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Biggest crowd you have ever been in at The Bridge?

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BernardLambourde

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Well? Unfortunately for me, it would only be whatever the biggest ever attendance since the reformation of the ground (near the 42,500 mark) has been. I've been going since 87/88 and I can't recall a crowd bigger than that since as the stadium hasn't held more. The last time we got over 45,000 would probably have been the game when Liverpool won the league in 1986 (around 46k I think) and over 50k would probably have been the Fulham game on boxing day 1976 (I think). 60k you're probably going back to the early 70's.

So what is the biggest gate you've ever been part of at Chelsea? For my old man, it was 70,000 for a cup game with Spurs in the early 60's and my Grandfather was at the Moscow Dynamo game in 1945 when an estimated 100,000 were present.

I guess this question is only really applicable to people over around 35.

 
I didn't start attending games until 1967, and the capacity of the Bridge was drastically cut at the start of the 72/73 season, so...

61,479 - vs Manchester United 1969/70 - won 2-1

61,277 - vs Tottenham 1970/71 - lost 0-2

60,436 - vs Manchester United 1968/69 - won 3-2

58,452 - vs Leeds United 1970/71 - won 3-1

58,062 - vs West Ham 1968/69 - drew 1-1

57,221 - vs Leeds United 1969/70 - lost 2-5

There were also quite a few games with attendances of between 50,000 and 57,000 during this period

 
Two that spring to mind for me were Spurs at home in the 6th round of the FA Cup, attendance 42,557. It was a rare all-ticket game. The Sunday before the game I remember queuing up for hours, the queue stretching all the way down the Fulham Road. This was 82. They beat us 3-2. We took the lead through Fillery but they had too much class for us. They had a fantastic side. Ardiles, Hoddle, Galvin etc. Fantastic shots of The Shed in this vid ..


It's worth remembering part of the Bridge was closed, between the West and North, so capacity was restricted. This was definitely the case for 82 and I'm pretty sure it was the case in 78 too. Maybe someone can shed some light on that one.

 
Batesy's very own love letter to BlueBeard ..

/monthly_09_2012/post-7147-0-69467900-1347145111.jpg

 

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I'm pretty certain the biggest I've been in at the Bridge was my first game on Boxing Day 1967 against Arsenal (won 2-1 with Birchenall getting both). After that probably the Palace FA Cup match and then Fulham on Boxing day and possibly Ipswich where Webby played in goal. Boxing day was a tradition, the whole family went including my Mum who supports Fulham.

I can't find the attendances though.

 
Peckham Blue said:
I'm pretty certain the biggest I've been in at the Bridge was my first game on Boxing Day 1967 against Arsenal (won 2-1 with Birchenall getting both). After that probably the Palace FA Cup match and then Fulham on Boxing day and possibly Ipswich wh

ere Webby played in goal. Boxing day was a tradition, the whole family went including my Mum who supports Fulham.

I can't find the attendances though.
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That Arsenal game had 51,672 mate, four days later we played away at Arsenal which "only" had 47,157

All results & gates here mate

http://www.mychelseafc.com/previous_results.htm

 
Davey Baby said:
Batesy's very own love letter to BlueBeard ..

/monthly_09_2012/post-7147-0-69467900-1347145111.jpg
Click to expand...
That was certainly a day to remember! The team played quite well considering we were in the old 2nd Division back then, but it was gutting to lose 3-2 to the y*ds. Still, we got a much better result off the pitch :wink:

 
I was at the Fulham game in 1976 in D2 when we had 55,003. Bobby Moore, George Best and Rodney Marsh were playing for Fulham. We haven't come close to that figure since.

 
Same here started going in 76 and Fulham at home was only my second ever home game. I know we won 2-0 and i sat in the West Stand but other than that i cant remember a thing and havent ever seen the goals on film, being a west london derby with Best and Moore playing you'd have thought it would be recorded somewhere. Apart from Fulham was at some of the 45,000 odd crowds Liverpool/United at home before the capacity got reduced.

Biggest away crowd ive been in would be at Old Trafford in recent years although i was at Highbury in the late 70s with 50,000 odd. In europe was at Barcelona in a 98000 crowd-2-1 defeat.

 
Davey Baby said:
Two that spring to mind for me were Spurs at home in the 6th round of the FA Cup, attendance 42,557. It was a rare all-ticket game. The Sunday before the game I remember queuing up for hours, the queue stretching all the way down the Fulham Road. This was 82. They beat us 3-2. We took the lead through Fillery but they had too much class for us. They had a fantastic side. Ardiles, Hoddle, Galvin etc. Fantastic shots of The Shed in this vid ..

Click to expand...
. I was in the Shed in 1978 for the Liverpool game and again when we played them a few weeks later in a league game. The papers were full of stories about how Liverpool were coming back to the Bridge for revenge for the 4-2 defeat, but we battered them that day as well 3-1 I think. We were in the old 1st
 
chelsea78 said:
. I was in the Shed in 1978 for the Liverpool game and again when we played them a few weeks later in a league game. The papers were full of stories about how Liverpool were coming back to the Bridge for revenge for the 4-2 defeat, but we battered them that day as well 3-1 I think. We were in the old 1st
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Battered them off the pitch too.

 
fillerywhereru said:
Same here started going in 76 and Fulham at home was only my second ever home game. I know we won 2-0 and i sat in the West Stand but other than that i cant remember a thing and havent ever seen the goals on film, being a west london derby with Best and Moore playing you'd have thought it would be recorded somewhere.
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The goals were posted by Eddie Mac in the Chelsea videos thread a few months ago. Poor quality but still....I'll have a look for the link.

EDIT: Sadly, it's been taken down off YouTube. It was posted here:



 
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shame i didnt get to see that might have jogged my memory :-) was also thinking of the Boro playoff game there was no way that was only 40000 odd nearer 50000 i reckon,.

 
As far as official attendances go mine was the Boxing day game against Fulham in 76, but as has been mentioned above there have been matches where it appeared the "chairman's gate" was the busiest on the day.

 
Backbiter said:
I was at the Fulham game in 1976 in D2 when we had 55,003. Bobby Moore, George Best and Rodney Marsh were playing for Fulham. We haven't come close to that figure since.
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Davey Baby said:
Two that spring to mind for me were Spurs at home in the 6th round of the FA Cup, attendance 42,557. It was a rare all-ticket game. The Sunday before the game I remember queuing up for hours, the queue stretching all the way down the Fulham Road. This was 82. They beat us 3-2. We took the lead through Fillery but they had too much class for us. They had a fantastic side. Ardiles, Hoddle, Galvin etc. Fantastic shots of The Shed in this vid ..

Click to expand...
These were the two I thought of. Fulham was boxing day wasn't it? And for the Liverpool game I had a Saturday job but luckily the boss was a football fan (Swansea, anyway!) and as soon as the draw was made gave me the day off! I remember when we scored being swept off my feet and falling but someone just reached down and yanked me up by the scruff of my neck! They were pretty invincible in those days and for us to beat them was fantastic! Funnily enough I didn't hate them then like I do now though!

 
MKBlue said:
As far as official attendances go mine was the Boxing day game against Fulham in 76, but as has been mentioned above there have been matches where it appeared the "chairman's gate" was the busiest on the day.
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The most obvious one of these for me was the Bradford Disaster Appeal match against Rangers in 1985. Official attendance was given as 7,239 - what a f*ckin' joke, Rangers alone brought more than that down - I was in the North Stand end with them!

 
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