I know all clubs were probably fiddling the gate back then, but sometimes wonder how they got away with it.

Suprised Inland Revenue didn’t snoop around more- maybe they did but couldn’t prove anything?

The biggest joke ever had to be Southampton in the League Cup in 82 I think- Keegan was playing and was a big crowd draw at the time.

The official attendance was around 28,000, which gave everyone a good laugh.

 

CFC AWAY - WEST HAM 1 CHELSEA 2 85 - 86  

Highlights.

1 hour ago, Boyne said:

Ah, is that the 'Executive Lounge Portacabin' in the bottom picture ?

20 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

I know all clubs were probably fiddling the gate back then, but sometimes wonder how they got away with it.

Suprised Inland Revenue didn’t snoop around more- maybe they did but couldn’t prove anything?

The biggest joke ever had to be Southampton in the League Cup in 82 I think- Keegan was playing and was a big crowd draw at the time.

The official attendance was around 28,000, which gave everyone a good laugh.

 

 The official attendance given at this match away v Morton was 8,000. My old man was at this game and reckons They 'accidentally forgot' 10,000 !

He always stated this was as big a crowd that night as he'd ever been in at  Cappielow Park.

 From the great bounder friardale site.

Charlie Cooke was injured and so didn't play against his home town side.

From our game at Anfield on 30 November. I was at the match. It finished 1-1 with Nevin scoring our goal. The thing I remember most about the match were the hundreds of Rangers fans in the away fans.

Coming from a Rangers supporting background I was able to join in singing their songs along with ours. A great day out.

55 minutes ago, erskblue said:

Ah, is that the 'Executive Lounge Portacabin' in the bottom picture ?

I wonder if the picture was taken on a non-match day or when we played QPR. Difficult to tell the difference.

To quote someone (sorry I can't recall who) who posted a while back:

If Carlsberg made football teams.

6 hours ago, erskblue said:

First picture:A young John Wark is No 6 for Ipswich I think.

Before he got captured and played for the Allies in 'Escape to Victory' !

Got to say Ersk I always thought the likes of John Wark, Kenny Burns, Joe Jordan and Souness if they weren't professional footballers they would have been on the pitch at Wembley 77. Swigging the obligatory can of McEwan's tartan bitter all day and going home with half of the pitch . Edit: and this Chelsea legend ?

 

Edited April 15, 20197 yr by bluehaze

7 hours ago, Ewell CFC said:

I know all clubs were probably fiddling the gate back then, but sometimes wonder how they got away with it.

Suprised Inland Revenue didn’t snoop around more- maybe they did but couldn’t prove anything?

The biggest joke ever had to be Southampton in the League Cup in 82 I think- Keegan was playing and was a big crowd draw at the time.

The official attendance was around 28,000, which gave everyone a good laugh.

 

Some of it was done by the club, but the old gate men could keep their foot down on and the peddle and pocket the money as it was the days of pay on the gate. No point now as it’s tickets and season tickets.

17 hours ago, Boyne said:

I wonder if the picture was taken on a non-match day or when we played QPR. Difficult to tell the difference.

Very true mate

16 hours ago, Boyne said:

To quote someone (sorry I can't recall who) who posted a while back:

If Carlsberg made football teams.

If Carlsberg did football seasons...

12 hours ago, bluehaze said:

Got to say Ersk I always thought the likes of John Wark, Kenny Burns, Joe Jordan and Souness if they weren't professional footballers they would have been on the pitch at Wembley 77. Swigging the obligatory can of McEwan's tartan bitter all day and going home with half of the pitch . Edit: and this Chelsea legend ?

 

Ah yes, Derek Johnstone.

10 hours ago, Richard P said:

Some of it was done by the club, but the old gate men could keep their foot down on and the peddle and pocket the money as it was the days of pay on the gate. No point now as it’s tickets and season tickets.

Remember as a child being 'lifted over the turnstile' when the game wasn't all ticket.

This was 'a footballing tradition' for kids in Scotland going to games certainly in the 1970s.

With the introduction of more then all seated stadiums it ceased,

So the attendance didn't include them.

'Curiously the 1953-54 season began on a Wednesday - the only time in the history of English football this has ever happened.'

The Football League had, for the first time, agreed a deal with BBC for a live broadcast of the 1954 FA Cup Final.'

And so, in their wisdom  they brought forward (by an entire season !) the fixtures designated for the  Cup Final Day to the Wednesday preceding 22nd August, the original date for the opening of the season.'

 'Tommy Docherty My Story.' page 80

Never knew that !

Edited April 16, 20197 yr by erskblue

Just checked our opening fixture on bounder friardale site.

Man Utd 1-1 Chelsea

Wednesday, 19th August 1953 at 18:30

28,936 saw it.

Our scorer: Phil McNichol in the 39th minute.

19 hours ago, erskblue said:

CFC AWAY - WEST HAM 1 CHELSEA 2 85 - 86  

Highlights.

Was a great night. I had a great view of Pat's headed goal from a cross by Kerry. Was usually Pat crossing for Dixon or Speedie. Was revenge for them beating us 4-0 at the Bridge a couple of weeks before.

1 hour ago, erskblue said:

Remember as a child being 'lifted over the turnstile' when the game wasn't all ticket.

This was 'a footballing tradition' for kids in Scotland going to games certainly in the 1970s.

With the introduction of more then all seated stadiums it ceased,

So the attendance didn't include them.

The Villa Cup Final doubled up through the main gate turnstile with a mate who had a ticket. Thought I’d made it. Got caught by a nosey parker steward as we all shuffled up on our seats and slung out.

Not sure how true but there’s a story about a fella in the queue with his ticket held out which got eaten by an OB horse. Bit dog eat me homework.

Just thinking about the turnstile operators having their own fiddles, which would have made Bates go garrity ( Was there space for anyone in the turnstile huts other than the operators. I don’t think there would have been room for checkers to make sure all was above board) You couldn’t place someone outside cause they’d have been bang in the way.

.... knows?

Edit: Can’t remember the game but definately paid cash to a Shed turnstile operator for an all ticket event.

Edited April 16, 20197 yr by Ewell CFC

20 hours ago, Ewell CFC said:

I know all clubs were probably fiddling the gate back then, but sometimes wonder how they got away with it.

Suprised Inland Revenue didn’t snoop around more- maybe they did but couldn’t prove anything?

The biggest joke ever had to be Southampton in the League Cup in 82 I think- Keegan was playing and was a big crowd draw at the time.

The official attendance was around 28,000, which gave everyone a good laugh.

 

Was probably known about yet too much difficulty to prove though after Hillsborough and seating legislation expect that stopped it.

18 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

The Villa Cup Final doubled up through the main gate turnstile with a mate who had a ticket. Thought I’d made it. Got caught by a nosey parker steward as we all shuffled up on our seats and slung out.

Not sure how true but there’s a story about a fella in the queue with his ticket held out which got eaten by an OB horse. Bit dog eat me homework.

Just thinking about the turnstile operators having their own fiddles, which would have made Bates go garrity ( Was there space for anyone in the turnstile huts other than the operators. I don’t think there would have been room for checkers to make sure all was above board) You couldn’t place someone outside cause they’d have been bang in the way.

.... knows?

Edit: Can’t remember the game but definately paid cash to a Shed turnstile operator for an all ticket event.

I knew blokes who worked in the East and West Stand who would let you in sometimes for free when crowds were poor and a few quid or a couple of pints when you next saw them. All stopped when the MH stand was built they got moved but from about 88-94 I rarely paid officially. The Sunderland game in 85 me and my mates just jumped over the turnstiles in the West Stand and we weren't alone real anarchy that night so many two to a seat that night.

14 hours ago, bluehaze said:

Got to say Ersk I always thought the likes of John Wark, Kenny Burns, Joe Jordan and Souness if they weren't professional footballers they would have been on the pitch at Wembley 77. Swigging the obligatory can of McEwan's tartan bitter all day and going home with half of the pitch . Edit: and this Chelsea legend ?

 

A bit off subject but talking of Scottish players of the seventies here's a clip of the former Rangers player Willie Johnston taking a swing from a can of beer before taking a penalty while playing for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

This is the same Willie Johnston who was sent home from the World Cup in 1978 for taking drugs.

Edited April 16, 20197 yr by Boyne

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/04/16/shed-wall-chelsea-legend-vote-winner-announced--

Bobby Tambling will be the new Chelsea legend honoured with a place on the Shed Wall at Stamford Bridge.
 

We can reveal today that our former star scorer won a poll of supporters to choose a former player to be added to the wall, and will be present before our Europa League game on Thursday for the unveiling. We also interview him below.

Tens of thousands of fans cast their votes last month to select from a list of five greats from the club’s past which also included Roy Bentley, Jimmy Greaves, John Hollins and Charlie Cooke. Tambling was the most popular choice so at 5.30pm before our game against Slavia Prague, he will be at the Shed Wall for the unveiling ceremony which will be introduced by BBC TV presenter Chris Hollins, whose father John made the case for his ex-team-mate’s inclusion on video at the time of the vote.

Tambling’s Blues career spanned the 1960s and having scored a winner on his debut in 1959, he went on to find the net 202 times in total, having taken on the main goalscorer’s duties from Greaves. He held the record as the club’s leading scorer for almost 50 years until surpasses by Frank Lampard in 2013.

Tambling was the young captain of a team that won promotion, and he found the net as Chelsea won the 1965 League Cup, our first major knockout trophy. He also become the first player to score for Chelsea in an FA Cup final and in a 6-2 win away at Aston Villa he contributed five of the goals. No one has scored more for Chelsea in a league game.

 

The Shed Wall at the southern end of Stamford Bridge dates back to the early days of the stadium and although no longer part of the large standing terrace for supporters it once was, it is nowadays an impressive boundary alongside a busy walking thoroughfare on both matchdays and non-matchdays.

Along its length a collection of all-time greats in the Chelsea story are celebrated, with images, biographies, honours and quotes, and even QR codes which allow you to find out more. Not a day goes past without hundreds of people stopping to look or have their photos taken next to one of their favourites.

Those featured are Peter Bonetti, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Marcel Desailly, Kerry Dixon, Didier Drogba, Ron Harris, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Branislav Ivanovic, Frank Lampard, Peter Osgood, John Terry, Gianluca Vialli, Ray Wilkins, Dennis Wise and Gianfranco Zola.

And soon Tambling as well. We spoke to him about being the fans’ choice to fill the space available on a wall he frequently walks by due to his role as one of our hosts on home matchdays.

‘It is an honour to be up on the wall when you see the other players there,’ he said. ‘This is a nice way to be remembered by the club, to know you have left a footprint.

‘I have always had a great deal of respect for the fans. In our day the fans kept us in a job, the fans paid for football to be there for everyone. It is a two-way street as when they say nice things about me, I can only say nice things about them because they gave us a life that is just a dream.

‘It is still nice to meet them every home game and have a chat. Some of them are my age so know what I was like, and the youngsters know your name from programmes and books, so it is nice to meet them all and have a chat and tell them what it was like in our day.

‘My job back at Chelsea is a pure pleasure, to able to talk and laugh with the fans and let them see we are just normal guys.

‘Being classed as a legend and winning this vote has to go a lot down to the fact I played in a very good Chelsea team. We were a bit like the Man United team of ’92 when there were a group that had all come through together as youngsters. We had a tremendous togetherness. We got on well with the fans. The fans liked to watch us and they had seen us from an early age.’

For Tambling, there is special significance in being honoured at the Shed End of the ground…

‘People used to ask which end we preferred to play towards and it was always the Shed, it was the one all the players preferred. The roar from the fans who were in there, it made a big difference to the lads in my day, they could lift you when things weren’t quite going your way.’
 

As an ace goalscorer, he chooses his most memorable strike in front of the Shed...

‘The one that stands out was after John Boyle and myself stayed behind one afternoon practising free-kicks with Peter Bonetti in goal, trying to bend them as in those days the balls were not that easy to do that with. We had a good afternoon and a good laugh about it. We had been trying this free-kick where John moved it slightly and I was to curl it around the end of the wall. We used cones for that.
‘The game was against Sheffield Wednesday and we got a free-kick at the Shed End, so John just touched it and I hit it, and it was one of the few balls I managed to curl like the lads do regularly now. The crowd loved that one as much as I did, but I never did the same again, it was a one and only!’
 

His debut goal, scored 60 years ago when he was 17 years old, was also a Shed End strike…

‘Both Barry Bridges and myself, we made our debuts together against West Ham that day. The week before Barry had played for the reserves in front of about 1,500 fans and I had played for the juniors in front of about 12 people. To suddenly be selected for the first team, there were 55,000 there and for us both to score, we were walking on air coming out of the game. Afterwards the older lads in the dressing room were having a laugh and asking us what we were going to do with the bonus we had just won, and we asked what the bonus was. We then could understand why they were laughing because it was £4. We were not going up the West End on £4!’

Accompanying each legend on the Shed Wall is a shirt number displayed. As Tambling was from the era before squad numbers, he wore several numbers during his years at Chelsea, no.8, no.10 and no.11 the most frequent. He explains his preference…

‘As the style of play changed so did our shirt numbers. I was happy to have any number apart from 12! In the first game I wore 11 and when I started getting into the team I was more of a left-winger than anywhere else. Then as we changed the system and Frankie Blunstone came out on the left, I wore the no.8. I wore 11 again later in my career. People ask which season means most to you and after we had been relegated following Jimmy Greaves leaving, the year we won promotion back into the First Division is the one. So many of us youngsters were in the team, I wore 8, so that is the number I prefer.’
 

5 hours ago, bluehaze said:

This looks late 60s Early 70s judging by clothes and the North stand packed under the floodlight