Harrow's finest.

a lot of spuds boycotted the game as we were asking I think, £25 a seat.

was chatting to a pal recently about old times and chels groups from other parts and he reminded me about the lads from Hastings who approached us in a big old pub in Manchester about 2hrs before kick off on that Friday night in may '84. we pulled in to the car park in a transit van and saw a wrecked minibus in the opposite corner. It belonged to them and they'd left it there previously to go off and venture around the city centre.On their return,the guvnor informed them it had been attacked just after they'd left and they were now stranded albeit it was a hire van so weren't too bothered. we had a full van so couldn't help 'em get to Maine rd but remember seeing their flag in the ground later. presume there's still a decent following from down there?

they keep trying dont they! How about BW? Or SJ (RIP little fella) Both "well known"....

85', millwall at ours in the cup when they started a fire on the NS terrace? was in the east stand upper and there were plenty of them up amongst the seats but we all seemed a bit subdued for some reason. 300 + older faces at Solihull(?) pre match for Brum away a few years ago got respect from everyone."We thought you lot had all gone away".

when we moved out the Ifield we started drinking in the white hart and used to love looking over the road and picking out any away brave souls who came out the station exit opposite. occasionally one or two would venture over for a beer as a badge of honour to tell their mates no doubt.I can remember a giant Geordie in his team shirt standing at the back bar drinking his pint without being bothered by anyone. also the night we beat Everton 4-1 in the league cup(rooney, rooney, time for bed!) and 2 young scallies thought it would be funny to climb on a table,again in the back bar, and start chanting their teams name.they didn't finish the first verse before being grabbed off the table and 'helped' out the back down the alley. I bet that was a sore journey home.

84,home from Grimsby via Donny where our coach was wrecked by dirty Leeds.waited in a lay-by freezing until a replacement came up from London. home at around 9 the following morning. Last year,15hrs back from Amsterdam because of 2 accidents outside Calais. Fog at Stansted on the way to Stockholm in 98 delayed our flight 5hrs then overbooked flights home and a truncheon shaped bruise to keep me awake. 86, heavy snow coming back from Shrewsbury ruined our Saturday night out! it's that positive negative karma sh*t...

just remembered that for some reason,The Deane Arms in south Ruislip had a group of gooners in there.

no pal, I'm not TH but I know him.SE wasn't the manager TL was. I try not to do names on any forums available to the public for obvious reasons. As previously said there will be a big turnout for one of own this wed with plenty of reminiscing about the old days. Villa away with the drunken coach driver;on the way to Manure in '88 when 3 minibuses of Spuds from our area tried to settle old scores on the M1; Derby away with the flying seats.stories that always get an airing at weddings and funerals.

mirabeaus eh? sunday mornings in McDs ? we were some team back then and yeh we were mostly made up of Chels including our keeper and Blues brother from north of the border ET, or SE as he was known. Sadly we've just lost one and his funeral this Wednesday at St.Jo's in Wealdstone will be well attended by a lot of old faces from those days. it's a sad business this getting old thing.

8- hole DM's,10-hole dick turpins,a nice pair of black wing tips with quarter irons on the heels. Got money? a Ben Sherman.not so loaded?Brutus trimfit.getting by? fine pattern Jaytex. grandad cardigans with buttons like toffees,P Of W check trousers and a maroon Harrington with an aluminium comb in the pocket. black leather gloves and an umbrella in later years too. similar to others iv'e got a pair of " Loakes" handmade ox blood/reddish brown gloss leather dealer boots that after 5 years are still as good as the first day. We had style and a neat tidy appearance back then. never mind yer beards, baggy T-shirts and ripped jeans!

Harrow was well represented but most of us have now moved away to the suburbs even further as our old town is now an absolute khazi. from the early 70's you'd have seen both the Black bull and the Ifield full of harrow chels and they were ever present at any of the aforementioned high profile and well remembered games such as Bristol rovers,luton,cardiff,sheff wed,grimsby,sp*ds,that mental day at BHA etc. the Friday night at maine rd seemed to include from our town everyone who'd ever been. Saturday evenings at Baker st were always lively as there were a lot of Arse from nearby Kenton and Kingsbury and Sp*ds from Wealdstone all using the Met line to get home. long gone days much missed.

initially the malsters then for years we drank in the Ifield.it used to be full of lads from our area and if we drove up there,the guvnor would take our keys and move the motors if OB complained about the double parking!after evening games some of the players would come in for a light ale too.There used to be a firm from another part of our town that we never saw eye to eye with who drank in the black bull and walking past there to the ground was occasionally lively.as times moved on we took up residence in the white hart then the dray and 7 stars.nowadays most dont go anymore but some still get in the POW after the tournament shut down.miss those times when you didnt have to arrange anything cos you knew all your pals would be there as usual.

Good days long gone W55.we used to run buses and coaches from harrow and probably knew some of the Preston boys.When we won at grimsby in 84 our coach went in to Donny for the evening and Sunderland were on their way back from Leicester (i think!)and were in the saloon whilst we were in the lounge.Banter turned to insults and then a dustbin came thru the window and we charged outside and run em off.we then went further in to town and came back later to find our coach with no windows thanks to some Leeds according to OB.we had to wait for a replacement coach to come from London and got back about 9am.I'm sure we dropped some lads of at the Century and the Preston after.The Arse that used to go in there were the same firm from the surrey arms in kingsbury and i still see some of them occasionally.

evening all."The Stones"are a well supported team with a large ex and current Chels following many of whom were/are well known from years gone by.It'll be a good day with old faces L,R and centre so come down and put a few £ in their pockets.

Harrow chels leading the way again!

Left Dam at 12.15pm,drove back to Calais via Gent for grub.Stuck on motorway for over 2 hrs near Lille then got within 10 mins of the eurotunnel and motorway shut again.Another hour and a half crawling thru detour route in suburbs of Calais with every truck from europe eventually getting back in to England at gone midnight and home at 1.30 am. 13 hours in the motor but did it matter? Of course not.Maybe we should apply for planning permission to turn No heart Lane in to our enlarged trophy room.

"there's a bloke with a crombie and a trilby on his head, he says he's the leader of the chelsea shed... "Run tottenham run tottenham run,run,run....

By the way, I don't think I ever went on one of Hickey's coaches, but knew him of old, way back when he was just one of that lot from Tunbridge Wells. Similar to that.Everyone knew there were different groups from all over but you probably didn't know them individually and didn't really care as long as they were Chels and appeared when required as in the away support sense.We were too busy doing our own coaches etc to think about tagging on to any others. Blimey anytime now whenever in new company and you mention the Chelsea thing,the amount of times you're asked if you knew the lot from Woking/Battersea/Hastings etc,or any other town in the south east. Sometimes,It was more about what pub you drank in than where you were from which gave you an identity.If you were away you'd see people from the Brittania,Ifield,Dray,Stars or Imperial and even without colours be able to make a familiar connection.Or just a nod from a distance was enough to proclaim to your pals "they're Chelsea". Unlike today their wasn't a lot of flags or banners and even fewer of those had your town or postcode on.

when we came out the ground we were heading back to our coach and took a detour to get food in a back street chippy.once we were all crammed in the queue the accents got noticed and during the following shenanigans i can remember a copper on horseback trying to get in to the shop or blocking the doorway at least as we were trying to squeeze out.lots of noise etc eventually spooked the horse and we charged out into the night without grub and a few bruises to nurse on the way home.A real sh*t night out and never liked them dirty mackems since.

hello lads I was at school with Shane in the 70's and he was a top funny bloke.remember him coming in with his DM's painted a different colour every week and getting detentions for it.he was 3 years older than me but his other half was in my class.He was well known around our part of town and when he passed on approx 8-10 years ago,I can remember everyone remarking how they just couldnt beleive we wouldnt see him again.He was a real character and he had 1 or maybe 2 macaws that were taller than him!On the Chels side of things he was famous for a certain incident in Manchester way back when involving a short period of silence("any of you cockney b******** in here?") in a city centre pub followed by a chair/large mirror combo.Booze and fags got the better of him in the end but was a genuinely funny man.