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Most embarrasing turn out

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sparkplug

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Being fairly new to this forum have been going through loads of the old threads brought back loadsa memories from the 70s and 80s I thought I might try and start a new one.

I think it was either 1973 or 1974 we played Crystal Palace in a Testimonial at Selhurst Park in a night game I was still at school and used to work most Saturdays so night games was the only time I could go then.

As it was a local game decided to go with a couple of mates we stood in the White Horse end didn't see many Chelsea there outside afterwards we bumped into a few Chelsea mostly younger than me (I was 15/16 at the time) led by a big bloke with curly hair and tashe wearing a Starksy type cardigan he decided we would go up towards the Holmesdale End and have a pop at Palace Hundreds of Palace came charging down the road towards us with that the Chelsea turned and run I stood there with a couple of mates we were not gonna run from Palace they just run past us laughing and cheering as they realised they had just run Chelsea without a punch thrown we just stood there in shock I don't think they even noticed us.

We started to walk up to the Bus stop to get a 75 bus home hoping that the kids at school (mostly Millwall) wouldn't find out being run by Palace I felt humiliated at the bus stop we noticed a few Palace lads walking towards us full of it.

It was time to exact a bit of revenge we ran over to them landed a couple of blows and kicks they turned and run as they did I heard a cry "Stephen" turned round and saw me mum and dad and yonger brother standing there shocked they had been to the game as well just when you thought it couldn't get any more embarrasing  :face_palm:   

 
Worst turn out i recall being at was at Highbury.....YEAR?.....Absolutely f**ked in the clockend and all keeping quiet....

 
FV terms Utd at home league cup semi 2005 150+ Utd walked unopposed had a pop at one of our pubs & were met by only 7 yes SEVEN Chelsea, to be fair Utd couldve destroyed the gaff but didnt do f**k all considering, said to be a proper embarrassment by some of our lot.

 
I reckon us lot waiting for the Herd at the top of the steps at the back of the West Stand (late 80s?) was worse Carshalton.  They came up the steps and onto the concourse unopposed.  And we knew they were going to do it.   

 
MelbourneBlue said:
I reckon us lot waiting for the Herd at the top of the steps at the back of the West Stand (late 80s?) was worse Carshalton.  They came up the steps and onto the concourse unopposed.  And we knew they were going to do it.   
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Dont stop there...what happened next

 
MelbourneBlue said:
I reckon us lot waiting for the Herd at the top of the steps at the back of the West Stand (late 80s?) was worse Carshalton.  They came up the steps and onto the concourse unopposed.  And we knew they were going to do it.   
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Just for balance, they come into the East upper (yes I know) in 86 I think,  when they scored about 50 jumped up and gave it some. A single Chelsea supporter then crept down across the top of the seats and attacked them, they looked totally confused and just tried to hold him off and when two other Chelsea fans dragged him away we then scored so he run back down and took the piss again. Not a major result but funny to watch!

 
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Some of the most embarrassing turn outs were also some of the most annoying.

It seemed every season, the last home match before we were due to play at Upton Park the Shed would sing "if you're all going to West Ham, clap your hands", and almost the entire Shed would clap. And every year just a handful of Chelsea would actually go to the game, which would inevitably result in a kicking due to being entirely outnumbered.

The following home match would be tense in the Shed, as those of us who went to West Ham were mightily pissed off with all those that bottled out, and it nearly always ended in a fierce punch-up. It always seemed to be the same bottlers every season, too, with the same old excuses of "I had to work", "I was skint", "I was ill", etc... Why couldn't they just be honest and say "I was too scared"?

The same thing happened for other away games that were considered a bit tough, like Newcastle, Liverpool, Everton, Man.Utd, Leeds and the like.

No wonder so many of us migrated to the North Stand, we were ashamed to be associated with a lot of the Shed boys - but by no means all of them. There were a regular crew of Shed boys who'd go anywhere and everywhere (mostly the Stockwell, Battersea & North End Road mobs), it was the others who let us all down, all mouth no action. Similar thing used to happen when we played the pikeys at home, there only ever seemed to be a hardcore mob who'd defend the Shed, where the rest went I have no idea.

 
MelbourneBlue said:
Sorry, I thought the word 'unopposed' would explain it.  They were allowed to walk up the stairs, into the West Stand seats and watch the game untouched.  A complete embarassment for us. 
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Thing is a few years before we were on their patch, taking the Northbank and walking the streets hundreds strong and you couldn't find them anywhere, a few years previously they were taking the Shed.  Every dog has it's day and anyone who believes the myth that they've never lost a battle 'ICF 30 years undefeated' for example is living in cloud cuckoo land.

 
MelbourneBlue said:
I reckon us lot waiting for the Herd at the top of the steps at the back of the West Stand (late 80s?) was worse Carshalton.  They came up the steps and onto the concourse unopposed.  And we knew they were going to do it.   
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Yeah maybe mate but what sort of firm can only muster 7 vs one of our rivals. especially being at home.

 
dstoner said:
Just for balance, they come into the East upper (yes I know) in 86 I think,  when they scored about 50 jumped up and gave it some. A single Chelsea supporter then crept down across the top of the seats and attacked them, they looked totally confused and just tried to hold him off and when two other Chelsea fans dragged him away we then scored so he run back down and took the piss again. Not a major result but funny to watch!
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They also went in our east upper last home game of the season in 92, the same season we'd gone in their North bank, after our home game they came out after the game & it went off by the Black Bull, later on it went again on Hammersmith Green.

 
I know what my thoughts are , but, as it  stands today , how would the knowledgable put in order the following for the best/toughest support.....(from).......west ham

                                 spuds

                                 Arsenal and us............you must be honest 

 
West Ham in the 70s untouchable, Arsenal up to 74 formidable, Spurs away where they always had a go at you in the Paxton not bad. We were pretty piss poor in London in the early 70s despite the hype.

 
Mike Carefree said:
I know what my thoughts are , but, as it  stands today , how would the knowledgable put in order the following for the best/toughest support.....(from).......west ham

                                 spuds

                                 Arsenal and us............you must be honest 
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Best support is a hard one to call, as all mentioned clubs have had lulls since the 70's heydays, and attendances backed this up at some time or another. Us, West Ham, and Spurs in the 2nd Division, all had pretty poor crowds now and again. Understandably when a winter midweek game against Cambridge,  Wrexham, or Shrewsbury would hardly have been an exciting prospect.

If memory serves me correct, in the early 70's all London teams only managed to muster up 200-400 max when playing at man Utd, when the 'specials' from Euston cost £2.50p!. We changed that scenario in 1976 (1-0, Bill Garner scored) by taking up to that time, the largest support from any London club. After that every club followed our example. Numbers then increased away from home in great numbers, although in my opinion Chelsea and Spurs took much larger numbers than Arsenal and West Ham.

Toughest support.

Every club has had a good period sometime or another, although overall i would say West Ham have been the most consistent (despite in my opinion in the early 70's their Mile End firm were somewhat older than other clubs firms, which made a big difference).

Arsenal ruled North London in the early seventies, then from around 1975 Spurs took big mobs into the North Bank until the early eighties, and became the main power in that part of town. Chelsea V Spurs, over the seasons i dont really think one was completely dominant over the other, both clubs had 'their day' although at least we went into the Park Lane end on several occasions, before being escorted along the gang way at the back, round to the Paxton End. I recall them coming out of the tunnel from the old West Stand in 1972, i think, and getting within around 70 yds of the Shed, before we charged, and they fled. But i dont know of any season when they actually mobbed up in the Shed pre match?.

Arsenal ventured into the Shed on more than 1 occasion, but achieved what?. They even had a pop at West Hams North Bank in the early 70's, but again got run out.

I was at our game at West Ham in 1971 when a good mob from Stockwell (i think), surged into them, had a go but had to retreat. Spurs did the same in 75 or 76, but suffered the same fate. West Ham mates used to tell me that in the early 70's Spurs never turned up there at all.

And now we come to West Ham, credit when its due, over the decades they have taken the Shed, Park Lane, and Arsenals North Bank. To my knowledge the only club to have ever taken their North Bank was Man Utd in 1967 or 68, before everyone else was 'organised'.

Never been able to fathom out why they were better organised than the rest of us, possibly more close knit?.

Will finish this with an amusing tale. Home to West ham 72-74, as per usual they were all in the Shed, when around 2.30pm the chant went out. Chaos ensued all round, trying to group up etc, and one of their fans, a big coloured guy , wearing a leather coat pulled some sort of weapon from his pocket. We all backed off a couple of steps, then somehow he dropped it (to this day dont know what it was), as he bent down to retrieve it, about a dozen Dr. Marten boots all surged up  like the 'Tiller Girls routine' (older fans will remember that), and he copped a good kicking!!!.

 
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