Posted January 10, 201213 yr I made a thread on here before but want some further information. I've only been a Chelsea fan for just over 10 years, so I didn't know what it was like "back in the day." I've asked my Dad who went to nearly every game (home and away) when he was younger but I would like further information. My Dad said our support was very good. How big are we in terms of support compared to the other London sides? E.g. Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham. How do you explain periods of low attendances? For example late 1990s, early 2000s. Why didn't we get higher? Also the low attendances in the 1980s. Cheers lads. Edited January 10, 201213 yr by Eidur22
January 11, 201213 yr How do you explain periods of low attendances? For example late 1990s, early 2000s. Why didn't we get higher? Also the low attendances in the 1980s. Cheers lads. Crowds were down everywhere in the 80s. Ours hit a real low in the arly 80s, mainly because we were in Div 2 and crap. In the late 90s and early 2000s we had good support, as we had a great side playing fantastic football and won several trophies, but the ground was being rebuilt so the capacity was reduced.
January 11, 201213 yr Fickle always have been imo, especially in the 80s & 90s.some days we were up there with the best ie 55,000 v Fulham in the mid 70s, like most clubs we suffered due to relegations ect, but overall crowds at home in some seasons were poor for a number of reasons, early 80s unemployment, fv, poor struggling side took their toll. The late 80s(87) we played Oxford in midweek & got 9,000 poor for a club of our size back then, no reason for it just that our floating support couldnt be arsed that night, even the 90s, we took 34,000 to wembley for a semi final v Luton in 94 yet only days later got 9,000 v Coventry, not one Chelsea fan i've spoke to about it can explain it, then there's the 7,000 v Southampton about 92? why? f@cked if i know the answer. Compare that to the 33,000 we got v Newcastle in the league cup who at the time were in the old div 2, see fickle. Even when we had Gullit & Hoodle playing we'd get 17,000 v Man City. Our away support overall has always been quality but even that sometimes was poor we'd "only" have 1,200 somewhere like Oldham on a sat 3pm game, yet take 3/4,000 to Sheff Utd for a midweek game! Stil we're 5th in the all time attendance records so its not all bad..... All Time League Attendance Records Correct up to 22nd May, 2011 Teams in bold are current league sides NB: Pre-war attendance figures based on media estimates and club records - both sources notoriously inaccurate
January 11, 201213 yr Chelsea have the best-looking fans in all of football. And the best teeth. From 1998. Still have no idea why this guy was brushing his teeth during a game. I still see him from time to time in crowd shots on TV.
January 12, 201213 yr And the best teeth. From 1998. Still have no idea why this guy was brushing his teeth during a game. I still see him from time to time in crowd shots on TV. That fella is a Utd fan according to reports in the press the day after he was shown on tv v Utd at the bridge the other year, what i want to know is where'd he get his tickets from seeing as he was sat in the east lower!
January 12, 201213 yr Carshalton Blue: Cheers for posting attendances. A learning day already today. No probs mate, it helps being an anorak lol!
January 12, 201213 yr No probs mate, it helps being an anorak lol! The rise and fall of attendances and the terracing culture has fascinated me.
January 13, 201213 yr When you think about it, Chelsea's attendances have only really been poor for about a 20 year period (from say the relegation year of 1975 up until around 1995). Ironically, this was probably also Chelsea's best era for away support. But prior to the mid 70's and after the mid 90's, Chelsea have had healthy attendances which explains why we're 5th in the all time list.....this despite winning nothing during the first 50 years of formation and nothing between 1971 and 1997. Supporters of other clubs only tend to dwell on that 20 year period when assessing the size of Chelsea's support. Cherry picking rubbish homes gates. They ignore the fact that you could do this for almost every club.....particularly during this period when football attendances were at a low all over the country for a number of reasons. They also ignore the fact that historically, Chelsea have recorded some of the highest ever home attendances in English football. Edited January 13, 201213 yr by BernardLambourde
January 13, 201213 yr When you think about it, Chelsea's attendances have only really been poor for about a 20 year period (from say the relegation year of 1975 up until around 1995). Ironically, this was probably also Chelsea's best era for away support. But prior to the mid 70's and after the mid 90's, Chelsea have had healthy attendances which explains why we're 5th in the all time list.....this despite winning nothing during the first 50 years of formation and nothing between 1971 and 1997. Supporters of other clubs only tend to dwell on that 20 year period when assessing the size of Chelsea's support. Cherry picking rubbish homes gates. They ignore the fact that you could do this for almost every club.....particularly during this period when football attendances were at a low all over the country for a number of reasons. They also ignore the fact that historically, Chelsea have recorded some of the highest ever home attendances in English football. Your spot on mate, your post should be put on any rivals forums when they slate our support.
January 13, 201213 yr Your spot on mate, your post should be put on any rivals forums when they slate our support. Sadly, I don't think they're particulary interested in any facts which may challenge their ignorant rubbish mate. I've got Jimmy Greaves' autobiography here and it makes for interesting reading. At the back it lists every game he played for Spurs (but not Chelsea which annoyed me a bit). It also lists the attendances. Here are the attendance for the Chelsea Spurs games at the Bridge he played in for Spurs: 61/62 - 51,282 63/64 - 57,401 63/64 FA Cup - 70,123 (that was the replay. The first game at WHL got 49,382) 64/65 - 51,390 64/65 FA Cup - 63,205 66/67 - 54,191 67/68 - 53,049 68/69 - 48,412 Now if I were to present this to a rival supporter, no doubt they'd read it......then just say "erm....yeah.....but what about when you got 9,000 against Coventry in 1994?" like the tedious, ignorant, pig headed moron they are. For sure, the 9,000 vs Cov happened - as did a host of other crap home gates at Chelsea.....but it's not fair to single them out and draw your conclusions from them only. It's as if some hand picked attendances from the 80's and early 90's are the only thing that counts....and attendances like the ones I just listed at The Bridge above don't....and never even happened. It appears that 'history' only counts when referring to trophies.....not attendances. Edited January 13, 201213 yr by BernardLambourde
January 15, 201213 yr Never mind the 9,000 and the 7,000, we got a couple of 6,000s in about 82 - Cambridge and Orient IIRC. I couldn't even be arsed to go to most homes after a couple of years back in Div 1 although I went to a lot more of the aways. As others said, our away support was right up there even though we were in Div 2. There is a video posted somewhere from the 80s with Ken Lacey of the Guardian saying our away support is only behind Man U and Liverpool........take away their 'locals' at most games and we probably took more than them, even though much of our support was home counties rather than London. I always felt that us, Newcy, Sunlan and Spurs had the best real away support. I quite clearly remember WHU and the Arse having only one pen at OT for daytime league games, but we would have the whole end. A couple of occasions I remember very well in the Div 2 days were us going to Leeds and Arse going to Boro from Kings Cross at (supposedly) the same time. Lets just say there were a couple of thousand Chelsea at the station and no Arse whatsoever.......then we went to Sheffield and they were at Forest (I think) and just one of them got off the train at Nottingham!!!!! We had hundreds on it.
January 16, 201213 yr Never mind the 9,000 and the 7,000, we got a couple of 6,000s in about 82 - Cambridge and Orient IIRC. I couldn't even be arsed to go to most homes after a couple of years back in Div 1 although I went to a lot more of the aways. As others said, our away support was right up there even though we were in Div 2. There is a video posted somewhere from the 80s with Ken Lacey of the Guardian saying our away support is only behind Man U and Liverpool........take away their 'locals' at most games and we probably took more than them, even though much of our support was home counties rather than London. I always felt that us, Newcy, Sunlan and Spurs had the best real away support. I quite clearly remember WHU and the Arse having only one pen at OT for daytime league games, but we would have the whole end. A couple of occasions I remember very well in the Div 2 days were us going to Leeds and Arse going to Boro from Kings Cross at (supposedly) the same time. Lets just say there were a couple of thousand Chelsea at the station and no Arse whatsoever.......then we went to Sheffield and they were at Forest (I think) and just one of them got off the train at Nottingham!!!!! We had hundreds on it. I only mentioned the 7/9,000 gates as they were in modern times & PL games(Southampton/Coventry) your spot on though. Here's that clip you mentioned...
January 16, 201213 yr Author Cheers lads. I'm going to watch that video in a bit. Some of this is very interesting, anymore information would be class.
