their investment other than by selling on an oil rich gulf state, who are not in football to earn money but as a PR exercise

Right through the back of him, then walks off like butter wouldn’t melt!

Quite true. Forgot about that

Edit- bit further up the line, Willesden Junction which is actually in Harlesden- what a moody station. Day or night always thought there was the chance of getting mugged

Amazing it was neglected as a passenger train route for so long. Standing in the Shed the only trains that used to by were those really long trains that I think transported sand- think it might have been a Tarmac operation. Sometimes looking at the train was more interesting than the game

Briefly worked for J Murphys, who hired out the Galti for St Patrick's Day afternoon. The plan was you worked the morning, but a lot of the lads took the morning off work and were totally ratted by lunchtime. Cause it was a free bar loads of blokes sold their tickets on to people who didn't work for the company- cut a long story it was just a big rolling punch up. Went to The National in Kilburn once- roughly a zillion.Guiness pumps and three lager taps- ordered some lager... geyser next to me ' how can you drink that piss' Back to the Hibernian, never associated Fulham with the Irish dispora, but only a couple of miles from Hammersmith which certainly did

Well I never. I was on that grass bank with me mates just wasting time when Boro came over and scattered us. That wasn't our mob btw

That was a long day. Got offered a ticket at 2 in the morning the night before whilst clubbing. No sleep; went up on a minibus with the bloke who gave me the ticket- they were a bit of a weird bunch so did a bunk when met up with some mates a service station. Massive mob on show after the game.

They are proper. Pretty much all the time wear Bally, Churches or Edward Green loafers and brogues. Don't mind Red Wing boots- ex wife detested them- thought they looked like a couple of casserole dishes Few years back at a car boot sale in Raynes Park I picked up a pair of pig ugly Solatio Beetle Crushers for a nicker, dated from 72 ish Smoothie Period I'd say. Had a hunch they might be collectable- stuck them on Ebay as Northern Soul footwear and got back a remarkable £200.