during the late 70's and through the 80's we had the top three biggest away followings. Theres a documentry on this site somewhere, where I think a member of the police or FA not sure? who mentions that we have the third biggest away following in the country after united and dippers, remember we were in the old second division at the time, where as they were at the top of the old first divison.

At some away games we use to take over half of what we had at home the perverse Saturday I can remember going to places like Bristol Rovers and City or Cardiff and Swansea last away game of the season and they could not believe it how many were there .The Inter city trains were packed with our fans and plus all the coaches as well.

That was just to the Southwest also we use to take a good crowd to places like Newcastle and Leeds .

This also includes Rotherham where we lost 6-0.

But according to the North London Sh** we didn't have any support them days

A West Ham keep on say about our Home Crowd agains Coventry when we had 2 players sent off because it was only 10,000 but i had to remind him that on the  following Wednesday we took at least 6 ,000 up to Sunderland for the 1/4 final of the FA Cup which we lost in extra time    

Video here

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCQqiOlhY8c

That 68/69 season was after the old west terrace had been demolished too, so the capacity of the stadium had been reduced considerably.

Most crowds that weren't all tickets were simply guesses.

Even these games often had higher attendances than were officially given or allowed.

The slump that began after 1981 effected ALL clubs.

The *malaise*, as it was called.

I remember watching on the telly the vast bald patches of concrete behind each goal wishing I could grow up, fly to England (I lived abroad as a kid) and hurry up and go...

We'd get the Sunday papers on Tuesday, costing more than my pocket money... And since the local island paper has the results, we would just browse the London papers to see the attendances.

I cannot explain why I was transfixed by reading the attendances.

In fact, I was overjoyed when I noticed that in America, they too, published the gate figure for their sports, and amazed that 80000 watched college kids...

I just couldn't understand it.

I got back to UK in 87 and was there to see Chelsea go down.

Surely there was more than forty thousand for the Boro match?

I'm now convinced that *guess the crowd* was a mugs game! Surely there were so many fiddles.

I've worked events where you pay at the door, lots of fresh cash, lots of leeway to let people slide by... Then the promoter announces the taking and you know there oughta be more considering the crowd.

I like how Chelsea fans STAYED AWAY from Stamford Bridge but amassed an ARMY for away matches during our *Dark* spell in Division 2...

It shows discerning critique... And sorry to get all Sociological...

But we were LOSING our club... It was on the brink...

But as an ARMY, away from home-- we became the Owners of the club. Like airline stewards who own the whole airline once yer up in the air and away from Head Office-- the fans were the face of the Company away from home.

This was a *power* that home fans don't have. As away support, the entire *process* is owned by the fans-- the ritual, the journey, the standing one's ground...

Cup Final 97 was when we showed our history and the reach of our fan base... People wearing shirts from the 60s... Fans arriving from all over the world...

And yet... The next day, the headline?

*Beckham quits United.*

The Boro game was in 1988 mate. And it was Cantona rather than Beckham who quit the day after we won the cup in 97. I don't think the stay away fans were showing a discerning critique either. It was just the way football was back then. You paid on the gate so many people would go to the big matches (the attendances for the glamour ties were still pretty good in the 'dark days') but would stay away for Luton or Coventry at home. That was the case at the majority of clubs.

Edited February 5, 201610 yr by George Mills

Ha-ha thanks for the correction!

Of course I was hungover that day.

I remember Chelsea fans singing *Où est Cantona?*

And I meant 87-88. Perfect payback beating em twice at Wembley.

Three times if you include the illustrious ZDS Cup Final in 89/90 

ZDS cup final, remember it well, the night before went out with my girlfriend, came back to her house, had a bit of a drunken tiff, and she locked me in the kitchen!!! (her mums old country cottage had bolts on every door) So I slept in the kitchen, it was march and still bloody cold, didn't get much sleep, then when it got day light, I climbed out the window. Went to game a bit knackered, but Dorigo's free kick was a cracker. If I remember right it was payback time for boro sending us down, tee shirts going around with no fences this time boro?, reference to them being behind the fencing, when we invaded the pitch after the play off final. Any way back to the girlfriend, 26 years on we are married with four kids!!! not been locked in any kitchens since!

Great comparisons of crowds, 71/72 we're best supported in London, dippers bigger crowds than utd, and some of the so called big clubs crowds, in 71/72, Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds, villa, sheff weds, piss poor

Also worth noting that by 72/3 our capacity was greatly reduced due to there being no East Stand for 2 seasons.

http://talksport.com/football/premier-league-clubs-ranked-record-attendance-their-current-stadium-lowest-highest?p=18

But, but Chelsea had no supporters until 2003...

People forget years ago we would be away some where and either in the papers or match of the day or The big match if we were on, would state it was the home teams "best crowd of the season" Now the team weren't great so it wasn't the home fans turning up!! Look at YouTube games from late 70s early 80s all away at places like Notts county, Rotherham,Bolton (Banned!!) Newcastle, Forest, Cardiff, Wrexham. Etc etc. The support is first class. Don't even have to mention London derbies or Home Counties games.

Someone said earlier on this thread that it would be interesting to see who had the highest attendances pre-war. Well, I've finally gotten around to doing it. Here are the scores on the doors and I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

1. Chelsea – 30,489

2. Aston Villa – 28,665

3. Arsenal – 28,444

4. Newcastle – 27,685

5. Spurs – 27,361 (missing 1906, 1907 and 1908 so averaged over 27 years, not 30 and would probably be lower in this list as attendances were lower in those early years.)

6. Man City – 27,240

7. Everton – 26,812

8. Liverpool – 25,597

9. Man Utd – 22,815

 

I used this website for my attendance figures which is the standard one to go to for attendance information. http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm. I added each clubs yearly average from 1906 until 1939 then averaged them out (a total of 30 seasons because of interruption for WWI.)

It is off course possible that there are mistakes, maybe some 'dyslexic' moments from punching in a huge amount of figures., but I checked ours and Arsenal's twice so I think those are definitely accurate. If anyone wants to double check the rest please feel free. ;-)

I think this should definitely be filed under 'the good'. Remember also that every single one of these clubs bar us actually won a trophy in this period, sometimes multiple trophies. What fickle fans we had!

"Never been a big club" = bollocks.

I remember suffocatingly , and crushingly in the shed the Leeds match at ours of 52000 

WE LL TAKE MAN U ANY DAY...ARSENAL WEST HAM SPURS AWAY.....WE ARE THE BOYS WHO RULE.....OLLOCKS TO LIVERPOOL.............................an old,  past , cherry

On 18 September 2016 at 16:02, Cobham said:

Someone said earlier on this thread that it would be interesting to see who had the highest attendances pre-war. Well, I've finally gotten around to doing it. Here are the scores on the doors and I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

1. Chelsea – 30,489

2. Aston Villa – 28,665

3. Arsenal – 28,444

4. Newcastle – 27,685

5. Spurs – 27,361 (missing 1906, 1907 and 1908 so averaged over 27 years, not 30 and would probably be lower in this list as attendances were lower in those early years.)

6. Man City – 27,240

7. Everton – 26,812

8. Liverpool – 25,597

9. Man Utd – 22,815

 

I used this website for my attendance figures which is the standard one to go to for attendance information. http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm. I added each clubs yearly average from 1906 until 1939 then averaged them out (a total of 30 seasons because of interruption for WWI.)

It is off course possible that there are mistakes, maybe some 'dyslexic' moments from punching in a huge amount of figures., but I checked ours and Arsenal's twice so I think those are definitely accurate. If anyone wants to double check the rest please feel free. ;-)

I think this should definitely be filed under 'the good'. Remember also that every single one of these clubs bar us actually won a trophy in this period, sometimes multiple trophies. What fickle fans we had!

"Never been a big club" = bollocks.

Great job Cobham! Once and for all the myth of us not having supporters before 2003 should be put to bed from outsiders who like to regurgitate such nonsense.

Had a read back through this thread. Found it again when looking for another thread!

Haven't been on in years, just logged in as I saw Butch is in critical condition and came across this thread...........  Superbly researched, interesting read.  

 

One thing to mention (that I don't think has been mentioned) is the effect of people leaving London during/after WW2 and the white flight phenomenon.  During our first 50 years no doubt 90% of our support came from within a 5-10 mile radius of the ground, by the time our home gates were at their low ebbs in the 80s and early 90s I would imagine a lot more of our support were travelling from the home counties/satellite towns of London with their parents/grandparents having moved out of London.  Thats always been a theory of mine as to why a lot of our midweek gates were often so sh*t compared to Saturday gates - would be interesting to do a comparison.    

 

Couple that with the rise of TV football (albeit I know there wasn't the saturation coverage of today) there wasn't much incentive for kids to support their local side when they could support Liverpool.  Im 39 and one of those weird early memories that stuck in my mind of going to Chelsea was walking through Eel Brook common en route to a game (mid 80s) and seeing a lad playing football in the Crown paints Liverpool kit.   

Edited March 31, 20188 yr by BumsteadCFC

4 hours ago, BumsteadCFC said:

Haven't been on in years, just logged in as I saw Butch is in critical condition and came across this thread...........  Superbly researched, interesting read.  

One thing to mention (that I don't think has been mentioned) is the effect of people leaving London during/after WW2 and the white flight phenomenon.  During our first 50 years no doubt 90% of our support came from within a 5-10 mile radius of the ground, by the time our home gates were at their low ebbs in the 80s and early 90s I would imagine a lot more of our support were travelling from the home counties/satellite towns of London with their parents/grandparents having moved out of London.  Thats always been a theory of mine as to why a lot of our midweek gates were often so sh*t compared to Saturday gates - would be interesting to do a comparison.       

Yes I lived about 12 miles out and close to Kent. When we got on a train there was often Chelsea on the platform yet the surprising thing was trains coming from the Chelsea towns like Ashford, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells also had fans. You can bet also a lot of those trains coming into Waterloo from Surrey and Sussex had a lot too.

Our family moved out in the early 70's. 

 

My parents moved to Beckenham mid 70s. Getting off the train at Victoria would be good numbers, also trains up from Ramsgate would be packed with Chelsea.

2 hours ago, Richard P said:

My parents moved to Beckenham mid 70s. Getting off the train at Victoria would be good numbers, also trains up from Ramsgate would be packed with Chelsea.

So did mine early 70's so we probably were on the same trains, I also recall several regularly getting on at West Dulwich in those days.

18 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

So did mine early 70's so we probably were on the same trains, I also recall several regularly getting on at West Dulwich in those days.

Used to get the train just after 1pm every home game!