LOFTYBILL

Can't comment prior to 75-76 season. I did go to away games before that but don't recall much about them. For those younger fans who weren't there that season was our first in the old 2nd division after the relegation of the previous season. From the very first away game it seemed that an unwritten rule had been agreed upon, namely that every home end should be taken or at least a good attempt made. Myself and five or six mates from Basingstoke were not into the fisticuffs side of following Chelsea but enjoyed the thrill of seeing the home fans flee so much that we invariably went into the home end ( usually pissed). So from Sunderland (not easy that one) to Plymouth the local old bill and and general population became frightened whenever Chelsea were in town. The Bolton match was typical of the time. We arrived in Bolton two to three hours before the match on a normal Intercity train, change in Preston ( or was it Wigan), having consumed the obligatory six cans of Skol, Heineken whatever. We had quickly learnt on our travels that the best places to drink were often the clubs own supporters club bar outside the ground or a local working mans club. Invariably we bluffed our way into these establishments and enjoyed downing a large quantity of the local brew. Bolton had a great supporters club bar in the main stand so that's where we spent a happy couple of hours quaffing and chatting to the locals. We staggered out about twenty minutes before kick off and somehow made it into the Lever Stand. We were all tanked up and bleary eyed but we reckognised a few other Chelsea around us. The small mob above began to sing and we and other small groups joined in, can't remember the song though. The end was fairly full but emptied fast. Panicked looking Bolton fans ran past us heading for the pitch or the exit, we had a hard job remaining upright in our inebriated state as they streamed past. About fifty of us had taken there end, without a punch being thrown I would guess. Feeling well chuffed we looked over the pitch and saw thousands of fans passing each other, Chelsea coming towards us and Bolton going the other way. Just another Saturday afternoon following CFC around England in the mid seventies. With my fading memory cells and the amount of beer consumed in those days I'm amazed I can recall any of it still. I'll try and drag up some more memories for you all if I can. PS. I've been in dozens of away ends, don't remember all of them but apart from the smaller clubs Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle and Aston Villa would be among them.

Yes your right, he did come over all self rightcheous didn't he. He wasn't much better at commenting on the football either.

bluebeard I was also at the game in York. If I remember rightly it was freezing cold with snow flurries and there was a worry that the game would be called off. I don't remember much about the game itself but do remember drinking in a pub owned by an ex Chelsea player, for the life of me I can't remember his name, perhaps someone can enlighten me. Do you remember the kung fu kicker at the Palace game? If I'm correct it was a guy called Arthur Peploe from Basingstoke who was into martial arts and a bit loopy. The kick failed, he missed his target and got tangled up in a crash barrier! Sad to say Arthur passed away about five years ago, he was the same age as me.

I agree with a lot of the posters on here that West Ham and Millwall were pretty unpleasant places to go as a Chelsea fan but what about some of the smaller grounds such as Cardiff and Bristol Rovers. I remember getting a bit of a smacking at Eastville in Bristol ( their old ground) and a couple of seasons later my brother, who supported Newcastle, also received a dose. The walk to and from Ninian Park was also a bit hair raising. Another place that could be dangerous was Burnley. It was not only the big clubs that could prove dangerous, there was often a surprise waiting in the unlikeliest of places.

Mike, No I didn\'t know them not by name anyway, used to travel up from Basingstoke with about five other\'s.

just counted them up, been to 66 league grounds in England/Wales. Plus Turin, Rome, Naples in Italy with England ( 1980 Euro\'s) Hampden Park ( England game) and Olympiakos ground in Athens.

I started out in the middle of the shed for my first season in\'73 then quickly migrated to the north stand. I loved standing at the top of the slope and watch the opposition file past. They had a worried look as they saw us, a \' those are the bar stewards that are going to kick the sh*t out of me\' look. I never actually did though, I liked watching more than the participation. Later back to the shed t bar area and then after the rebuild shed upper and occasionally MH upper.

Perhaps if the site name was changed to northstand.com it would let me in, just a thought.

Thanks. My nickname in those days was Lofty, hence the user name, unfortunate that the other lofty was banned, we'll see what Mod say's. Maybe it's a security problem with my own PC, can't see what though.

dkw Yes I've tried that, currently using Firefox, switched to IE same problem

Thanks your right I don't have enough posts. if you could PM him please I'd be grateful, all this farting around with proxies is doing my head in.

Sorry moi, missed your post, how do I PM him?

Great sarcasm dkw! Doesn't solve my connection problem though. Could it be that the site is blocking my access as I am located in West Africa?

I can't access theshedend.com without using a proxy. I get an error message from the site telling me I am unauthorised to enter. Any ideas, thanks in advance.

I would go for Peter Houseman, he could put the ball on a sixpence from the left wing and surely anyone must be better than Malouda!

My first Chelsea match was in October 1972 against Newcastle Utd. My father was originally from the north east and was an avid supporter of the Geordies but I chose at an early age to follow the team my mother supported, namely Chelsea. My father had already taken myself and my younger brother ( who became a Newcastle fanatic) to see the black and whites twice, once at Southampton and memorably in 1971 to St James Park to watch Malcolm Mcdonald's debut against the Scousers. Also I had been a number of times to watch my local team Reading play at Elm Park. I remember being very excited to finally be going to the Bridge to see the Pensioners. I think we must have travelled by car from where we lived near Basingstoke but my memory is very hazy about that. We stood on the North stand terraces amongst the few Newcastle fans that were there. Of the match I remember little, only that it ended in a 1-1 draw. I can remember spending most of the game looking about me in awe of the huge ground and ( to an inexperienced sixteen year old) the large noisy crowd. I also remember that only three sides of the ground were occupied by spectators, as the old east stand had been demolished and was a pile of rubble. I know that I came away from the match vowing to return as soon as possible, I had been hooked by Chelsea and Stamford Bridge! I apologise for not recalling more but the old memory cells are not what they used to be!

hello Mod, sorry about the misunderstanding, I realize what happened now. I'm currently on a proxy as the only means of accessing the site.

Thanks for the info. I now seem to have a problem entering the website, I get an error message saying 'sorry you don't have permission for that'. Any ideas anyone?

Hi all, I must have got the wrong end of the stick yesterday, I apologise but I distinctly saw a post from Mod with the following expression ' shhhhhhite' or very similar, maybe he was addressing his plumbing issue. For those of you who may be worried I am not the guy who was called Lofty, although I think I may know him if it's the same bloke from the 70's, he was even taller than me about six eight I would say, didn't know him personally but if you went as often as I did you couldn't fail to see him. As a matter of interest why was he banned?

Thank you Moi, can you tell me is MOD abusive to every newbie or is it just me?

Hello all, I felt all nostalgic this morning and after typing 'Danny Arkins' into google found this website. I went to my first game at the Bridge in 1972 and last in 2001, in between managed to fit in up to a thousand matches, home and away. I now live in West Africa so getting to matches is a bit of a problem! Signed onto this site as it appears to have quite a lot of chat on the old days. Hope to have some fun on here, I remain Blue through and through!