18 minutes ago, F1905 said:

Bluehaze great list ,I never knew qpr had an open end ,I guess the Lego stand was being built and so no roof for a time ,love the memory we have for certain things. Palace was open ,I seem to recall highfield Road Coventry was open,gillingham ,Bristol rovers ,I will be thinking about this all night ,great stuff 

The school end was open but the loft the day Langley scored for them was the away end they went to what is the away end now. 1980 I think it was. Forgot about Luton I was there at least three times.

Remember the open end at QPR in 80/81 when Langley scored the winner!

41 minutes ago, F1905 said:

Bluehaze great list ,I never knew qpr had an open end ,I guess the Lego stand was being built and so no roof for a time ,love the memory we have for certain things. Palace was open ,I seem to recall highfield Road Coventry was open,gillingham ,Bristol rovers ,I will be thinking about this all night ,great stuff 

The old away at QPR, the School End was always open, not that any Chelsea bothered to stand there.  When they developed the ground that end was covered first so the Loft became the away end.  I cant remember if they took the cover off though.

Thanks all ,I must be having a mental block as I just can’t visualise qpr,s ground with it open ended ,heh ho ,tin pot club so bolloxs to them 

Most of the above plus Plough Lane, Pompey, Marseille, and the old Olympic Stadium Munich.

31 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

Most of the above plus Plough Lane, Pompey, Marseille, and the old Olympic Stadium Munich.

Plough Lane ha ha utter khazi. 

looks like the people that filmed our ground same year!

Saturday, 31st March 1984 at 15:00

Cardiff City 3-3 Chelsea

They were 3-0 up inside the first 25mns !

Scorers for us: King Kerry Dixon 84th,Colin Lee in the 85th and a very late Nigel Spackman equaliser in the 90th minute. Penalty.

Some comeback !

Still top Division 2.

11,060 saw it.

 

Next up on Saturday 7th April 1984, is a local derby v Fulham at The Bridge.

9 hours ago, Richard P said:

looks like the people that filmed our ground same year!

They filmed many British grounds that summer.

It's a very good film record of what the grounds looked like back then.

1 hour ago, erskblue said:

Saturday, 31st March 1984 at 15:00

Cardiff City 3-3 Chelsea

They were 3-0 up inside the first 25mns !

Scorers for us: King Kerry Dixon 84th,Colin Lee in the 85th and a very late Nigel Spackman equaliser in the 90th minute. Penalty.

Some comeback !

Still top Division 2.

11,060 saw it.

 

Funny that game, as I was 14 and went with a school mate like many at my school a Brighton fan, we went on a Brighton coach to Pompey away, I couldn't stand Brighton at the time as mates would take piss on how sh*t Chelsea had been but went for a day out, it pissed down with rain on the open fratton park away terrace but I had a smile on my face as Mark Hatley scored a hatrick and Pompey won 5-1, after game heard we drew 3-3, but wasn't until I got home did I see the comeback we had produced.

Thanks Richard P for the qpr film,sad as I am ,I have a little blue book with the games I have been to listed in it and the first time I did qpr away was a 2 2 draw in December 1979 ,right around the time of the film

it was a night game and we were all in the away end loft thing ,that I do remember but but but I still can’t visualise the open terrace even having seen the film ...I need to let it go...  I was pondering those who had a little book with women listed in it ,not us /me we have a book with CFC games listed 

32 minutes ago, F1905 said:

Thanks Richard P for the qpr film,sad as I am ,I have a little blue book with the games I have been to listed in it and the first time I did qpr away was a 2 2 draw in December 1979 ,right around the time of the film

it was a night game and we were all in the away end loft thing ,that I do remember but but but I still can’t visualise the open terrace even having seen the film ...I need to let it go...  I was pondering those who had a little book with women listed in it ,not us /me we have a book with CFC games listed 

I was at that game we completely took the ground over and we would have won but for a late equaliser for them in the dying minutes the ball slipping through Borata's hands. Think your getting a little confused possibly by my post earlier ?. The Loft was the home end (although it was full of Chelsea that night) the away end was the school end which was uncovered. For one season 80-81 they took the roof off the Loft and made it the away end and the home end became what the away end is now (hope that's not to confusing). In 81-82 we beat them 2-0 the away end was what it is now and as a schoolboy for years that was my favourite away game. I've found the programme for the game.

 

Cheers  Bluehaze so to be clear tee hee.... the home end was the away end and the away end the home end ,but only for one season and then the away was the away end with no home fans and the home end was the home end with no away fans ? but when CFC turned up we had the whole ground !

24 minutes ago, F1905 said:

but when CFC turned up we had the whole ?ground !

In a nutshell yes 

16 hours ago, F1905 said:

Cheers  Bluehaze so to be clear tee hee.... the home end was the away end and the away end the home end ,but only for one season and then the away was the away end with no home fans and the home end was the home end with no away fans ? but when CFC turned up we had the whole ground !

" We're Here there, every f**king where"

17 hours ago, bluehaze said:

I was at that game we completely took the ground over and we would have won but for a late equaliser for them in the dying minutes the ball slipping through Borata's hands. Think your getting a little confused possibly by my post earlier ?. The Loft was the home end (although it was full of Chelsea that night) the away end was the school end which was uncovered. For one season 80-81 they took the roof off the Loft and made it the away end and the home end became what the away end is now (hope that's not to confusing). In 81-82 we beat them 2-0 the away end was what it is now and as a schoolboy for years that was my favourite away game. I've found the programme for the game.

 

Remember that win as a lad, daft things you remember sometimes, I can remember being in my bedroom playing Subbuteo with sports report on, can to this day remember the reporter saying the thousands and thousands of Chelsea fans would be dancing back down the Fulham road after this result, don't ask me how I remember it, but I do, was it the game when there was graffiti on the plastic pitch that I'm not sure about?

18 hours ago, bluehaze said:

I was at that game we completely took the ground over and we would have won but for a late equaliser for them in the dying minutes the ball slipping through Borata's hands. Think your getting a little confused possibly by my post earlier ?. The Loft was the home end (although it was full of Chelsea that night) the away end was the school end which was uncovered. For one season 80-81 they took the roof off the Loft and made it the away end and the home end became what the away end is now (hope that's not to confusing). In 81-82 we beat them 2-0 the away end was what it is now and as a schoolboy for years that was my favourite away game. I've found the programme for the game.

 

I only went there once before it was a noddy stadium- open away end so must have been then.

For taking the stadium over I thought the 95/96 4th Round Cup game took some beating. Hardly saw a QPHaaar fan all night.

It was a cold night, and asked a mate if he could bring a spare scarf- he gave me his prize early 80s yellow and green one which I managed to loose- we met early and got pretty pissed. He still reminds me about that.

Edited March 29, 20197 yr by Ewell CFC

2 hours ago, chi blue said:

Remember that win as a lad, daft things you remember sometimes, I can remember being in my bedroom playing Subbuteo with sports report on, can to this day remember the reporter saying the thousands and thousands of Chelsea fans would be dancing back down the Fulham road after this result, don't ask me how I remember it, but I do, was it the game when there was graffiti on the plastic pitch that I'm not sure about?

81 yes great day also 83 Boxing Day  we beat them 2-1 and as we were leaving the ground they played best years of our life by Modern Romance and we started doing the conga and having  a knees up on the concourse.

 

10 hours ago, bluehaze said:

81 yes great day also 83 Boxing Day  we beat them 2-1 and as we were leaving the ground they played best years of our life by Modern Romance and we started doing the conga and having  a knees up on the concourse.

 

This was the last away game before the famous ban!

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2019/03/29/the-greatest-comeback-you-ve-never-heard-about?cardIndex=0-1

The Blues' trip to Cardiff City on Sunday takes place 35 years to the day since we staged the most remarkable of comebacks against the Welsh side in a six-goal thriller at Ninian Park.

It is to English football's eternal credit that the phrase 'lost cause' doesn't exist in its lexicon unless prefixed with 'chasing a' or 'no such thing as a' – an enduring feature of the beautiful game on these shores, which has contributed to its popularity around the globe.

We've enjoyed a few of them in our time, the most famous of which have typically come in Europe when overturning a first-leg deficit, and Napoli and Vicenza instantly spring to mind. Then, of course, there is our famous FA Cup triumph over Liverpool after going in 2-0 down at half-time in 1997, a game which will always retain a special place in Blues folklore.

 

Mark Hughes completes the comeback over Vicenza

Surely, though, a side staring at a 3-0 deficit with just six minutes remaining is entitled to have given up hope. Start the team bus – there's no coming back from this one, boys. But just try telling that to John Neal's Chelsea side in the 1983/84 campaign, which remains an unforgettable season for those supporters of a certain vintage as we won the Division Two title to return to the big time.

The Blues had developed a reputation for magnificent comebacks in the Seventies – just ask the Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers sides who saw three-goal leads evaporate against us – but on both occasions time had been on our side.

Against Cardiff City, in front of a raucous Ninian Park crowd, the scoreboard and the clock were against us. With a little over five minutes remaining, the Blues trailed by three and the large number of our supporters who had made the trip to south Wales could have been forgiven for making an early exit.

 

Plenty of fight from David Speedie, but nothing to show for it... yet

However, as Neal noted, 'lesser teams than ours would have folded at that time' and an unlikely comeback began in earnest when Kerry Dixon hooked in a low shot. By this time he was well on his way to finishing as the top scorer in the division during his maiden season as a Blue, and surely this was just another strike to swell his tally.

It may have seemed little more than a consolation, but the lackadaisical manner in which Cardiff restarted the match instilled fresh belief into Neal's side, typified by right-back Colin Lee popping up on the left-hand side of the six-yard box to bundle in our second. Game on!

 

Colin Lee makes it 2-3 to give the Blues hope

Then, with mere seconds left to play, a Cardiff City hand blocked a shot which travelled less than a yard before striking its target, surely accidentally? No! Penalty given! Nigel Spackman was the man entrusted to show nerves of steel. He didn't disappoint.

The home side barely had time to kick-off before the full-time whistle went. Somehow the Blues had snatched a scarcely deserved point, taking us level on points with Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United at the top of the standings.

Remarkably, the post-match talk centred on a missed opportunity. Johns Neal and Hollins both remarked that an extra five minutes of playing time would have resulted in the unlikeliest of victories, although the latter felt the comeback was almost worth as much as a win.

 

Nerves of steel from Nigel Spackman

'It's a lovely feeling to know we can go from three-nil down and come back to draw – so long as we don't do it too many times! The players know what they can achieve if they want something badly enough.'

It was an occasion young Dale Jasper would never forget, either. He had come into the side at centre-half for his Chelsea debut and he thought his family had been there to witness this most remarkable of contests.

'My parents had to leave the ground early because of some trouble – they thought it was all over anyway,' lamented the debutant. 'When we made it 3-3 I had tears in my eyes with excitement. It was unbelievable, the emotion, it really was.'

Days like these don't come around often, but the next time you're at a game and you think all is lost, don't give up hope. Stranger things have happened...

On 28/03/2019 at 13:35, bluehaze said:

I was at that game we completely took the ground over and we would have won but for a late equaliser for them in the dying minutes the ball slipping through Borata's hands. Think your getting a little confused possibly by my post earlier ?. The Loft was the home end (although it was full of Chelsea that night) the away end was the school end which was uncovered. For one season 80-81 they took the roof off the Loft and made it the away end and the home end became what the away end is now (hope that's not to confusing). In 81-82 we beat them 2-0 the away end was what it is now and as a schoolboy for years that was my favourite away game. I've found the programme for the game.

 

82/83 got locked out the school end. Ran round the other end with my brother and got in the “home” end!! Stood on some low shed thing in the corner for a view as it was packed full of Chelsea!

Cardiff away.

Remarkably, the post-match talk centred on a missed opportunity.

Johns Neal and Hollins both remarked that an extra five minutes of playing time would have resulted in the unlikeliest of victories, although the latter felt the comeback was almost worth as much as a win.

'It's a lovely feeling to know we can go from three-nil down and come back to draw – so long as we don't do it too many times! The players know what they can achieve if they want something badly enough.'

 

Another great quote. Re comeback at Cardiff March 84.

However, as Neal noted, 'lesser teams than ours would have folded at that time'.

What a great quote from John Neal . In so many ways, sums up that team and that season !

My mate had this kit he wore the top everywhere for a couple of years he used to call for me and I could see him coming for miles. The 77-78 away shirt was our best ever away shirt in my opinion. For a team who only won two away games all season to model your away kit on Brazil ha ha. Duncan McKenzie at Maine Rd one of the two away wins. Ronnie Harris at Luton 3-3 another Chelsea takeover and Clive Walker at Leicester.