Fruit Bat

Yes such a shock. 20,000 or so Old Bill served met at the time. Large percentage of them.football fans.. he was based at Wandsworth Nick.and being a Chelsea fan volunteered for football. Got paid to watch his team. My best mates old man was also OB who used to do CFC duty, same reason. he was a football fan- remember getting.the tube back with him.after Watford early 80.s. One of John Barnes first games- remember him saying that Wingers mustard

Sometimes you just knew it was going to kick off if the result went wrong. It was more of riot than a fighting night, though there was a lot of bad feeling consequent to the first leg- coaches having windows put through- my younger brother and his lot had to fight for their lives making their way back to the minibus- me older brother was a copper on duty for that game and Sheffield Wednesday in the previous round- Sunderland got attacked as soon as they dissenbarked on Imperial.Rosd- many decided to stay on the coaches rather than go to the game which is baffling seeing as they'd travelled 300 miles odd. Don't know how many West Ham got off at Parsons Green and walked to Fulham.Broadway- heard reports between 80 and 200. After the game we couldn't get anywhere near the platform.at Parsons Green. There must have been 500 on the platform.and another 1000 outside- In terms of actual.fighting as opposed to rioting- nothing comes close to Millwall 95 in my experience. The forecourt was a free for all before kick off, side streets and New Kings Road by the petrol station after- there was an article in Evening Standard after which reported that there was a mass punch up on The Whitechapel.Road at 11 PM. The supervising copper remarked that they were totally out manoeuvred

We must have been one of the first to have an electric scoreboard- did they display adverts on it? - can’t imagine too many neutrals being swayed to visit the Bridge cause of it “ Yeah thinking of going to Chelsea. Piss poor football but cracking scoreboard “ Just how did Leeds smash it up- form a human pyramid and headbutt the thing? Never got football wanton vandalism- ripping out the plumbing at the Baseball Ground which Bates got awarded the bill for etc. West Ham and Millwall derided us a wreckers rather than ruckers. Then again Millwall weren’t adverse to a spot of seat throwing- they also tried to dismantle the Clock in the Clock End Highbury- Pot Kettle...

Coincidentally watched Dads Army last night and remarked that Bud Flanagan who sang the theme tune died shortly after it was recorded. Used to like their big tune “ Underneath the Armpits..”

When the 1st Division became the Premiership commentary immediately became hyperbolic. Andy Gray “ Wow. Just look at that throw in” What was previously a big match became a massive, massive match. Power sliding onto knees after scoring, that moronic bouncing up and down on the spot when you’ve won something; sheepish brain dead behaviour by anyone’s yardstick. The latest fad is pointing your forefinger at your temple when you’ve scored. Apparently it started with tennis player Stan Wawrinka. It’s become Rashfords trademark- Joffra the fast bowler now does it when he takes a wicket. When asked by a journalist what it means Joffra replies with an absolute pearler “ I don’t actually now. I copied if from Rashford and he seems like a smart guy”

Good touch for a big man... Conversely why no sh*t touch for a short arse

He’s got good pace...why not say he’s fast?

Very basic dugout village hall chairs en all compared with nowadays. A lot of dugout used to be sunken- Christ's knows how they could see the play- probably why managers sometimes watched the game from the Directors box, ala Big Mal with his fedora and fur coat when Palace bumped us out the Cup in 76.

John Hollins, who I think sometimes doesnt get the recognition he deserves, also made his debut at 17. Rattled up 714 Ist Division appearances. Most ever for an outfield player, second only to Shilton between the sticks. 500 odd appearances for us, very weirdly none as substitute. Could really smash a penalty

Knew his brother a bit years back- normal decent bloke- never met SJ but everyone in that crowd I met said he was an out and out tossed. Got a few quid together and became a football chairman cause he was an ego nut who loved the spotlight. Turned out to be a financial small fry by football standards- got skinted out, blamed everyone under the sun. Now in the media just to satisfy his gigantic ego. Proper knob

Great stuff. One of the great under attendance tax man coups was Sothampton in the League Cup- Keegan era- 81 I think. Official gate 27,000- real gate 10,000 more.

We played them at home early kick off on a Saturday maybe 7 years back now. I bumped into a QPR mate outside, who told me after the game they were all mobbing up on The North End Road. Never thought of him as a fighter, think he tagged along for the buzz. Saw him a while after, he told me it kicked off proper and realised he wasn't he wasn't cut out for it; reading between the lines he got a slap. Not sure how things work out if we played them now.

Gerry Francis on left. When he moved to Palace in 79 we played them in a pre season ' friendly' at Selhurst. Not so friendly in the Holmesdale which we took. He'd obviously put on some pudding close season. Bloke next to me was laughing his head off ' Look at the size of fat cat Francis, he's as big as a ....... house. Can you believe he used to be England captain'.... Regarding the aggro in the previous pic;- there's feelings amongst QPR's older lot that we took liberties with them in the 70's, and had we not done so they would have joined up with us for big games such as West Ham { West London together if you like} No idea whether this is true or not, but never thought of them as a ' sister' club, the way West Ham think of as Orient for example.

My sentiments entirely. The second away replay which led to the Liverpool game was on a freezing night on the 1st Feb. Many of our lot that made the journey had been up there for the first replay the week before. We took a couple of thousand, with a national rail strike going on, and whilst banned from away games. Probably a fair few Northern Chelsea amongst our ranks even so that is impressive. ' LOYAL SUPPORTERS'. Edit: Forgot to mention that game was on a Monday night

My sentiments entirely. The second away replay which led to the Liverpool game was on a freezing night on the 1st Feb. Many of our lot that made the journey had been up there for the first replay the week before. We took a couple of thousand, with a national rail strike going on, and whilst banned from away games. Probably a fair few Northern Chelsea amongst our ranks even so that is impressive. ' LOYAL SUPPORTERS'.

Quite true. Obvious example being Juan Veron. Truly world class in Italy. Very ordinary in the Premiership. Silky skills but couldn't adjust to the tempo

Same as. My mum would send me to the corner shop with a note, normally for Peter Styveson Blue, though she changed brands a bit over the years. Fairly sure my old man fitted a Shreiber kitchen once. They were all the rage and quite aspirational in a weird 70s way, even though they were rubbish by modern standards. Formica I think

Those advertising hoardings make me feel very old. Me grandad who was ex merchant navy used to like a nip of Lambs Navy Rum. Power Trainers and Schreiber self assembly kitchens were both piss poor, untipped Senior Service fags killed you stone dead with just one puff. January blues...

According to todays Mail, during Roman's 19 year tenure we racked up operating losses of a mind blowing 900 grand a week, In loan form technically, written off thank ....

Still makes me shudder after all these years.

We'll win again Don't know where Don't know when But II know we'll win again Some sunny day....

The only people likely to be offended are male prostitutes; not a huge amount of them amongst our match going support I'd wager

Know one knows exactly how much player power/ loosing the dressing room has to do with our managers getting sacked- you don't seem to get many warts and all players biography's these days which used to retrospectively shed light on internal strife. Mourinho's second stint appeared to be a case, TT,most likely also. Probably more examples festooning our managerial carousel but who knows...