Since first going in 1983 to football, this game more than any other, including our cup finals etc has left the biggest impression on me to this day.
I was 15 at the time, and me and my mate left my old man and his mate at the car,( we used to park near the old Fulham power station). Outside the ground the atmosphere was like no other I"d ever known and have ever known since at the bridge. The que and squash at the bovril gate trying to get into the shed was unbelievable!!. Once in the the shed we just about got to the old tea bar and basically couldn"t move either way from there on. Early on speedie scored and the place erupted. It seemed a comeback and victory was inevitable. But no this was Chelsea of old and the heart was broken by one of our own! ( i"ve forgiven you clive) Didn"t really watch much of the second half of football as the shed invaded the pitch, Gate 13 came from the East and the benches started to rip up the wooden benches and use them as spears towards the old bill! I"m sure I also saw police join the Sunderland attack for their final goal! On the way back to the car a few Sunderland fans were giving it large going towards their coach, me and my mate walked past them and then 30 seconds later heard a noise as they were seen off the premises by some disgruntled chelsea. The following day back at school in west sussex me and my mate were sort of mini celebs with our mates as we"d been there the night before and it was across all the papers, the clubs night of shame etc. Fast forward 5 years to a holiday in greece in 1990 and talking to a lad at the bar, he was a newcastle fan, but had come down that fateful night with some Sunderland mates on one of their coaches. He said time they left London there wasn"t a single window left on their coach. Him and his mates still talked about it to that day and had never seen a night like it!!
I now go to football with my teenage sons and have to say in some ways they have missed out on what going to proper football used to be like.It just seemed much more of a buzz and exciting back then compared to the disney experience of todays home games!!