It was a sh*t hole - but it was our sh*t hole!

Think most grounds were the same and supporters felt the same.

Just been sent this,

Chelsea v Orient

Who was at this game, it was 5/5 1982, it was an end of season game, with nothing to play for, but has the distinction of being our lowest attendance since before the war. The game finished 2-2 against Orient. I just happend to take my camera this day and took many photos of the game and how empty the stadium was that night. It's amazing how many people say they were at this, if everyone that claims to have been at this game were there it would have been a full house. These were the days when we averaged 13,000 at home and took 5-10,000 away. Good old days.

Yep, was at that game.......no, really . Was a pools agent for the club back then and if you sold £10 worth of lines, you qualified for a free match ticket. So there I was in the north part of the east lower, later to become Gate 13 with a handful of others. Honestly the only thing I remember of that game was some bloke a few rows in front of me shouting to Orients keeper, ex hamster Mervyn Day. "Mervyn !!"......."Oii Mervyn". The crowd was so small and we were well away from The Shed so he could definately hear him but Day kept his eyes firmly fixed forward. This went on for 5 minutes........"Merv"......"Mervyn, mate". All his experience was probably telling him to resist but Day finally looked accross. He should have known what was coming...............

"Waaaaaannnnnnnkkkkkkeeeeerrrrrr". The chosen few didn't laugh.......much. :laugh2: :laugh2:

Just been sent this,

Chelsea v Orient

Who was at this game, it was 5/5 1982, it was an end of season game, with nothing to play for, but has the distinction of being our lowest attendance since before the war. The game finished 2-2 against Orient. I just happend to take my camera this day and took many photos of the game and how empty the stadium was that night. It's amazing how many people say they were at this, if everyone that claims to have been at this game were there it would have been a full house. These were the days when we averaged 13,000 at home and took 5-10,000 away. Good old days.

If that was the last game of the season it would have been my last home game before I moved out of London, I would have been there as I didn't miss a home game in all comps that season, closest I ever lived to the Bridge as well on the Maida Vale/Kilburn border, so just a short bus ride away.

Yep, was at that game.......no, really . Was a pools agent for the club back then and if you sold £10 worth of lines, you qualified for a free match ticket. So there I was in the north part of the east lower, later to become Gate 13 with a handful of others. Honestly the only thing I remember of that game was some bloke a few rows in front of me shouting to Orients keeper, ex hamster Mervyn Day. "Mervyn !!"......."Oii Mervyn". The crowd was so small and we were well away from The Shed so he could definately hear him but Day kept his eyes firmly fixed forward. This went on for 5 minutes........"Merv"......"Mervyn, mate". All his experience was probably telling him to resist but Day finally looked accross. He should have known what was coming...............

"Waaaaaannnnnnnkkkkkkeeeeerrrrrr". The chosen few didn't laugh.......much. :laugh2:

Football terracing humour eh

I was alerted to this thread because my site (missing link) is mentioned. I see some of my old photos on here and its great to see them. In 1981 I went to Sweden on pre-season tour. On return to the UK we met up in Exeter for the pre-season friendly. I had some tour photos with me and some people requested copies. During the next few weeks I kept on swapping photos. I took my camera to first away of season, (Cardiff) and on return I met up with Cathy M and Terry Last in Canon Street. (We all had city jobs back then). Terry suggested I took photos at every away game that season. Nuff said. Taking pictures at away games I had copies made and then sold them in the pubs around Chelsea the next home game. Not wanting to rip fans off I sold photos at cost or even (dunno why) at a loss. More and more fans asked for copies and It just escalated. A home game would start at 11.00 in the Swan and I would make my way around the "home" pubs. I sold on the specials and pushed out around 12 000 photos that season. Here are two pages with some examples. http://www.garryjones.se/cfc/ and http://www.garryjone...cfc/index3.html

Cathy (right) and Teena (left) on tour in Sweden 30 years ago. (Strömsund prior to the Strömsund 0 Chelsea 8 game, 1st August 1982).

And our "crew" at Cambridge University away, (23rd November 1981)

Back row, left to right: Chelsea Steve, Terry Last, Dean Self (RIP)

Front row, left to right: Punky (Telford) Alan & (Punky) Steve Tombs

I might one day get back onto that missing link site. I have hundreds more photos anyway....

Edited January 20, 201214 yr by GarryJones

And here is Fillery taking a corner in that game away against Cambridge University.

Edited January 20, 201214 yr by GarryJones

The first match of the 1981 tour of Sweden was against IFK Västerås at the Arosvallen ground.

I took these pictures that night.

August 11th 1981

Edited January 20, 201214 yr by GarryJones

That day - 11th August 1981 was the day it all began for me. I emigrated to Sweden in 1988. Sweden has been good to me and I have kids here and a great job. I recall that Chelsea trip that opened new horizons for me. I live 300 km from Västerås. Last summer I went on a personal journey and revisted the town and the ground 30 years on to the very day. I bought three flowers for three special people and took the following photo at kick-off time 30 years on to the very minute. I observed a minute's silence. For the fallen. For the Chelsea, players and fans that are no longer with us.

Shed end 81/82

From Shed End after Sheff Weds 5th December 1981. (W-2-1)

Entry to ground (81/82)

Welcome to the site, Garry - great to see your pics. I've had your website in my bookmarks for about 10 years and keep going back to check it's still there, as it brings back amazing memories. My first match at the Bridge was in 1976, when your site's coverage starts, so it's definitely my era as well.

Thanks for coming onto our site, Garry, some great pictures mate. hope you stick around

I have a mirror of the site, just in case the old address goes down.

http://members.tripod.com/~Chelsea76_83/

Just found this. An early animated gif of mine before all these proffessional image programs came out. I have outlined the fans from the shed and moved them slightly to create several new images. Then by merging and looping I created the following effect.

In reality it is just one picture, which I took seconds after Rhodes-Brown scored against Liverpool, F.A. Cup 5th Round 13th February 1982.

Having set a record of 6 q/f's in 6 seasons (1964/65-1969/1970), Chelsea missed out on the q/f in 1970/71 only to return in 1971/72 making in 7 out of 8.

Incredibly the next 19 seasons then saw us making the q/f on just one occasion. This was the day, in the hunt of major honours this was as successful as it got for 20 years.

I made this picture in 1997, these fans have now been cheering that goal for 14 years.

I

Edited January 21, 201214 yr by GarryJones

Gary i'm so glad you've joined this site mate, i've had your missing link site saved for years, its one of the best CFC related sites on the net, my first game wasnt until 79 so your pictures of the Bridge takes me right back to where it all started for me.

I know a few of the lads/lasses you mention, punky Al was with us in Glasgow in aug, Steve Tombs comes from my area but now lives in Manchester, another lad who i know & who was on that Sweden trip is Paul Feeney from Bow, Cathy(everyone knows Cathy lol) not sure if you know but Cathy is on facebook & also on twitter CFCCATH.

As you can tell from this thread, old pictures & video's of Chelsea is something that i'm really interested in, i'd love to see the pictures you have especially any of Chelsea's away support back in the 70s/80s before football became sanitised.

Thanks for a great site & welcome aboard i hope you become a regular poster on here, regards CB.

Edited January 21, 201214 yr by Carshalton Blue

Haha, of course I know Cathy is on Facebook, we often post on each other's walls. I often comment on her threads anyways. Paul Feeney, yes he was in Sweden. Here is another shot of the crowd from August 11th 1981. And a picture taken 30 years on to the minute. 18.15 August 11th 2011. Can you help me name or identify anymore in this picture?

And 2011..

Edited January 21, 201214 yr by GarryJones

Haha, of course I know Cathy is on Facebook, we often post on each other's walls. I often comment on her threads anyways. Paul Feeney, yes he was in Sweden. Here is another shot of the crowd from August 11th 1981. And a picture taken 30 years on to the minute. 18.15 August 11th 2011. Can you help me name or identify anymore in this picture?

And 2011..

Lol weird thing is i'm not on facebook myself!

The lad pictured from Blackpool could that be Dave Beatty? i've met him a few times but now he's in his 50s & got no hair, i'm 41 so in 81 would have only been 11, but have met the likes of PF/DB ect in recent years.

Lol weird thing is i'm not on facebook myself!

The lad pictured from Blackpool could that be Dave Beatty? i've met him a few times but now he's in his 50s & got no hair, i'm 41 so in 81 would have only been 11, but have met the likes of PF/DB ect in recent years.

Get on facebook, we are about 150 Chelsea fans that have added each other and we exchange chat lines, posts and old memories regularly.

The Blackpool lad was in Sweden in 81. On the pre-season of 82 he suddenly turned up in Strömsund for the one game and we met him in the town before kickoff, but we didn't see him at the game or afterwards or ever again. But we had these fans back then based around the country. Also hidden in that picture are the 3 lads from Selby that used to go home and áway. Then we had the nealy blind fan with the white stick that we used to see all over the country. Not to mention Keith from Leicester (so I wont).

But this is a great photo of Cathy and Teena at the IFK Mariehamn v Chelsea game on the Finnish island of Åland. Chelsea won 6-1. We did a conga on the pitch at half-time.

Just behind Cathy on the bench (and it really was a bench) you can see physio Norman Medhurst, Chelsea star forward Alan Mayes and that might just be Micky Nutton or Gary Chivers behind and just to the left of Norman. (Now who remembers the name of Norman's father who used to play in goal for us, and does anyone remember the chant "Norman, Norman give us a wave" everytime he had been on the pitch and was passing us as he walked back along the sidelines to the Chelsea dugout?)

Great to see you pics Garry, look forward to some more and possibly seeing myself. Have also viewed your site on previous occasions and felt like I could identify with it.

Get on facebook, we are about 150 Chelsea fans that have added each other and we exchange chat lines, posts and old memories regularly.

The Blackpool lad was in Sweden in 81. On the pre-season of 82 he suddenly turned up in Strömsund for the one game and we met him in the town before kickoff, but we didn't see him at the game or afterwards or ever again. But we had these fans back then based around the country. Also hidden in that picture are the 3 lads from Selby that used to go home and áway. Then we had the nealy blind fan with the white stick that we used to see all over the country. Not to mention Keith from Leicester (so I wont).

But this is a great photo of Cathy and Teena at the IFK Mariehamn v Chelsea game on the Finnish island of Åland. Chelsea won 6-1. We did a conga on the pitch at half-time.

Just behind Cathy on the bench (and it really was a bench) you can see physio Norman Medhurst, Chelsea star forward Alan Mayes and that might just be Micky Nutton or Gary Chivers behind and just to the left of Norman. (Now who remembers the name of Norman's father who used to play in goal for us, and does anyone remember the chant "Norman, Norman give us a wave" everytime he had been on the pitch and was passing us as he walked back along the sidelines to the Chelsea dugout?)

To be honest mate i'm not that much a fan of Facebook & have always said i'll never join it, though after some of my mates have been on & on at me about it i have been thinking recently of joing it just for the Chelsea side of things maybe with my nickname(Cathy knows it) rather than my real name, if/when i do join up i'll let you know.

Yeah i remember Norman Medhurst & the chant, he always did give us a wave especially the travelling hordes of Chelsea at away games, his dad was Harry, here he is in action though not as a goalie.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/chelsea-f-c-physiotherapist-at-work

I dug out some footage of Harry Medhurst playing. Its the q/f cup 4th March 1950. Chelsea v Man Utd

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/wembley-here-we-come/

(We lost the semi to Arsenal in a replay).

What is interesting is that I have believed a myth for 41 years ever since I read it in a Chelsea book printed in 1969 edited by Albert Sewell. He states that "Chelsea were the butt of music hall joke until Ted Drake took over in 1952". In this film from 1950 the commentator makes that actual remark, saying Chelsea - for so long the butt of music-hall jokes are now to be taken seriously. Seems Albert had it wrong, at least by a couple of years and as we know Billy Birrell was manager until the summer of 52. Nice on Billy. I always said he was responsible for the foundations of the team that Drake took over.

I dug out some footage of Harry Medhurst playing. Its the q/f cup 4th March 1950. Chelsea v Man Utd

http://www.britishpa...y-here-we-come/

(We lost the semi to Arsenal in a replay).

What is interesting is that I have believed a myth for 41 years ever since I read it in a Chelsea book printed in 1969 edited by Albert Sewell. He states that "Chelsea were the butt of music hall joke until Ted Drake took over in 1952". In this film from 1950 the commentator makes that actual remark, saying Chelsea - for so long the butt of music-hall jokes are now to be taken seriously. Seems Albert had it wrong, at least by a couple of years and as we know Billy Birrell was manager until the summer of 52. Nice on Billy. I always said he was responsible for the foundations of the team that Drake took over.

I've always believed that Ted Drake changed our nickname to the Blues from the Pensioners because of the music hall joke tag, i didnt know that or at least forgot about Billy Birrel, you learn something new everyday mate.

There's some good old footage on that British pathe site.

Thats the way I remember it. However the losing the music-hall joke tag was at least mentioned in 1950. I wonder if any older fans can shed some light on this.

Thats the way I remember it. However the losing the music-hall joke tag was at least mentioned in 1950. I wonder if any older fans can shed some light on this.

Problem there could be a lack of fans who can still remember that far back, I'll ask me dad next time I talk to him but don't think his memory's all it was.

> Problem there could be a lack of fans who can still remember that far back

Oh yeah, we are not "The pensioners" any more. My wish in the 70's was for our boys to take an end dressed up in those red tunics that the Chelsea pensioners wear. I hated violence but that would have been funny.

Wow, that's amazing! There's pictures from Chelsea's tour of Sweden and Finland, even from the ground of the team I support at home. IFK Mariehamn.

1982

I am in the top photo - 20 years old and still innocent - what memories!