Not someone who was active, but was at most of the games when it went off big time and was inadvertently involved sometimes.

Both those Millwall games Chelsea were hugely impressive, but there are other one offs that were similar. Sunderland in the Milk Cup, home and away and by all accounts at Parsons Green, Tottenham in 1978 I was at Seven Sisters and we did really well, and Upton Park in 1981 which rarely gets mentioned. Had to get stuck in that day and Chelsea did really well in the South Bank, spoke to a West Ham bloke I worked with and they were shocked.

But to answer your question I agree with you, mid 90's was the peak.

I was at Upton Park in 1979 in the old second division when we beat them 1-0. Borata had an incredible game that night. Gary Johnson pinched our goal. Very hairy outside that night.

............poss when my arse was green and my arse was blue n we took the northbank molyneux

70's and 80's were my time. The mid 70's in the old second division are my favourite memories for away day sorties. Followed closely by the early 80's. As for Stamford Bridge, spent most of my time on the North Stand in the mid to late 70's, moving into the old Gate 13 in the East Stand in the early 80's until Uncle Ken kicked us out of there after the Sunderland semi-final 'fireworks'!

Loved early to mid 80s The millwall game remember them just before kick off giving it some and getting run out of the west.into the north and setting fire to everything they could . And don't forget cambridge away first game of the season when the general was in all the newspapers what a mob that  plus pop robson scoring the winner.on his debut and brighton in the cup bank holiday weekend the rows started on the friday night , and finished with us all over the pitch and the old bill running everywhere

 I remember the Brighton game I got down there early on the Saturday and all the talk was

About what happen the night before .

I can remember a few of us having a couple of drink in the town pub before hand and then walk to

The ground not relisting how far it was from the town.

We didn’t go behind the goal we were in fact on the side terrace .

After the fun and games on the pitch after the game we decide to make our own way back to the station

Where we had a couple of run in with a few of their boys in the end we jump on a bus back to the Station

Ha the good day was had by everyone.

Under DH  and B there was a good gang of chelsea to roam the country in a viking thrilling way........Ive thought about this again and i have to have a slight preference for SH and the edge that was brought to the table........We must remember though that folk in charge of proceedings couldnt  have achieved all that was done without the brave warriors that were ( yes ive chosen my words correctly) surrounding all scenarios

Edited June 12, 201511 yr by Mike Carefree

our biggest problem was we had too many groups and front men all over the place with coaches , trains etc everyone arriving at different times and from different areas ..... if mobile phones had been about .............

That was the norm Steve remember the northbrook with Millwall and aving cass pennant on the door never helped did it   now i would say 1970s right up to the 80s was the best until it become trendy to be a chelseaa thug

I remember having a chat with someone who went to Chelsea games but he actually supported another team " The fighting was better with Chelsea."  Ex army.. pyscho squad.

The best days for me were from 1974 (ish) to mid 1980´s. The fun we had, especially on our away days, can never be understood by today´s supporters. It was a different world back then. I know i am sounding like an old geezer (but i suppose i am sort of getting there now!!) but the thrill of turning up at some town un-escorted by Señor plod, going into the local pubs and having all the "banter", walking to the ground and thinking that our numbers were massive.

It was different, wild and looking back, somewhat unreal at times.

All of us who lived out those days will, I am sure, never forget them. Just think what we would have done had we had mobile phones back in the day?????

For numbers I would say the 80s but pound for pound late 70s after we had been down in the second division a couple of seasons the Millwall experience made us better organised we came back to the first prepared to go to places we had nether been before mobbed up Manchester, Liverpool etc even going into and taking other London clubs ends North Bank Arsenal Boxing Day 1977 peaking with the firm we took to Spurs in August 1978 Good days

 

 

For numbers I would say the 80s but pound for pound late 70s after we had been down in the second division a couple of seasons the Millwall experience made us better organised we came back to the first prepared to go to places we had nether been before mobbed up Manchester, Liverpool etc even going into and taking other London clubs ends North Bank Arsenal Boxing Day 1977 peaking with the firm we took to Spurs in August 1978 Good days

Late seventies early eighties were my prime years, didn't make it to many away days but the one's i did it was always a good turn out where ever we played... for the last few years igo to a couple of away games every season although there is always a good turn out there is never any of the old lads about.

The mob was at its peak when i was mid teens........Then in my opinion peaked again in the 80s...Normally when i wasnt in the mob probably...hahahha

I remember having a chat with someone who went to Chelsea games but he actually supported another team " The fighting was better with Chelsea."  Ex army.. pyscho squad.

 

I knew a 'gooner' from Hayes in the 70's who went to our away games, because of this!!!. Mad times ( but great memories!).

When i think of the mobs ive seen from boy to ...erm.....bigger boy.........The skins in the late 60s.....Greenaway, ECCLES, BABS .....then Hickey, i feel privilaged to have lived those CHELSEA eras......The fans of today, or some of them , wont be able to grasp the magnitude of our fans especially away from home...The ends that fell to us....Some very easily and some not so.......The fun some of you boys n girls would have had would be beyond your dreams of footy related fun.......The comrads......The friendships....The love interests..AND THE LOYALTY.......We werent like vikings like i once quoted on here...We were better....Although in my near 50 years as a BLUE ive not been a part of a CHELSEA tribe that has fully taken the park lane, which would have been the pinnacle of my chelsea life, ive had bloodbursting wonderous times..I have been in a chelsea fan only in the park lane in some mickey mouse tournament which doesnt count, and with millwall when they decimated WHL...None of those count.....When i look back the sadness i have of the nostalgic feelings eats me......Goodbye to the teams we loved ,but generally were quite inefectual followed by great support most of the time......Now....Over a decade of being traumatised with the amount of trophies aquired, great fans dispersed amongst other chelsea fans of less greatness, im a dissatisfied old man..

Pretty much when we were sh*t.

It's strange really we were probably at our peak when the team was crap and a yoyo team between the divisions.

when we were crap...Grimsby  the seaside town awash with Chelsea .. hull city 18 thou inside 9thou Chelsea ..sheff utd  the kop full of Chelsea.... I could go on .. massive away support.....I have been watching the transfer window tonight .an everton fan said we were a small club with no history before abramovich... god that so winds me up

when we were crap...Grimsby  the seaside town awash with Chelsea .. hull city 18 thou inside 9thou Chelsea ..sheff utd  the kop full of Chelsea.... I could go on .. massive away support.....I have been watching the transfer window tonight .an everton fan said we were a small club with no history before abramovich... god that so winds me up

I just laugh at them all I keep on saying to these people is who was in 3 FA.Cup final including 2000, 2 of which we won in the 90's plus Cup Winner Cup, winners and Semi - Final of champion League 

I hear this all the time from Spurs & Arsenal I just have little laugh and walk away.

When i think of the mobs ive seen from boy to ...erm.....bigger boy.........The skins in the late 60s.....Greenaway, ECCLES, BABS .....then Hickey, i feel privilaged to have lived those CHELSEA eras......The fans of today, or some of them , wont be able to grasp the magnitude of our fans especially away from home...The ends that fell to us....Some very easily and some not so.......The fun some of you boys n girls would have had would be beyond your dreams of footy related fun.......The comrads......The friendships....The love interests..AND THE LOYALTY.......We werent like vikings like i once quoted on here...We were better....Although in my near 50 years as a BLUE ive not been a part of a CHELSEA tribe that has fully taken the park lane, which would have been the pinnacle of my chelsea life, ive had bloodbursting wonderous times..I have been in a chelsea fan only in the park lane in some mickey mouse tournament which doesnt count, and with millwall when they decimated WHL...None of those count.....When i look back the sadness i have of the nostalgic feelings eats me......Goodbye to the teams we loved ,but generally were quite inefectual followed by great support most of the time......Now....Over a decade of being traumatised with the amount of trophies aquired, great fans dispersed amongst other chelsea fans of less greatness, im a dissatisfied old man..

 

Great post Mike. I was only fortunate to get to as many home games as I could and some away games in and around London as I was living in Reading and although the cost of getting in the ground wasn't high, the cost of the train fare etc and a 'fun' day out ate into the wage packet, especially as a young apprentice.....anyway my point is that as I sit here 40+ years later I sometimes reflect when I read posts like yours; Was this the era that had one of the biggest impacts on the history of football...because of the fights and the way the old grounds were designed; fans standing on the terraces leaning against the railings and being pushed forward from the back etc, the feeling of the warm piss of the nutter behind you running down your leg, caused many significant changes in terms of safety and security, none of those things entered our heads then, let alone the owners.  

 

Other major changes were ground designs, destruction of the old wooden stands and many other changes to take us to where we are today.   The fights today are rarely newsworthy unless its a big one, or a fan gets seriously hurt and even then most of this happens in Europe.  The real fans today, the blue collar lot, are being priced out of the game as its all about commercialism, big pay packets for the players and big money for the owners the real fans are steadily being forced to watch more games on the TV in the comfort of their own homes...as I do now living overseas..than going to the grounds; but IMO when I watch our games, or any other it is without doubt that the fans have made the EPL what it is today.  Take away the fans and many of the games on the pitch are no better than watching paint dry, but I bet they don't have the comradeship, and the crack like we used to, win lose or draw....and I don't mean the game   

when we were crap...Grimsby  the seaside town awash with Chelsea .. hull city 18 thou inside 9thou Chelsea ..sheff utd  the kop full of Chelsea.... I could go on .. massive away support.....I have been watching the transfer window tonight .an everton fan said we were a small club with no history before abramovich... god that so winds me up

I dont get wound up by it anymore....We are obviously a much bigger club than in our so called sh*t days.....Its a truism.....We got lucky because we have an owner that loves his purchase as much as he can...Now these smaller clubs just cant find the quality of owner as we did...OH and erm man city did

You said it all mike ;)

Ive read bits about us at millwall in the 70s........Id like to tell it as i can remember it.......Ill start by saying i cant remember sleeping the night b4 this , for us, famous or maybe infamous match of footy and fans........I rememberfrom the point of being on  a station somewhere with around 50 plus Blues..These Blues were the biz and wanted to do the do at millwall that day......I remember many trains passing as i heard we were waiting for Bs mob to join up with........For some reason this didnt occur.....Our little following of blues made the journey to the OLD DEN...A horrid place to walk .Remember we walked under underpasses and the fear,  for me anyway, was building footstep by footstep....Getting to the ground it was obvious we had to be quiet as we entered the COLD BLOW LANE END...It was reletively early so vast numbers at that point wernt about......As we got into the CBL i noticed how ridiculous, in my opinion, it was that they had a small wooden hut that sold progs on the terrace itself...I expected us to be quiet until maybe some bigger cfc mob came in...It wasnt so............Some blokes adrenalin got the better of him and he shouted...CHEELLSSEEAA.....it went very quickly to the chelsea in attendance steaming the millwall who were in their home end...The surprise element of it meant they initially ran....They came back quickly tho...The melay that followed saw chaps of all sizes and coloursfighting in sporadic areas of the cbl..........It got so that to recognise friend from foe was difficult.....I recognised a bloke i knew as scotty....Then another who was standing there smiling like a cat...I at this point was making my way to the upper part of the terrace petrified but excited millwall had been run.....We eventually  went onto the pitch and made our way to the other end...Millwalls mob came too .....Lots of mayhem occured and i remember meeting up with a lost pal in the side terrace later...We saw a large cfc contingent enter the away fans end and i just pressumed it was Bs lot coming late....It was scary from start to finish......I was young and got myself home in thankful safety........A great day tho.......I know plenty of real hard footy boys that have never stood in the old CBL........Im proud i did even if it wasnt for very long

Thats about as i remember it too. We met at fb and got of the tube at surrey docks i think. Then walked through all the side streets without making too much noice.

The tension grew with every step we took and i recall we got into the ground early.

Memory might be playing tricks on me but our mob was larger than the 50 or so that day.

I was still at school and was the only one of mates who went that day, same as to spuds away a couple of years earlier in a night game where a small group of us went inyo the park lane end (i stayed in there the whole game).

Cbl was scarry. Never experienced anything like it and i was a kid at the time really.

After that followd chelsea all over uk in our not so great (at least on the field) days.

Mainly went with anothe chelsea daigo who was a celtic and celta vigo fan - birri we called him and his mate mick a huge skinhead from southfields area.

Great days. Never to be forgotten and yes, i agree, fans today simply cannot comprehend what it was like week in week out - especially away.

I am 60 next year and i try to explain to my grandson (also Chelsea) what it was like back in the day,but you had to be there.CBL was definately one of the moodiest of places i visited.

Being 56 years of age now, I remember CBL also as the scariest place to be (or not to be) in the 80s. Went with other German Blues to the match and were surrounded by little rats of them (aged 15 or 16) with stanley knives and other tools. Managed to get out of this place, but it was scary there and no Old Bill to be seen for miles.

 

Think, as many others, the mob of the early 80s was the best. Away support seemed to me better, than home support, when troube arised. But isn´t that an indication of quality?

 

My last match was at home vs bloody Charlton, when we needed a win to stay in the 1st division, but couldn´t make it and were relegated. Got nicked after the match, when we were waiting for them, could escape by jumping in a passing bus.

 

Met an old chap a few years ago here in Germany and he told me about a currently mob of about 70 - 80 lads; quite disappointing for an old chap like me, who can remember better times.

This probably isnt the place to put this but WELL DONE LE ARSE FOR BEATING SPUDS AND,,,, ERM,,,,,ARRANGING THEIR HORDINGS TO SUIT THE SPITE HART LANE SCENE...

Arsenal make me laugh, they had a crowd of 4,000 for s night match against Leeds in the old first division in 1966, piss poor for a top flight game.