Chelsea hard core.

[Freddie Goodwin.]

25 years ago, as we beat Norwich in the 6th round of the FA Cup at a packed Goldstone, Chelsea were beating Carlisle in the old 2nd Div (now championship) by 4-2.

So, what, you may ask, who's interested in Chelsea? Well, not many back then because, unless it's a misprint, the attendence was......

6,647

Sort of crowd that would comfortably fit in Withdean!

 

[Paxton Dazo]

No, FG, that MUST be wrong. Chelsea are a big club....

Not true, neither are there 10, 000 crowds 14 years ago

They're MASSIVE, are Chelsea.

C'unts.

 

[Brovion]

It wasn't just Chelsea though, loads of clubs had crap attendances in that period. Even the 'Big Five' of the day Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, Spurs and Everton, had average crowds lower than they get today - and the figures at places like Newcastle were a joke.

Basically for a number of reasons football was dying on its arse in the 80s. And then (and I shall go straight to bobblehat hell for saying this) Rupert Murdoch breathed new life it.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

hey come on we are just as guilty on the crap crowd front back then.I went to leeds once in the late 80s and there were less than 40 Brighton fans there on a sat and we won 3-2.

 

[Gwylan]

It wasn't just Chelsea though, loads of clubs had crap attendances in that period. Even the 'Big Five' of the day Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, Spurs and Everton, had average crowds lower than they get today - and the figures at places like Newcastle were a joke.

Basically for a number of reasons football was dying on its arse in the 80s. And then (and I shall go straight to bobblehat hell for saying this) Rupert Murdoch breathed new life it.

I'm sure attendances rose after the 1990 World Cup. I think that's what breathed life into football, suddenly you didn't feel like a second class citizen if you were a football fan. And the world was full of people who had been fans of Man Utd since Dennis Charlton and Bobby Law had been playing for them.

 

[Gwylan]

hey come on we are just as guilty on the crap crowd front back then.I went to leeds once in the late 80s and there were less than 40 Brighton fans there on a sat and we won 3-2.

Brighton attendances in 1984 were more than twice what they are now. And it's not just the fact that we're a division lower, our gates in 1984 were still twice those in 2006, the last time we played in the lower division.

So, that's one thing we're not guilty of

 

[Brovion]

I'm sure attendances rose after the 1990 World Cup. I think that's what breathed life into football, suddenly you didn't feel like a second class citizen if you were a football fan. And the world was full of people who had been fans of Man Utd since Dennis Charlton and Bobby Law had been playing for them.

I think the 1990 World Cup is quite a minor factor when comparing where clubs like Chelsea are now compared to then. Granted there may have been a feel-good blip led by Gazza and 'World in motion' - but that would have been crushed by Taylor and failure to qualify for 1994.

 

[Gwylan]

I think the 1990 World Cup is quite a minor factor when comparing where clubs like Chelsea are now compared to then. Granted there may have been a feel-good blip led by Gazza and 'World in motion' - but that would have been crushed by Taylor and failure to qualify for 1994.

Chelsea is an interesting case. Their attendances actually went down after the 1990 WC, but went down even more after the launch of the PL and the Murdoch money. Gates didn't get up to their pre-PL level until 1996 and didn't show a leap forward until 1998.

I don't think that economic conditions should be divorced from this though. It's no coincidence that the low point that FG describes is in the middle of a recession where unemployment was twice as high as it is today. And, in Chelsea's case, its biggest rise is at the start of an economic boom.

I wonder if anyone's done a comparison between unemployment figures and football attendances, I bet there'd be a strong correlation.

 

[magoo]

Wait a minute, are you saying if you're team does well and climbs up the leagues they get more supporters??

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Brighton attendances in 1984 were more than twice what they are now. And it's not just the fact that we're a division lower, our gates in 1984 were still twice those in 2006, the last time we played in the lower division.

So, that's one thing we're not guilty of

I know the above,and your right all i was trying to say was that our away following has not allways been that good.We improved sure and i would put that down to our situation in the mid 90s when we all rallied around the club away from home our support for our position could only be bettered by a few clubs.But 40 away at leeds when we were in the old second division mid table clash was bad.

 

[Gwylan]

I know the above,and your right all i was trying to say was that our away following has not allways been that good.We improved sure and i would put that down to our situation in the mid 90s when we all rallied around the club away from home our support for our position could only be bettered by a few clubs.But 40 away at leeds when we were in the old second division mid table clash was bad.

I meant higher division of course in my original post.

It's hard to find away records but, yes, you're right, our away support has been worse. I remember being at Roker Park in 1977, winning there and going top of the old Div 2 - and there being about 25 or 30 Albion supporters there.

 

[Brovion]

...
I don't think that economic conditions should be divorced from this though. It's no coincidence that the low point that FG describes is in the middle of a recession where unemployment was twice as high as it is today. And, in Chelsea's case, its biggest rise is at the start of an economic boom.

....

Oh I agree, but it's also true that the football 'audience' had changed. Back in the 1980s it was still almost 100% white, male and working class. Now when the cameras pan round the grounds you can see women and children making up a fair proportion of the crowd - you can even see the odd black face even at places like Chelsea (and last time I was at Stamford Bridge I sat next to a black family). A lot of those new fans have been attracted because, thanks to the Sky money, the stadiums are no longer crumbling concrete jungles with zero amenities. Of course being 'old school' we hate this!

Like you say it will be interesting to see how this recession affects things like Chelsea attendances.

 

[User removed 4]

No, FG, that MUST be wrong. Chelsea are a big club....

Not true, neither are there 10, 000 crowds 14 years ago

They're MASSIVE, are Chelsea.

C'unts.

ooohhhh ! isnt jealousy a terrible thing ?the little green eyed monster rearing its ugly head then ? whats your record like against us over the past 25 years ? 10,000 crowds 10 years ago , i dont think so sonny! before you go on about glory hunters i'd be interested to hear your excuses, sorry reasons for supporting spurs when you live in brighton ? we are certainly bigger than you though arent we ? the only thing ive got to say to you is " you won the league in black and white "!!!! :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

 

[Rusthall Seagull]

ooohhhh ! isnt jealousy a terrible thing ?the little green eyed monster rearing its ugly head then ? whats your record like against us over the past 25 years ? 10,000 crowds 10 years ago , i dont think so sonny! before you go on about glory hunters i'd be interested to hear your excuses, sorry reasons for supporting spurs when you live in brighton ? we are certainly bigger than you though arent we ? the only thing ive got to say to you is " you won the league in black and white "!!!! :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

any chance you want to sod off to a Chelsea board??

 

[pork pie]

No, FG, that MUST be wrong. Chelsea are a big club....

Not true, neither are there 10, 000 crowds 14 years ago

They're MASSIVE, are Chelsea.

C'unts.

Well, they are a massive club compared to the Yids!

 

[Franks Wild Years]

ooohhhh ! Isnt jealousy a terrible thing ?the little green eyed monster rearing its ugly head then ? Whats your record like against us over the past 25 years ? 10,000 crowds 10 years ago , i dont think so sonny! Before you go on about glory hunters i'd be interested to hear your excuses, sorry reasons for supporting spurs when you live in brighton ? We are certainly bigger than you though arent we ? The only thing ive got to say to you is " you won the league in black and white "!!!! :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

bushy in non muslim post shock.

 

[User removed 4]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

any chance you want to sod off to a Chelsea board??

i do spend a lot of time on a chelsea board , as you well know.

 

[Smythe]

I watched Chelsea lose 2-0 at home to Southapmton in what is now the premiership in 1991, not long before our play off final at Wembley and there was about 11,000 at Stamford bridge........massive club

 

[Simster]

ooohhhh ! isnt jealousy a terrible thing ?the little green eyed monster rearing its ugly head then ? whats your record like against us over the past 25 years ? 10,000 crowds 10 years ago , i dont think so sonny! before you go on about glory hunters i'd be interested to hear your excuses, sorry reasons for supporting spurs when you live in brighton ? we are certainly bigger than you though arent we ? the only thing ive got to say to you is " you won the league in black and white "!!!! :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

You're no really though, are you. The lowest league Spurs gate in living memory was 13,000 in 1985. Arsenal's is about 17,000. Your AVERAGE top flight league gate in the season before Ruud Gullit turned up (so we're talking 1994 here) was only 12,000.

You've had countless gates under 10,000 through the 80s and 90s. 7,384 for a Premiership match against Southampton in 1992.
So historically, you're not even 3rd biggest in London - you were smaller than West Ham until the Gullit/Zola/DeMatteo era. You are 3rd biggest now though - Chelsea commissioned some survey a couple of years ago and found this out themselves. i.e. Spurs and Arsenal both have more support than you do. Lets not forget, Chelsea couldn't even sell their full Charity Shield allocation in Cardiff a couple of years ago.

One thing I do agree on is that it's f***ing funny to see Spurs acting like a small club for so many years. They've even got a small time manager now.

 

[User removed 4]

You're no really though, are you. The lowest league Spurs gate in living memory was 13,000 in 1985. Arsenal's is about 17,000. Your AVERAGE top flight league gate in the season before Ruud Gullit turned up (so we're talking 1994 here) was only 12,000.

You've had countless gates under 10,000 through the 80s and 90s. 7,384 for a Premiership match against Southampton in 1992.
So historically, you're not even 3rd biggest in London - you were smaller than West Ham until the Gullit/Zola/DeMatteo era. You are 3rd biggest now though - Chelsea commissioned some survey a couple of years ago and found this out themselves. i.e. Spurs and Arsenal both have more support than you do. Lets not forget, Chelsea couldn't even sell their full Charity Shield allocation in Cardiff a couple of years ago.

One thing I do agree on is that it's f***ing funny to see Spurs acting like a small club for so many years. They've even got a small time manager now.

we get bigger gates than spurs now , its all about the present day, if you want to use historical arguments then you can argue that huddersfield town are a bigger club than spurs, hey have after all won the league more times, we are a bigger club than spurs , end of.