Nicked from the Daily Heil:

Chelsea could relegate Middlesbrough almost 30 years after Boro inflicted the same fate on the Blues and sparked the 'Battle of Stamford Bridge'

• Middlesbrough could be relegated to the Championship on Monday night
• Victory for Chelsea would mean Boro drop into the second tier after one season
• In 1988, it was Middlesbrough who relegated Chelsea to the Second Division
• Boro's victory in a play-off led to a violent pitch invasion by some Blues fans.

Middlesbrough could be relegated to the Championship on Monday night Victory for Chelsea would mean Boro drop into the second tier after one season. In 1988, it was Middlesbrough who relegated Chelsea to the Second Division Boro's victory in a play-off led to a violent pitch invasion by some Blues fans.

A police officer tries to contain Chelsea fans in the Shed End at Stamford Bridge in 1988

A Chelsea fan is arrested during the incident which came after a game against Middlesbrough

Gordon Durie scored Chelsea's only goal as the Blues lost 2-1 to Boro on aggregate

Should Middlesbrough's torrid season be dealt its terminal blow, however, it's unlikely their fans will take the news with the same, savage vitriol shown by some Blues supporters three decades ago.

The stage was a relegation play-off in 1988. The short-lived concept had been introduced the previous season to determine the final available place in the top tier for the next campaign.

Having finished fourth from bottom, Chelsea were entered into a post-season mini-tournament along with the third, fourth and fifth-placed teams from the Second Division - Middlesbrough, Bradford and Blackburn.

Boro and the Blues met in a two-legged final and the first match, at Ayresome Park, resulted in a comfortable 2-0 home win.

Gordon Durie cut the deficit in half for Chelsea in the return fixture in the capital but the hosts could not find a second. Boro were up. Chelsea were down.

Some fans reacted angrily, breaking through the fencing around the perimeter of the pitch at the Shed End, past the meagre police presence and charging towards the visitors at the other end of the stadium after the final whistle.

A policeman is taken off the Stamford Bridge pitch on a stretcher during the trouble

Chelsea fans invaded the pitch and charged towards Boro supporters before goading them

They threw makeshift missiles at the away supporters before being herded up by police. One officer was injured in the fighting and was taken from the pitch on a stretcher.

Late Middlesbrough MP Stuart Bell described the several hundred-strong pitch invasion as 'the hordes of Ghengis Khan'

'Chelsea fans in the tier above us had their faces contorted with hate,' Bell said at the time.

'They were pelting us with oranges and one youth threw a bottle of beer which sprayed everyone.'

Middlesbrough mayor Bryan Lonsbrough, who was also at the game, like Bell criticised the reaction of police and stewards as he hit out at the 'animal' behaviour of those Chelsea supporters involved in the incident.

The Blues were penalised by the Football Association for the disorder.

The first five home games of the following season were all-ticket, none of the terracing was opened and away fans were banned.

Chelsea won Division Two at a canter despite the sanctions. Boro dropped straight back out of the top tier.

 

One of the saddest days I can recall as a supporter.

Was a black day for all of us - relegated, the Chelsea aggo feeling came up, got chased by the cavalry and almost nicked. But today I´m not out for revenge, those days have passed.

We certainly got our own back in football terms beating them in both the Full members Cup and FA Cup finals.

 

That play off scenario was absolute bullsh!t. Whoever thought this up needed to be "shot" 

2 hours ago, nominator said:

Was a black day for all of us - relegated, the Chelsea aggo feeling came up, got chased by the cavalry and almost nicked. But today I´m not out for revenge, those days have passed.

These days, would probably take me most of the 1st half, to get across the pitch to The North Stand!.

53 minutes ago, The Leigh Limpet said:

These days, would probably take me most of the 1st half, to get across the pitch to The North Stand!.

You and me both fella 

4 hours ago, Osgood is Good said:

That play off scenario was absolute bullsh!t. Whoever thought this up needed to be "shot" 

We are the only team to get relegated from the top division via the playoffs.

2 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

We are the only team to get relegated from the top division via the playoffs.

Yeah I know. Absolute bollocks

Went to said game and had a nightmare at kingsX and on the train back upto donny .

 

boro were all over the place and the train was rammed with them ,I was getting kicked and punched all way back to donacster

and some boro lot even tried to pin us down and have me trainers away .

i remember that day because they got rid of that play off crap straight away!

Was in the Shed, hot day I remember; sometimes you just knew that if the result went wrong it was gonna go off.

The previous play off game against Charlton rarely gets mentioned, but that was a lively encounter as well.

I was in West Stand members enclosure that day. Still the most painful day of all my years supporting Chelsea. Forget some of the more recent defeats in big matches like CL etc, that day was the WORST. Took my then girlfriend that day - we were both in tears. Me due to our relegation, she because of all the aggro that kicked off around us!!

Have another read through this thread.

2 hours ago, Nibs said:

I was in West Stand members enclosure that day. Still the most painful day of all my years supporting Chelsea. Forget some of the more recent defeats in big matches like CL etc, that day was the WORST. Took my then girlfriend that day - we were both in tears. Me due to our relegation, she because of all the aggro that kicked off around us!!

First time I took a bird to Chelsea was in the Cup v Leicester - 97.

We were in the West Stand seats, cracking atmosphere- gotta say the forum is named after the most iconic part of the ground, but Gate 13 and the West Stand plus benches were where it was happening from bout 83 on. 

Back on track, the roof almost came off when Lebouf scored the winning penalty- the sort I was with had a ball.

Just after that we had to change the famous  Lebouf song, cause he complained in the programme.

" He's here, he's there, were not aloud to swear, Frank Lebouf!"

Happy days

The first time I took a girlfriend was Sunday Nov 92 - Leeds at home.

She normally worked Saturdays being a retail worker and so a Sunday seemed a good fit.

I thought about going to the Middle of the Shed yet then thought it could get a bit boisterous in there with pushing and shoving so decided to shell out a bit more and pay for the West Stand.

For a long period it was disappointing as there were no goals yet there were loads of insults being thrown by the guys behind us and the Away End. My girlfriend was also from Doncaster.

Townsend scored near the end of the match and the ground came to life.

I asked her afterwards if she enjoyed it and she said it was boring until then end, she paused and then added she was terrified to say anything in the ground in case the guys behind though she was from Leeds!

Sunday, 29th November 1992

Whenever the opposition scored everyone in the West Stand used to stand up- to see if any opposition fans were amongst them.

Countless times the odd away fans either got led out or received a clumping.

Quite why they were in a home section I don't know- you'd be miles safer with your own fans.

23 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

Whenever the opposition scored everyone in the West Stand used to stand up- to see if any opposition fans were amongst them.

Countless times the odd away fans either got led out or received a clumping.

Quite why they were in a home section I don't know- you'd be miles safer with your own fans.

Just perhaps they were fans of the other club living in London.

Remember being in shed that day and some bloke next to me was commentating on the game to himself!!!, Totally pissed off after game, and was meeting my mate and our birds to go camping after the game, met up with them and we put our tents up, and then went into nearby town for drinks, we all got pissed and wandered back through the campsite, In defiant mood i started singing some Chelsea songs, I was met with a chorus from various  tents of "going down" "and boro, boro," finally we found our tents just as it came on to rain, and my bloody tent and fallen down, so had to sleep in car, never been camping since and it capped a crap day, mind you I did get my leg over in the car that night so all wasn't bad!

On 1/27/2018 at 13:27, Ewell CFC said:

Whenever the opposition scored everyone in the West Stand used to stand up- to see if any opposition fans were amongst them.

Countless times the odd away fans either got led out or received a clumping.

Quite why they were in a home section I don't know- you'd be miles safer with your own fans.

I remember that. I used to call it the witch hunt.