Bovis Messroom

Excellent performance and great reward for the travelling fans too. Really pleased Ramires scored. Massive improbvement from Drogs and what a goal. Can't fault any of the team tbh. And Josh, did he give away possession once? The lads going to be a star.

Frankly these views come as no suprise from these two. What's Gray up to now, offspring wise?. Five kids by four different mothers at the last count and tales that no Sky cheerleader was safe with him around. Keys has always come accross as smugness personified. Quite incredible to suggest that a official who'se come through the ranks "doesn't know the offside rule". As long as you're physically fit to keep up with play, know the laws of the game, have gained adequate experience, have a modicum of common sense and a decent pair of mince pies in your head, there's absolutely no problem with female officials in the professional game imo.

Brilliant player. Always remember him in the second half of that Champions League game at Highbury. Got the team pressing up the fielld with his positioning as we chased the equaliser. And it was his fierce shot that led to Lampards goal. I'm hoping Ramires can eventually fill the role or us.

Oi, I like to think I've been quite reasonable. :) Have also been a regular on the official chat for a few years and it's carnage on there at the mo. What needed to be sorted was the server, not the format which the vast majority were comfortable with.

I'd go for Ramires but have no problem if Ivan tops the poll. Ramires is improving with every game and I was amazed that some of our support were writing him off before he'd hardly settled.

Yep, I was there that day too...in the benches. And he's heading the wrong way for the office. :)

Very interesting. Not sure how the compiler of the map arrived at the results. I would have thought Fulham itself was roughly half and half between us and them. It's noticable that our support isnprobably more widespread than any other London club spreading out into not only the southern and western suburbs but up beyond known Chelsea strongholds like Kilburn. The map shows the area where I live, Ruislip, to be a mix of Chelsea and Watford but there's more QPR around here than them.

That's the aforementioned Kishmish now.

Yep. Chelaea are on the open terrace to the left. At the start of the match a mob of Cardiff showed up in the Main Stand near the away end. Bad move by them because there were loads more of us not only in the seats but in the paddock in front. If you look at the top left of the picture at the start of Part 1 of the series, you can just about see the aftermath of the aggro as Cardiffs mob got attacked from two sides and ended up getting cornered at the back of the stand. They had to be rescued by plod and as you can see they had to be taken out via the players tunnel and pitchside. The home fans on the big side terrace at first thought they were us and loads charged down to the corner to abuse them, haha. Later as the game went on and we went 0-3 behind, more and more of our lot started moving into the Canton Stand behind the goal. When we scored there's Chelsea celebrating on three sides of the ground. And to think Spackman had a goal disallowed not long before the comeback started. Great day out in the rain.

Blimey, May be biased but don't think there's a better stadium with such a variety of eateries in the vicinity. The Blue Elephant (Thai), El Metro (Spanish), Kishmish (Indian) are all a goal kick from Fulham Broadway station. A fry up? Try Cafe Blue in Jerdan Place. Literally loads of cafes, chicken and kebab takeaways, McDonalds , Chippys from Fulham Broadway into North End Road. Quite a variety in the Shopping Centre above the station too. Link here...... http://www.fulhambroadway.co.uk/eat.htm

Jeez, I love it when people try and diminish their own clubs and its managers achievements to back up their argument. Firstly Carlo at Milan took over a club that hadn't even qualified for the Champions League. A couple of years before they had even finished bottom of a CL group containing us, Galatasaray and Hertha Berlin. From that position he led them to three CL finals (winning two). Yes, he only won one Serie A title but remember Juventus denied Milan two other titles with their ref bribeing. Now to last seasons double. People seem quick to forget that we had not won the title in the three sesaons (even finishing third behind poxy Liverpool the previous one) when Carlo arrived. We only won it because of other teams weaknesses? Ask any Man Utd fan which has been their best side since the '99 treble winners and they'll say the '08 team when Ronaldo scored bucketloads. Well guess what? That side won the title with only ONE more point than we did last season. Factor in the record goals scored and goal difference and the fact that at least four of our title rivals have outspent us since 2006 underlines what an achievement it was. Maybe it'll prove the last hurrah of a great but ageing team but I know one thing. Winning an unprecedented double should earn you a certain amount of backing from those above you and all I've seen since is his squad weakened and trusted assistant sacked. It's sad to see some fans equally fairweather when we've hit a bad spell.

Kobenhaven or Lyon for me. Failing that Roma. Great cities to visit as well as watch football. After all these years of frustration and near misses, it could all come right for us just when everyone thought our best chances of winning 'big ears' had gone. Bring it on.

Although a load of Chelsea didn't get into WHL in '75, there was still a big group on the west side of the Park Lane end. We didn't have many at Hull for that cup game when Poyet scored a hat trick I think. Considering the importance of the match, we had a pretty bad turnout (numbers wise) for that play off at Middlesbrough in '88. Of course there's also been occasions when Chelsea fans were banned or we just wern't given a away allocation, Newcatle when they were rebuilding their ground. A few of us got tickets through a fellow fanzine writer up there and stood on the Gallowgate. Finished 0-0 so couldn't tell if we were the only blues in the ground.

Yeah Barnsley. Was at all those defeats, the first one on a freezing night the special arrived well late for the game. Blessing in disguise at the end. The one time I didn't go Vialli scores 4 in a 6-0 win in the sun. Bad days at Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Tranmere also spring to mind.

In London of course that Highbury game in '84 takes some beating. As well as the Clock End there were thousands in the seats and a large group on the North Bank. Big turnout there in '77 too. As well as the other games outside of London already mentioned, there's also Brighton and Portsmouth in 83/84, Derby in the FA Cup in '83(?), Man Utd on that Bank Holiday Monday in '87 when plod had to shove the mancs out of the side paddock to make room for more blues. In Europe Austria Memphis (Vienna) in '94 and AC Milan in '99 were impressive showings.

No probs. I've got quite a few videoss from the past including the 3-1 win at WHL in 86/87 when Hazard scored twice and the 7-0 away to Walsall with Durie getting five. Have a youtube account too so just need to get them converted from VHS, edit and upload them. Then get them added on here.

Cheers for these videos Bluebeard. I think you got a couple of dates wrong though and have left a comment on the John Hollins goal one. Would love to see the Hudson goal in the League Cup at WHL that got us to Wembley if it ever surfaces.

The 3-3 at Cardiff was in 83/84. Pishing with rain and I think we were 0-3 down with about 15 mins to go. I remember Spackman had a goal disallowed and everyone thinking there's no comeback now. Incredible finish to the game. I think the League cup quarter final up at Hillsbrough gets my vote though simply because of the occasion, the drama and Wednesday were fierce rivals of ours from the previous promotion season. Brilliant support we had up there that night too.

Well before the GLC and boroughs the old county of Middlesex extended over all of London north of the Thames right up to the river Lea in the east end so it's quite possible he could have played in schools football for them. Like many have said, he hasn't always made a big thing about his tiime with us over the years but it was a nice to read his comments in the Sunday People recently. Was proud of his time at Chelsea, mentioned being transferred against his wishes and said Drogba would have been a great back in his era too. Said he'd love to have had him as a strike partner back then. Would be good to see him have a half time lap of the SB pitch. Long overdue.

Row JJ is the back row for the majority of the MHL. It wasn't stated if the seat was 'restricted view' but in block 11 it should just be alright.

It's the cosy smugness of people who've been on that programme for far to long that gets me. If Lawrenson slouches any further he'll slip down the back of the bloody sofa. Hansen's okay and Lee Dixon is occasionally bearable but the format seriously needs freshening up.

Unfortunately I was just a bit to young for the finals in the early 70's. Have though been present at all the major semi finals and finals since including every game, home and away, to the '97 win. I too missed out on CL game at the library. Couldn't get a ticket despite travelling to Zilina and Lazio earlier in the competition. But the one that still rankles is missing my train up to Bolton in '83. To this day, my mates still go on about being amongst the 5,000 blues there in the pishing rain to see Flashers goal keep us out of the old third division. And I can only smile grimly.

Thnk gawd I went to the 2003 match there. I think we paid roughly a tenner for our tickets, which was still a mark up. Only had to pay 40p for a pint of beer and food was cheap too. Since then the slovaks have joined the EU and adopted the euro so I guess everything else will have been bumped up as well by now. I think Marseille is probably now our first preference of the group game destinations even if the stewards and plod were absolute tools last time. Pity, Zilina's a nice town and was a great visit last time.

Ah the ones at Spuds were always the best. Very un PC now but We shall not, we shall not be moved, We shall not, we shall not be moved, Just like a y*d who's standing on a five pence piece, We shall not be moved. Unfortunately poor old Glenda used to get it in the years before he became our manager. (To the 'Born is the king' tune) Hoddle, Hoddle, Hoddle, Hoddle, Born is the queen of Golders Green. Away in a manger, No crib for his bed, The little lord Jesus, Looked up and he said, Hoddle is a w**ker, Hoddle is a w**ker, lalalala And who could forget (To Terry Jacks 'Seasons in the sun') We had joy, we had fun, We had Tottenham on the run, But the joy didn't last, Coz the bar stewards ran to fast. :)

I actually thought the atmosphere at the Liverpool game was pretty good. The Arsenal one too. Suppose it varies depending what area your in. In general of course you are right and in my opinion it's down to three main factors. 1. Complacency. Yep the SB crowd really does seem to sit back and wait for that big win especially if an early goal is scored. We are certainly not alone in that respect. It's not helped by 2. The acoustics. They're are simply shocking in the MHL. It's the reason why you get different groups starting songs and chants at the same time. Because they can barely hear eachother. It's all not helped by the toursts and stuffed suits who decide to sit in there diluting the atmosphere and that brings me to probably the most important reason 3. The lack of a proper stand exclusively for the younger and most vocal of our support. When the old Shed terrrace was demolished, its occupants, myself included. relocated to all parts of the rebuilt stadium. I guess many ended up in the MHL but thy're scattered all over the place by and large and are interspersed with "Sit down" merchants. What's the solution? If and I hope we do remain at SB, I'd like to see the present Shed End replaced with a huge, single tiered stand. No luxury boxes, no overhanging upper tier restricting the view of people at the back of the lower seating. Design it with a cavernous roof and with sloping and angled surfaces that maximise the noise made. When it's built, the club could not only publicize but actively encourage the more raucous of our support to congregate there. This could be supplemented by offering cheap, affordable tickets to unaccompanied juveniles. You just don't see groups of youngsters and schoolmates coming to the modern Bridge and these made up a great many of those who stood on the old Shed. The thing is when you have a really noisey stand it gets the rest of the ground going. Of course the assorted accountants and moneymen would love to see a stand on all four sides of the ground that delivered maximum revenue with boxes and corporate seating but look at The Emirates, oh dear. In this case it would be great to see the club show a bit of foresight and initiative when our stadium future finally is resolved. Anyone seen Dortmunds stadium and that massive south terrace stand? That's my ideal design of a football stadium.