Attendances - the good, the bad and the ugly

[shedhead]

Ripostes to "Where were you when you were sh*t?"

 

"Beating you, beating you, beating you" 

 

" We were here, there and every f**king where, 

where were you, where were you?"

[Shug]

"Where were you when you were sh1t?"

Most early games in the benches or later games in Gate 13.

Plus of course memorable away matches at the giants of football like Rotherham, Shrewsbury, Cambridge...

[soldiergirl84]

Yes, superbly researched thread, and some excellent posts by Fillery and CB. This bit from Flllery puts everything into context:

 

 

Those of us who go back to the 60s know we were a huge club who just didn't win much, but younger fans just don't see that - they see the way Fillery so accurately puts it. And while people point to the massive crowds we managed to draw in our unsuccessful years, others can correctly highlight the pitiful attendances either side of the bumper crowds as proof our our fickle fans.

 

All these younger fans have to do is get a book (I did) and they would see what was going on. I did that last year. I would love to see an updated version of the Chelsea Biography, though.

[soldiergirl84]

IF they ask me, I was in America, where football really didn't catch on until 1994 (when the World Cup was held here). Also, the only league I had real access to was the MLS.  I just got into the Premier League (second season), but it's been Chelsea since then. 

[Carshalton Blue]

Thanks to a mate of mine its come to light that we're not the only club to have suffered poor gates,

It seems our rivals from N17 also had just as poor gates as us at times although not as many times as us, but lets not forget 85/86 was the time of the so called top five clubs involving Man Utd/Liverpool/Arsenal/Everton & Tottenham, imo its shocking that they only got 10k v WBA & 9k v Bham in that season, I haven't got a clue why that was no doubt Spurs fans will have an excuse but the next time you get grief about our gates just show them this.

 

 Spurs results in the 85/86 season, 16k v Liverpool, 10k v WBA, 9k v Bham.

 

 

http://www.topspurs.com/8586.htm

Edited May 28, 2014 by Carshalton Blue

[Simon Maskell]

Thanks to a mate of mine its come to light that we're not the only club to have suffered poor gates,

It seems our rivals from N17 also had just as poor gates as us at times although not as many times as us, but lets not forget 85/86 was the time of the so called top five clubs involving Man Utd/Liverpool/Arsenal/Everton & Tottenham, imo its shocking that they only got 10k v WBA & 9k v Bham in that season, I haven't got a clue why that was no doubt Spurs fans will have an excuse but the next time you get grief about our gates just show them this.

 

 Spurs results in the 85/86 season, 16k v Liverpool, 10k v WBA, 9k v Bham.

 

 

http://www.topspurs.com/8586.htm

79 Arsenal won the fa cup, 80 West Ham won the fa cup and Arsenal got beat in the cup winners cup final. 81 Spurs won the fa cup and West Ham got beat in the lge cup final replay. 82 Spurs won the fa cup why Chelsea was a poor div 2 side going through its worst period All 3 had european football so they were wat ahead of Chelsea in this period. Strange that in 83/84 Chelsea averaged 23k in div 2 why West Ham averaged 18k in div 1. But come 85/86 the avearge gates were Arsenal 23,824, Chelsea 21,984, Tottenham 20,859, West Ham 21,179, QPR 12,664. So Chelsea for all its low gates and in the main poor football the previous few years didnt hold up to bad yet this is not remembered now. This was West Ham best ever season coming 3rd in div 1 yet Chelsea got a higher average gate. Just for the record Liverpool did the double yet averarged 35,271 why Man Utd who had won the lge for years averaged 46,323.

[Carshalton Blue]

79 Arsenal won the fa cup, 80 West Ham won the fa cup and Arsenal got beat in the cup winners cup final. 81 Spurs won the fa cup and West Ham got beat in the lge cup final replay. 82 Spurs won the fa cup why Chelsea was a poor div 2 side going through its worst period All 3 had european football so they were wat ahead of Chelsea in this period. Strange that in 83/84 Chelsea averaged 23k in div 2 why West Ham averaged 18k in div 1. But come 85/86 the avearge gates were Arsenal 23,824, Chelsea 21,984, Tottenham 20,859, West Ham 21,179, QPR 12,664. So Chelsea for all its low gates and in the main poor football the previous few years didnt hold up to bad yet this is not remembered now. This was West Ham best ever season coming 3rd in div 1 yet Chelsea got a higher average gate. Just for the record Liverpool did the double yet averarged 35,271 why Man Utd who had won the lge for years averaged 46,323.

Yet all that is forgotten when it comes to Chelsea ffs.

[chi blue]

Yet all that is forgotten when it comes to Chelsea ffs.

Its always made me chuckle, and the other London clubs won't admit it but they have always had a chip on their shoulders when it comes to us.

the facts are: we came into being after the other major London clubs but very quickly started getting higher average home attendances, back in the day I bet that iritated the others.

Our name says it all, glamour. My wife who hates football, but will admit that anything with Chelsea on it just looks and sounds so much better than the wording Arsenal or Tottenham.

Our location in London, again just think what the pikeys and y*ds must think when they come here compared to the sh*te holes they are located("you've had your day out, now f**k off home").

The dreaded word, brand! over the last 15 years the club from a standing start practically, has driven all over the other London clubs brands especially world wide. shirt sales etc ( i bet that winds the gooners up )

I remember back in the late 90's early 2000's before Roman arrived and I used to take my two sons to football clubs even then the little lads there were all decked out in their football kits and chelsea kits would out number Arsenal shirts at least 3:1 and that was when Arsenal were at the height of their powers.

Back in the late 70's and 80's whether you like it or not  our team wasn't its best ,but the fans held a notoriety and fame that got lots of press, that especially the pikeys hated!!!

I remember when I was about 18 I had been to a game, came back to my local pub in deepest west sussex and older guys who weren't that much into football knew all about and asked what was the shed like! no one ever asked other mates of mine who supported gooners and y*ds what the north bank or shelf were like, they probabley had never heard of them!

once again when we were having one of our worst moments in our history in the late 70's and 1980's our away support would at worst equal the other London sides and on many occasions swamp there away supports.;

 

And Finally:

 

Saturday May 19th 2012

Munich

 

The chip on their shoulder is fully complete!!!

 

That completes my party political broadcast for Chelsea Football club!

[shedhead]

A thought that occurs is that Chelsea did play some games behind closed doors which would have brought average attendances down.

[whitewall66]

Its always made me chuckle, and the other London clubs won't admit it but they have always had a chip on their shoulders when it comes to us.

the facts are: we came into being after the other major London clubs but very quickly started getting higher average home attendances, back in the day I bet that iritated the others.

Our name says it all, glamour. My wife who hates football, but will admit that anything with Chelsea on it just looks and sounds so much better than the wording Arsenal or Tottenham.

Our location in London, again just think what the pikeys and y*ds must think when they come here compared to the sh*te holes they are located("you've had your day out, now f**k off home").

The dreaded word, brand! over the last 15 years the club from a standing start practically, has driven all over the other London clubs brands especially world wide. shirt sales etc ( i bet that winds the gooners up )

I remember back in the late 90's early 2000's before Roman arrived and I used to take my two sons to football clubs even then the little lads there were all decked out in their football kits and chelsea kits would out number Arsenal shirts at least 3:1 and that was when Arsenal were at the height of their powers.

Back in the late 70's and 80's whether you like it or not  our team wasn't its best ,but the fans held a notoriety and fame that got lots of press, that especially the pikeys hated!!!

I remember when I was about 18 I had been to a game, came back to my local pub in deepest west sussex and older guys who weren't that much into football knew all about and asked what was the shed like! no one ever asked other mates of mine who supported gooners and y*ds what the north bank or shelf were like, they probabley had never heard of them!

once again when we were having one of our worst moments in our history in the late 70's and 1980's our away support would at worst equal the other London sides and on many occasions swamp there away supports.;

 

And Finally:

 

Saturday May 19th 2012

Munich

 

The chip on their shoulder is fully complete!!!

 

That completes my party political broadcast for Chelsea Football club!

Great post. I truly believe then when it came to away support no- one brought the numbers we did away from home. When i was at school i had QPR, Spurs and Arsenal mates who used to love going to our away games. In fact a Gooner mate of mine changed allegiance when he was 13 after Charlton away in 1980. He couldn't believe the numbers we had and then to cap it all he watched open mouthed as our boys not only ran Charlton out of the home end but ran them out of the stadium and then started waving to us on the away end.

[Chelskipaul]

Great thread Cobham.

I was at the Cambridge match at the bridge in 82 with just over 6000 there.

I hate defending them but with regard to the Arsenal v Leeds match in 66, not only was it a "nothing" end of season game as Liverpool had secured the title, but Liverpool were on TV that night in a ECWC final at Hampden Park. In the days when live football matches were as rare as rocking horse sh*t :)

[George Mills]

Great thread Cobham.

I was at the Cambridge match at the bridge in 82 with just over 6000 there.

I hate defending them but with regard to the Arsenal v Leeds match in 66, not only was it a "nothing" end of season game as Liverpool had secured the title, but Liverpool were on TV that night in a ECWC final at Hampden Park. In the days when live football matches were as rare as rocking horse sh*t :)

Still no excuse for the European Cupless giants. Why would you want to watch a rival team on the tele rather than your own? That was a top flight game against Leeds (so not some sh*tter. One of the biggest games of the season back then) and they got under 5k. This was in an era of healthy attendances too. Not the 80s.

We should concentrate on the 11,000 average they used to get in Woolwich before Henry Norris' money saved them from a history of Charlton-like status.

[Englishman]

Still no excuse for the European Cupless giants. Why would you want to watch a rival team on the tele rather than your own? That was a top flight game against Leeds (so not some sh*tter. One of the biggest games of the season back then) and they got under 5k. This was in an era of healthy attendances too. Not the 80s.

We should concentrate on the 11,000 average they used to get in Woolwich before Henry Norris' money saved them from a history of Charlton-like status.

 

And the 15k gates they were getting in the 80s against the likes of Birmingham and Leicester. They're the first to bring up our attendances from that era, so it's good fun to be able to throw it right back at them.

[Richard P]

Years ago I don't know if anyone else use to play the game Guess the crowd today!! Some weeks we would look round the ground and think we were on the fiddle from the tax man!! The shed would look fairly packed and the crowd would be disappointing. Everyone knows the odd turnstile operator was at it, keep their foot on the pedal as they let people in and it wouldn't register the true numbers so they could pocket the money. I'd love to see some stadium pictures back then with the attendance figure with it to see. I bet the bigger games had more in the ground than stated.

[chi blue]

Years ago I don't know if anyone else use to play the game Guess the crowd today!! Some weeks we would look round the ground and think we were on the fiddle from the tax man!! The shed would look fairly packed and the crowd would be disappointing. Everyone knows the odd turnstile operator was at it, keep their foot on the pedal as they let people in and it wouldn't register the true numbers so they could pocket the money. I'd love to see some stadium pictures back then with the attendance figure with it to see. I bet the bigger games had more in the ground than stated.

Remember easter 1984, and we were going up, played Fulham and talk in the papers before the game of crowd expected to be around 40k, The shed was heaving and east and west stands packed, fulham had half of north stand and we were in other part, when crowd was announced over tannoy it said 34k, everyone started singing theres more than that in here! One of the best openong 25 mins at the bridge though, 3 up and joey jones waist high tackle on Paul Parker. "jonny neals blue and white army"

[romfordblue]

Remember easter 1984, and we were going up, played Fulham and talk in the papers before the game of crowd expected to be around 40k, The shed was heaving and east and west stands packed, fulham had half of north stand and we were in other part, when crowd was announced over tannoy it said 34k, everyone started singing theres more than that in here! One of the best openong 25 mins at the bridge though, 3 up and joey jones waist high tackle on Paul Parker. "jonny neals blue and white army"

 

Apart from Mr Turnstile man, I am certain a certain bearded fellow might have been doing an Arthur Daley c/o the VAT man........

 

I remember playing Man Utd at home and my guess it was 45k crammed in the Bridge + yet they announced around 30k max. 

[Cobham]

Just found this on Reddit. Post WWII averages, worked out by someone using the same Euro Football Stats site that U have used for much of the info in this thread. Unsurprisingly we drop down from 5th overall to 8th. Still think that's pretty good given that this includes the 'bad' and 'ugly' years that everyone takes the piss for. FWIW I think the Newcastle result is maybe slightly skewed by the immediate post war years and then having the much larger ground for the past ten or so but fair play to them, the only club on that list that's above us that was less successful than us (in the post war period) up until RA turned up.

 

Man United 51.05

Liverpool 41.07

Arsenal 39.47

Newcastle 36.59

Everton 36.09

Spurs 35.86

Man City 33.15

Chelsea 32.59

Aston Villa 30.97

Sunderland 30.42

Leeds 27.92

West Ham 25.65

Wolves 25.34

Wednesday 24.3

West Brom 21.91

Sheffield United 20.49

[George Mills]

Post war we have had 9 seasons in div 2 too. Spurs have had 1 (I believe) and are only slightly ahead.

What do they look like pre WWII Cobham? I bet Chelsea come out on top. Pre Munich we consistently had bigger crowds than United and pre Shankly we had bigger crowds than Liverpool.

Edited May 30, 2015 by George Mills

[Cobham]

Good question GM. I'm a bit busy at the moment but when I get the chance I might just do that. I strongly suspect we might come in the top 3, maybe top 2.

[Englishman]

^ Overall we're 6th according to this:

 

http://www.nufc.com/2014-15html/attendance-all-time.html

 

We used to be 5th but the Barcodes' bigger ground for the last 10 or 15 years has put them ahead of us now.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Englishman

[shedupper3]

You have to say the Arsenal crowd of 4,554 on 5 May 1966 against Leeds is a shocking statistic for a top flight game..

[the-ska-knight]

This has been a great read. 

 

As someone who first went to the Bridge in the 80s (my first home game was the 82 FA Cup QF against Spurs), it used to amaze (and encourage me) that our away support would sometimes be seemingly even greater than our lower home attendances. I was a kid with my uncle in 82 but was at games under my own steam by mid 80s and was always struck by fact we seemingly had a fair weather home support, and a constantly brilliant away support.

 

Someone made point about how expensive we were in 80s (Ken Bates has loads to answer for, good, bad and ugly) and that's possibly part of it. The first time I ever went to Chelsea on my own, I got there, and I didn't have enough money to get in. It was £3 and that was a LOT then. I'd have technically been a "child" at this point, and £3 was loads. My cousin was a Spurs fan and I asked him how it cost to get into White Hart Lane; I can't remember the figure, but it was a lot less than £3 and he didn't actually believe me that that was cost of getting into The Bridge. 

[Carshalton Blue]

Taken from elsewhere..

 

To all those who say Chelsea had no fans before Roman, this is the Top 20 gates from the 1968/69 season and Chelsea again has the highest gates above London rivals. This was a regular thing years ago. 

 

 

[osgood57]

it is the one thing that winds me up....yes the gates in the post sexton era were poor ...coupled with that ken bates[and im not knocking ken we wouldn't be here today without  him]...charging inflated ticket prices to watch average football also had an effect on gates....but we have always had a massive fan base ..the away support ranked up there with anyone..  the ten biggest clubs in Britain over the last 50 yrs include the cfc...no doubt...

[chi blue]

it is the one thing that winds me up....yes the gates in the post sexton era were poor ...coupled with that ken bates[and im not knocking ken we wouldn't be here today without  him]...charging inflated ticket prices to watch average football also had an effect on gates....but we have always had a massive fan base ..the away support ranked up there with anyone..  the ten biggest clubs in Britain over the last 50 yrs include the cfc...no doubt...

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.