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Playoff Final 1988

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Areophobia

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Afternoon Gents,

Was anyone here at the playoff final in 1988 vs. Middlesborough?

Been reading about the 'Battle of Stamford Bridge' but wanted to hear some first hand accounts if theres any?

Cheers,

Areo.

 
I'll have to ask my Brother I'm pretty sure he was there

 
Yes, was in the East stand. Was young at the time and remember no away fans were allowed for the first so many games of the following season.

 
I was there and apart from the result a good day out, I went with a Wimbledon mate and his jaw was hanging down at the end, never seen anything like it.

"I'm gonna throw gravel in your face you smog monster scum!"

 
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I was there,remember it well....got twated by a copper in the shed after the game.....one thing that does stand out was with around 20 mins to go a non playing Chelsea player walked over to speak to a steward at the shed end....& when people did start running onto the pitch it was from the gate of which the Chelsea player had a chat with the steward!

 
I was on honeymoon in Greece that day. Not the best day of my Chelsea-supporting life.

 
jim hamilton said:
I was there,remember it well....got twated by a copper in the shed after the game.....one thing that does stand out was with around 20 mins to go a non playing Chelsea player walked over to speak to a steward at the shed end....& when people did start running onto the pitch it was from the gate of which the Chelsea player had a chat with the steward!
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I never heard that before? Who was the player out of interest Jim? Gareth Hall and Kevin McAllister were the subs that day.

 
Still to this day my worst ever day as a Chelsea supporter.

I was in the West Stand Members Enclosure and it's all a bit of a blur now. We got the earlish goal but after that the game went a bit flat and relegation loomed and at the final whistle I had tears in my eyes and just sat there with my then girlfriend watching the pitch invasion but just too numb to move.

Horrible, horrible experience and it marked the departure of my footballing hero, Pat Nevin. Wasn't that the last season they made top tier play off against second tier? That said, think they should bring it back. This season you could have had Boton v West Ham for the right to be in The Premier League and it would be a massive game and at least give the Premiership team the chance of keeping their status.

 
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I remember Eddie Eddie Eddie(wont even try to spell his surname lol!) coming in front of the shed to gee us all up & get the atmosphere going, the gate that was opened was where my union jack was hanging, i remember a steward opening the gate but i dont remember any players coming over.

My face was on all the news reports including a still picture over Trevor Mcdonalds left shoulder on news at 10

& the sunday papers, my old man wasnt impressed lol!

 
Nibs said:
Still to this day my worst ever day as a Chelsea supporter.

I was in the West Stand Members Enclosure and it's all a bit of a blur now. We got the earlish goal but after that the game went a bit flat and relegation loomed and at the final whistle I had tears in my eyes and just sat there with my then girlfriend watching the pitch invasion but just too numb to move.

Horrible, horrible experience and it marked the departure of my footballing hero, Pat Nevin. Wasn't that the last season they made top tier play off against second tier? That said, think they should bring it back. This season you could have had Boton v West Ham for the right to be in The Premier League and it would be a massive game and at least give the Premiership team the chance of keeping their status.
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What made it sickening was we actually finished 4th from bottom, won 3 games out of 4 & still went down, though to be fair we deserved relegation after going from Oct to March without a win, 26 games.

I'm sure we're the only top flight side to be relegated via the play-offs.

Another weird fact from that day is England played away in Switzerland the same day & England fans also ran amock.

 
Carshalton Blue said:
What made it sickening was we actually finished 4th from bottom, won 3 games out of 4 & still went down, though to be fair we deserved relegation after going from Oct to March without a win, 26 games.
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Blimey, I remember us having a bad season but forgot just how bad that run was.

If John Hollins ever wonders why fans don't regard him as a Chelsea Legend, well there's your answer John. We can overlook the fact that you played for QPHa and Arsenal but you truly were a sh*t manager!!

 
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I was in the east stand. I remember it being a hot day with a dry bumpy pitch. The players were tense and so was the supporters. Gordon Durie scored early but it wasn't enough and we were relegated. I was devastated.

I remember the pitch invasion starting from the shed end I think and people throwing gravel into the away supporters at the old north stand. I think it was the Middlesboro supporters goading the Chelsea fans after the final whistle that started it all although I may be wrong about that.

 
Nibs said:
Blimey, I remember us having a bad season but forgot just how bad that run was.

If John Hollins ever wonders why fans don't regard him as a Chelsea Legend, well there's your answer John. We can overlook the fact that you played for QPHa and Arsenal but you truly were a sh*t manager!!
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Yeah mate we beat Oxford at the end of Oct at home 2.1 when Eddie went off injured which ended up him having to retire eventually, then didnt win again until march where we beat Derby 1.0 at home by then Bobby-i love Liverpool fc-Campbell was in charge.

Hollins downfall was having Earnie Whally in as coach which saw him having numerous tear ups with some of the senior players, it sickens me what those two done to John Neals great side, you think we went from finishing fifth/sixth in 85, challenging for the title in 86 up to march then relegated in 87/88, typical CFC eh.

 
Was at the game too, saw loads of people from my old manor down there. I was in the west stand right at the back and could hardly see a thing. managed to get in just before duries goal, (in the 7th minute if im not mistaken).Like someone has already mentioned the game was very flat after that. I dont know if anybody else remembers this but about 20 minutes before the end a chant of 'chelsea chelsea chelsea etc' reverberated around the ground which sent a shiver up my spine. Anyway we know what happened next.

The overriding memory of that season is that you couldnt see it coming in 87, but 26 games without a win was shocking especially as the team was a decent one. Delby said the boro fans goaded our lot but i think it would have kicked off anyway. What got me was that the next day the papers said that there were only 40, 000 there?.Needless to day like nibs it was one of the worst days of my chelsea supporting life.

 
DELBY said:
I was in the east stand. I remember it being a hot day with a dry bumpy pitch. The players were tense and so was the supporters. Gordon Durie scored early but it wasn't enough and we were relegated. I was devastated.

I remember the pitch invasion starting from the shed end I think and people throwing gravel into the away supporters at the old north stand. I think it was the Middlesboro supporters goading the Chelsea fans after the final whistle that started it all although I may be wrong about that.
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I think you've got his first name wrong. I'm sure it begins with a J....(and I don't mean Jukebox).

 
I was at that game, very hot day,The shed was packed to the rafters, I stood in the west side of the shed right at the back, there was a bloke with a spiders web tattoo all over his face jumping about when chelsea were going forward. The atmosphere in the shed end was very tense and when the game progressed the pressure was brewing to maximum boiling point, jukebox Durie relieved the pressure a bit, but as time went on the shed was bursting at the seams and fans were climbing over the fenced off part of the shed end where the shed T-bar was, waiting to take the pitch. When the final whistle went, the shed just erupted and a massed rank of fans took the pitch, I seem to remember mounted police tried to push back the fans from the halfway line back to the shed end, and then there were more fans from the shed joined them and they all decided to take on the mounted police and then take the old north terrace where the middlesborough fans were and started to chuck missiles at the boro fans.

Wasn't a great season of football, team was a bit lightweight had some poor players like Dave Mitchell, Roy Wegerle and Roger Freestone, I remember the Arsenal away match, I didn't see Nevin's goal as the crowd surged forward in the clock end,everyone around us got crushed. The match was that bad that the fans around us tried to make a bit of space on the terrace to start a bonfire,fans were burning newspapers and matchday programmes and set off a firework rocket, this match was in November '87.

The following season, the first few home games the atmosphere was dead as the terraces were closed due to the play off final display.

 
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