I wasn't there obviously, but I've heard a few tales of the 84 promotion with the season opener at the Old Highbury stadium.

Amongst them included a thunderous epic tackle by Doug Rougvie, a sensational Kerry Dixon volley and the fact over 20,000 away Chelsea supporters flooded the stadium and apparently outnumbered the home supporters.

Impossible that Chelsea outnumbered Arsenal fans that day. Though Chelsea had loads in Arsenal seats they deffo didnt come close to the amount Arsenal had in the seats. Highbury helf 57,000 in 84 and i always thought the 45,329 gate was more than that at least 50,000. Dindnt look like you could get another 12,000 in Highbury that day. The side enclosure where the tv camera"s are was well empty and the north bank was far from full to capacity. I think the gate was 50,000 with 20,000 Arsenal and 30,000 Arsenal. At the time the north bank held 19,500 the clock end 16,000 with 17,250 seats and the rest the side enclosures. Arsenal well outnumbered Chelsea in the seats and the north bank so was impossible for Chelsea to outnumber Arsenal.

Impossible that Chelsea outnumbered Arsenal fans that day. Though Chelsea had loads in Arsenal seats they deffo didnt come close to the amount Arsenal had in the seats. Highbury helf 57,000 in 84 and i always thought the 45,329 gate was more than that at least 50,000. Dindnt look like you could get another 12,000 in Highbury that day. The side enclosure where the tv camera"s are was well empty and the north bank was far from full to capacity. I think the gate was 50,000 with 20,000 Arsenal and 30,000 Arsenal. At the time the north bank held 19,500 the clock end 16,000 with 17,250 seats and the rest the side enclosures. Arsenal well outnumbered Chelsea in the seats and the north bank so was impossible for Chelsea to outnumber Arsenal.

Have to agree with this.  And I also reckon it was more than 45k.  When Dixon scored you can see how many Chelsea were in the Lower East (where I was), but as you intimate we definitely didn't have more than them in the seats to make it a bigger Chelsea presence than them all up.     

The old boys reunion is linked to a facebook site called Chelsea when we were sh*t. Silly thing is the site can show pics of Osgood Hudson and co winning the fa cup and cup winners cup early 70s. Though the side is called when we were sh*t its just a Chelsea site covering every era not just the sh*t ones. I agree with everything you say but one thing. I just dont see how 2 poor results at easter cost Chelsea the title when Chelsea won just 2 div 1 games Jan to May 86. You wont win titles doing that. Chelsea  beat Luton 1 0 and Man City 1 0. The other home results before easter were Chelsea 1 Oxford 4, Chelsea 2 Leicester 2, Chelsea 1 Qpr 1, The Chelsea lost 4 0 home to West Ham with a 6 0 loss at Qpr just after that. Then Chelsea 1 Ipswich 1, Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1, Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1, Chelsea 1 Watford 5. Chelsea were sh*t at home before easter and after easter dropping countless points you dont win titlkes doing that.

Yes the West Ham then QPR defeats were bad. Also the home defeat to Forest 6-2.

The old boys reunion is linked to a facebook site called Chelsea when we were sh*t. Silly thing is the site can show pics of Osgood Hudson and co winning the fa cup and cup winners cup early 70s. Though the side is called when we were sh*t its just a Chelsea site covering every era not just the sh*t ones. I agree with everything you say but one thing. I just dont see how 2 poor results at easter cost Chelsea the title when Chelsea won just 2 div 1 games Jan to May 86. You wont win titles doing that. Chelsea  beat Luton 1 0 and Man City 1 0. The other home results before easter were Chelsea 1 Oxford 4, Chelsea 2 Leicester 2, Chelsea 1 Qpr 1, The Chelsea lost 4 0 home to West Ham with a 6 0 loss at Qpr just after that. Then Chelsea 1 Ipswich 1, Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1, Chelsea 0 Liverpool 1, Chelsea 1 Watford 5. Chelsea were sh*t at home before easter and after easter dropping countless points you dont win titlkes doing that.

I think that the game we lost 5-1 at home to Watford was the only time goalkeeper Les Fridge played for the first team.

Shouldn't have played Leicester and Oxford at home. Both games fans cleared the pitch of snow to get the game on. No Dixon or Speedie for the Leicester game, played Duncan Shearer. Pitch was really poor and frozen. Didn't help with cup games or the fact we lost Eddie in goal around that time.

As has been covered above...The sh*t years for me were the best years to be a fan.....................Late 60s to 80s  one had carte blanche over travel entrance and many more fun diddly things...........If we had had a winning side god knows what woulda happened...I know how crazy it went when we won the FA CUP and then the ECWC........Even the mickey mouse cup........Im gonna burst into song now.......I THANK YOU FOR THE DAAAYYYYS   THOSE LOVELY DAYS THOSE WONDEROUS DAYS YOU GAVE ME....DAYS ILL REMEMBER ALL MY LIFE....DAYS WHEN .......ill stop now...sore throat

Yes the West Ham then QPR defeats were bad. Also the home defeat to Forest 6-2.

Yeah wasn't the QPR one a bank holiday game? Seem to recall we left at 4 or 5 nil, picked up car parked nearby and were back in the pub in Fulham before the game ended. Not one of our best away trips, but at least it was only a 15 minute drive

Yeah wasn't the QPR one a bank holiday game? Seem to recall we left at 4 or 5 nil, picked up car parked nearby and were back in the pub in Fulham before the game ended. Not one of our best away trips, but at least it was only a 15 minute drive

Easter Monday from memory.  Think Steve Francis was our unfortunate goalie.

I think Forest 6-2 at home was the following season. 86/87.

Easter Monday from memory.  Think Steve Francis was our unfortunate goalie.

 

Think that and the West Ham games was his last appearances in a Chelsea shirt, could be wrong though.  

To answer the question of the thread even at our lowest ebbs we have been capable of one off good performances in big games (as others have mentioned Liverpool in the Cup twice, only team to beat Arsenal in the league in 91/92, thrashed Spurs 3-0 in rumbleows the year they won the FA Cup, done the double on Man U in 94) but never able to string results together and maddeningly inconsistent.  

 

The worst thing about the sh*t years were the cup defeats, every year we would lose to some poxy lower division team (remember we lost to sunderland in 84 and 92 when they were a second division side and we lost to sheff wed in 91 when they were in div 2 as well.  Reading 87 milk cup, scarboro 89, bristol city 1990, barnsley, oxford, boro 88 playoff game, you name it we managed to lose to all these mobs and some of them were humiliating defeats and all.     

I think Forest 6-2 at home was the following season. 86/87.

Yes the Forest game was at the early stages of the 86/87 season.

Great post, GM.

We were great in the 60s and early 70s, but always laughably inconsistent, so people didn't hate us, but didn't take us seriously either.

The East Stand fiasco, coupled with crap management, saw us take a mid-70s nosedive which - apart from one exciting Eddie-Mac season in Div 2 - didn't really end till John Neal and Iain McNeill re-built the side in 83, and we had a few good years until John Neal;'s heart surgery and John Hollins' sh!te management caused another decline.

We weren't great under Campbell, Porterffield and Webb, but we weren't truly sh*t. The Hoddle era was the start of the current good times, especially the signings of Gullit and Hughes. That was the real turning point. (Colin Hutchinson take a bow).

This is an excellent summary to the question asked by the opening poster.

We've had a mixture of good and bad times but my support for the club has never dwindled. We were a solid outfit in the late 60s to early 70s with Ossie and Chopper leading the way and then we had bad times from the mid 70s to about the time Bates purchased the club and their was renewed optimism in the club but most of the 80s were tough however despite some exciting moments on certain occasions.

I completely agree that the Hoddle era really kick started a new era for the club and we haven't looked back since. We were always a 5-8 team in the late 90s and early 2000s with the occasional top 4 finish in 1999 and 2003 coming to mind. Obviously since Roman bought the club, the club has been the most successful it has ever been and it's something we should all cherish especially the younger fans who never really experienced the lows of the late 70s and most of the 80s.

Overall the club has experienced all the emotions that comes with supporting the club but we are not a plastic club despite what morons on social media think and I'm proud to say that Chelsea means something to all of us. It's not just a club it's our life!

Dear oh dear

Rained all day and was treated to this farce from the boys.

I was chatting to a few footy lads and the q came up as to who i thought were the top london boys nowadays.....with a modicum of thought i said my opinion must start in earlier times....west ham have my respect as being top london chappies since i can remember..Late 60s onwards........I was loathe to say......(and ill just whisper it now) i think spuds have a very good firm nowadays,,,Their durge song MARCHING is impressive when they all sing together..I also thought they have a FIRM firm nowadays too...The Arsenal bloke laughed....The spammer agreed.....Unfortunately no one rated us anymore in any way......I did say we had many a brother /sister willing to fight for the blue flag.......Just dispursed around our ground...Good mob away tho i said......More laughter.......oh well .........................

Didn't think 'firms' still existed, at least not on the scale we had in the 80s. Suppose they are still some, but plod intelligence (using the term loosely) and CCTV probably makes it harder for chaps to kick off in the same way.

I always thought West Ham were near the top when I used to travel a lot

of course not on the same scale SHUG.........walk down Rottenham high rd when we go there and decide for yourself....lol

Not sure why the 95/96 season is listed twice with different positions... 

 

Not sure why the 95/96 season is listed twice with different positions...

We finished 6th in 96/97 and a few of them other league positions don't look right to me. Actually the rest look ok

Edited July 11, 201511 yr by bluegraham

I started supporting chelsea in 94. I was only a kid, 8. The first time I ever watched them was in the cup final against united. Peacock hit the bar in the first half then it all went horribly wrong. 2 penalties given away. Kharine did his best to get out of the way- ha.  My family were all chelsea so I had a look and liked what I see. They were the underdog. I share the same birthday as chels, 10th march- think my old man must of planned that- haha. I had been brought up on stories of the fa cup win in the 70's against leeds and the cup winners cup final win against madrid. I also had to listern to the stories of when the new stand skint the club and put them in the wilderness for a few years.

 

My first match I ever attended was a preseason which happened to be ruud gullit's and mark hughes's debuts. My old man was saying to me how this gullit bloke was a genius and at one point was the most expensive player in the world, won cups all over the place. To me he just looked like a tall, skinny guy with long hair, I didn't know jack really I was so young. He was getting wrestled all over the pitch. But this man went onto change everything for us, he made us fashionable. Other players took notice, zola, di matteo, desailly, leboeuf, vialli, petrescue, poyet.

Bates was offering big deals to all these known players. We where playing great football, some of the football from our late 90's side's is amongst the best i've ever seen in the premier league- so underrated, nowadays.

We won trophies, fa cups, coca cup, european cup winners cup but never the premiership although in 99 we finished 3rd and if it had not of been for the record breaking united team that stopped us and a quality striker we would of done it.

 

On our day we could beat anyone. We beat barca 3-1, got a good point in the san siro, we had convicing wins at old trafford, anfield but never highbury. Although I think we did them in the coca cola? can't remember memory’s shot lol. We also cemented a winning record with spurs.

 

Vialli was out ranieri came in, I loved luca. This was hard to take especially as I had not heard of ranieri. It was even worse when the bloke gave an interview on match of the day, no english and no translator. I remember going to school on the monday and having it ripped out of me for that. He looked more like a solicitor than a football man but anyway I gave him a chance.

 

Ranieri was given the job of dismantling the old guard and bringing in the new blood. He bought lamps, petit and a few others to start with but it was obvious we where skint there were years when we only signed de lucas and jokanovic- very scary.

The ranieri years were very frustrating, losing fa cup finalists, no trophys although we had a steady 5-6 table finish the football in my opinion was very hard to watch, our european cup football was also very short and we were splattered by swiss teams on more than one occasion.

 

Anyway ranieri finally got his tinkering together and we got top 4. Then the rest is history.

We had some sh*te times, but they just made the good ones better. I grew up as a northern fan since I was a 4 year old nipper, so every embarrassing result went hand in hand with a huge piss taking from everyone at school back then just to rub salt in the wounds. Growing up around Sheffield the relegation years were hard but there always seemed to be some moment that made it all ok again. Bouncing straight back to Division One with a glorious promotion season in 88/89 including a lovely 7-0 over Walsall always stays with me.

 

The other thing I rememeber though (and it might just be because I was younger then) was that the hope never went away. No matter how w**k we might have been at any moment, there was always that feeling that maybe this year we'd win a cup or go shooting up the league. I think all those years of disappointment just made the success that came so very much sweeter. It does also make me want to slap some Chelsea fans though when I hear them start whining about tiny stuff they think the club are doing wrong. Ffs, we used to worry about whether the club was even going to exist at one point, or whether Evil Santa was going to end up completely losing the plot.

We had some sh*te times, but they just made the good ones better. I grew up as a northern fan since I was a 4 year old nipper, so every embarrassing result went hand in hand with a huge piss taking from everyone at school back then just to rub salt in the wounds. Growing up around Sheffield the relegation years were hard but there always seemed to be some moment that made it all ok again. Bouncing straight back to Division One with a glorious promotion season in 88/89 including a lovely 7-0 over Walsall always stays with me.

 

The other thing I rememeber though (and it might just be because I was younger then) was that the hope never went away. No matter how w**k we might have been at any moment, there was always that feeling that maybe this year we'd win a cup or go shooting up the league. I think all those years of disappointment just made the success that came so very much sweeter. It does also make me want to slap some Chelsea fans though when I hear them start whining about tiny stuff they think the club are doing wrong. Ffs, we used to worry about whether the club was even going to exist at one point, or whether Evil Santa was going to end up completely losing the plot.

 

Very true with regard complaining blues, these are the golden years in the club's history and we're fortunate to be around to see them, however long they last.

Very true with regard complaining blues, these are the golden years in the club's history and we're fortunate to be around to see them, however long they last.

I'm not greedy. Give me another 10 league titles and 5 CL's and I'll be quite happy!

Yeah the whining can be grating Kentonio, but expectations are completely different these days. If you drop points with a world class team you're more likely to whine than if you do it with Dale Jasper in the team.

I started supporting chelsea in 94. I was only a kid, 8. The first time I ever watched them was in the cup final against united. Peacock hit the bar in the first half then it all went horribly wrong. 2 penalties given away. Kharine did his best to get out of the way- ha.  My family were all chelsea so I had a look and liked what I see. They were the underdog. I share the same birthday as chels, 10th march- think my old man must of planned that- haha. I had been brought up on stories of the fa cup win in the 70's against leeds and the cup winners cup final win against madrid. I also had to listern to the stories of when the new stand skint the club and put them in the wilderness for a few years.

 

My first match I ever attended was a preseason which happened to be ruud gullit's and mark hughes's debuts. My old man was saying to me how this gullit bloke was a genius and at one point was the most expensive player in the world, won cups all over the place. To me he just looked like a tall, skinny guy with long hair, I didn't know jack really I was so young. He was getting wrestled all over the pitch. But this man went onto change everything for us, he made us fashionable. Other players took notice, zola, di matteo, desailly, leboeuf, vialli, petrescue, poyet.

Bates was offering big deals to all these known players. We where playing great football, some of the football from our late 90's side's is amongst the best i've ever seen in the premier league- so underrated, nowadays.

We won trophies, fa cups, coca cup, european cup winners cup but never the premiership although in 99 we finished 3rd and if it had not of been for the record breaking united team that stopped us and a quality striker we would of done it.

 

On our day we could beat anyone. We beat barca 3-1, got a good point in the san siro, we had convicing wins at old trafford, anfield but never highbury. Although I think we did them in the coca cola? can't remember memory’s shot lol. We also cemented a winning record with spurs.

 

Vialli was out ranieri came in, I loved luca. This was hard to take especially as I had not heard of ranieri. It was even worse when the bloke gave an interview on match of the day, no english and no translator. I remember going to school on the monday and having it ripped out of me for that. He looked more like a solicitor than a football man but anyway I gave him a chance.

 

Ranieri was given the job of dismantling the old guard and bringing in the new blood. He bought lamps, petit and a few others to start with but it was obvious we where skint there were years when we only signed de lucas and jokanovic- very scary.

The ranieri years were very frustrating, losing fa cup finalists, no trophys although we had a steady 5-6 table finish the football in my opinion was very hard to watch, our european cup football was also very short and we were splattered by swiss teams on more than one occasion.

 

Anyway ranieri finally got his tinkering together and we got top 4. Then the rest is history.

Great post mate

I've been going since mid sixties but I reckon the late 90s team played a wonderful passing game of football, and yes, were underrated.