Fantastic photo above of the supporters at  Fulham v Chelsea !

.................................so the Chelsea shed boys LL be running after you...............Chelsea chelsea

Stamford Bridge in 1935

Stamford Bridge in 1935

we were well ahead of the times with leaders of the terrace chants

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDfiFgfxgyVylkhg0daEE4qwvAoTpixrVtQYaS2DRa4ZEY352lug

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT5NjU6r_SueVDX5ekFBZeX7txiGG7FZOI8XxQz5vLCh1AkF3y3

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS5ilmQok4uMjWYvFOc9qyEDDvFNoDX9V0O48-3xNtDWpzenEFd

Found a reference to Robert Whiting at an exhibition on WW1. He was a goalkeeper who signed for us in 1906 and played 54 games before moving on. He was killed in action in 1917.

 

http://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/bob-whiting-big-kicker-and-casualty-of-war/

 

Bob Whiting: big kicker and casualty of war

12 Jun

On the day that England played their first match of Euro 2012, it seems apt to remember one of the many professional footballers who lost their lives in the Great War. Londoner Bob Whiting was a goalkeeper who joined the Footballers’ Battalion in 1914. He was killed in action in April 1917.

Robert Whiting was born in Canning Town in 1883; after his mother died in 1900 he worked as a dock labourer and later in ship-building in the London docks. After starting work at the Thames Iron Works Company, he joined their football team as a goalkeeper. The team had recently been re-named as West Ham United. Unable to get into the first team, Whiting moved to Kent to play for Tunbridge Wells Rangers. In 1906 we was signed for Chelsea FC and got his chance to since when their regular goalkeeper was injured at the start of the following season.  He played 54 games for Chelsea before 1908, when he moved on again, this time to Brighton and Hove Albion, for whom he played 320 matches.

Bob ‘Pom Pom’ Whiting

Whiting acquired the nick-name ‘Pom Pom’ – after the heavy machine-guns used by the British Army. The pom-pom gun was basically a scaled-up Maxim machine-gun that fired a one-pound round and apparently made a ‘pom pom’ noise when it was fired. Whiting’s goal kicks were so powerful that they reminded people of this deadly weapon.

After war was declared in 1914, many men joined the army – particularly after the battle of Mons in late August. By late autumn, the authorities felt that further encouragement was needed and the famous ‘pals’ units became a major tool in recruitment, allowing men to join up with people from their town or profession. One of these was the 1st Footballers’ Battalion – later known as the 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment – which Whiting joined (aged 30) on the day it was established in December 1914.

In May 1916, after six months on the Western Front, Whiting was sent back to the UK as unfit with scabies. His wife Nellie was able to stay in Brighton where he was recuperating and got pregnant with their third son. When the time came to return to France, Whiting instead deserted and stayed in the UK with his wife. He was absent from his unit for 133 days, for which he was demoted from Lance-Sergeant to Private and was sentenced to 9 months’ hard labour.

The following year his sentence was suspended and he rejoined his unit in time for the start of the Arras offensive in April. Private R. Whiting is one of the 1,969 British and Imperial soldiers commemorated on the Arras memorial who were killed on the same day on 28th April 1917 but have no known graves (and one of the 35,000 named on the memorial in total).

When news reached England of his death, a scurrilous rumour had it that Whiting had in fact been shot for cowardice rather than killed in battle. His wife provided a Sussex newspaper with copies of letters from his officers and the unit’s padre attesting to his honourable death by shellfire near Vimy Ridge. What unneccessary extra suffering such a rumour must have caused this grieving widow.

In 2010 a memorial was created for soldiers whose graves were never found, on the anniversary of the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. Bob Whiting was one of the men remembered on that memorial. His war story is one of service and sacrifice, but also of the competing sense of duty that many men felt between their family and their nation.

Stamford Bridge in 1935

Stand up if you hate Tottenham

Stand up.....

Edited August 2, 201411 yr by Backbiter

Chelsea v Southampton 86/87

 

Not a great crowd CB.

Not a great crowd CB.

One of our infamous 11,000 gates mate, game was Easter Monday & a 11.30am kick off, not that's any sort sort of excuse.

 

If you take Southampton's numbers as well, approx. only 10,000 Chelsea turned up.

One of our infamous 11,000 gates mate, game was Easter Monday & a 11.30am kick off, not that's any sort sort of excuse.

 

If you take Southampton's numbers as well, approx. only 10,000 Chelsea turned up.

 

Quite depressing looking at those pics. Hold my hand up that i was'nt at that one.

But we did turn up we had a few bad crowds them days l still did not miss a game

Chelsea vs. Man U, January 9th 1971.

 

Chopper Harris scares the sh*t out of a Man U player (Pat Crerand?) twice his size:

 

You can never have too many pictures of Chopper in action!  Thanks for that, Tommy D!

I think it's a bloke called Alan Gowling T.D.

Yep, I reckon you're right; thanks for clearing that up.

 

Chopper Harris scares the sh*t out of Alan Gowling it is!

Great pic and Ronnie wearing Gola football boots which were the first boots i ever bought. My fav Chopper Harris stories, My mate's dad told me him and David Webb had a row and decided to have a straightner on the main entrance after training. Webby said it didn't last long and ended up with me on my arse. We played Burnley in his last season and i remember wincing when he literally scythed this geezer in half. The bloke was in agony and after lengthy treatment got up and was looking for revenge. He tackled Chopper a few minutes later but Ronnie saw it coming and the bloke made minimal contact but Chopper started writhing on the ground in agony. The Burnley player got booked and was completely losing the plot, Ronnie Harris got up huge grin on his face and gave the Shed the thumbs up. Chelsea Legend.

From when we played Moscow Dynamo in 1945. Rather than it being an original colour photo it looks like a black and white picture which has been coloured in. Still, a cracking photo. People are perched on top of the old East Stand.