I was having a debate recently on here with Hounslow's Finest about great atmosphere's of bygone days. Like a lot of supporters from various Club's on here, I find the current atmosphere at games I go to every week, pretty sterile and I miss the days when all the grounds were buzzing, there was constant loud singing, characters were plentiful, knees up mother brown would be in progress and crowd surges regular.
It got me to thinking about all the years that I have been going to football and my recollections about days that really were special, not necessarily due to the result, but because both sets of fans were so massively up for it that it made the day a really memorable occasion.
There were many reasons for this. Sometimes it would have been the sheer magnitude of the game that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck, or it would have been a keenly felt rivalry with your opponents, or it may have simply been that both teams were going particularly well (or both struggling) that year and getting the jump on them was crucial for your ambitions. There were even occasions when the threat of hooliganism made attending the whole day dangerous (but curiously exciting) but being fanatical supporters the thought of not being there or ducking out with a doctors note was unthinkable. You had to be there or you were nowhere.
My earliest experiences were ones of fascination and wonderment and the atmospheres were normally exciting, but every so often a particular game would capture the imagination of all the fans and be head and shoulders above the surrounding games.
One notoriously intense affair that I attended was away to Spurs in the league in April 1975. Not only was local rivalry at stake, but the fixture list had made it a relegation decider between the 2 teams, which upped the anti further still. As it transpired the atmosphere was something of an anti-climax, not due to supporter indifference but because the gates were shut at about 2pm and a huge contingent of the away fans (including me) were left outside, making the atmosphere inside very one-sided and partisan to the home team, resulting in the infamous scenes that we all saw on the pitch.
A year later I had the misfortune to attend a game v Millwall at the Old Den, and in the period leading up to the match, everyone on both sides knew that it wasn't going to be a run of the mill, routine event. The 2 teams had not played each other for centuries and you just knew that the ambience of the game would be toxic. In the event it was by far the most scary day at football I have ever experienced and thankfully days like that are consigned to history.
More enjoyable occasions were games like the CL quarter final against Barcelona at the Bridge in 2000. We have played them many times since and some of the games have gone into folklore as the finest games ever seen at the Bridge, but the atmosphere's were nowhere near the game I mention above. I personally went into work the next day and had lost my voice I had been singing so much.
The European game against Bruges in 1995 was another day when the atmosphere was different from usual. The top tier of the Matthew Harding Stand was actually shaking.
Another special atmosphere was the FA Cup game against Liverpool in 1997 at the Bridge where the visitors took a 2-0 lead into half time, but Chelsea rallied in the 2nd half and won 4-2. The noise that day was absolutely awesome, even with only 3 sides of the ground open while the hotel was being built.
There have been other days when the atmosphere was on another level but if I had to pick one that was the best ever, then it would undoubtedly be the FA Cup match against Spurs at the Bridge in 1982. Anyone who was there will tell you that it was off the end of the scale for atmosphere, particularly for us at half time and for them in the 2nd half. Both sets of fans had huge turnouts and the combination of rivalry, not playing each other for years, being the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup made for a fantastic atmosphere which for me, has NEVER been equalled or beaten at any match that I have attended, either before or since that day. It was just a pity that our ground at that time was very open so a lot of the noise generated by both sets of fans was lost to the open air. I would absolutely love it if we could still generate that kind of atmosphere in our closed-in ground today, but sadly we can't. I admit that.
So come on, what was your most memorable days out for atmosphere at your Club? Don't pick your most memorable victories or memorable games because those threads have been done here on all the boards many times, in fact the game that I chose against Spurs, we actually lost, so memorable atmosphere's are what I am looking for you to tell me about - not necessarily great wins or great games.
The Best Atmosphere You Ever Experienced?
posted on 18/10/14
Arsenal Spurs when We scored and then Fabregas scored again straight from their kickoff. Never seen anything like it, everyone lost their heads
Last season their were some cracking atmospheres at Emirates, louder than I could remember Arsenal ever being. Bayern Munich before Szceny got sent off, and against spurs in the cup "Tim Sherwood's a gooner"
posted on 19/10/14
Hello 69, late in on this one mate as I'm in Thailand for three weeks. As you know I managed to get into that 75 game at WHL but the whole occasion was a bit of an anti climax for me as we as we got relegated. The Millwall game as you rightly said was the most toxic game I ever went to. The scenes that day were far too horrific to describe on here, plus the fact we lost 3 nil. The best atmosphere I remember experiencing though was the 76 FA Cup quarter final v Palace at The Bridge. Crammed in The Shed in a 56,000 crowd was amazing. The place was buzzing with the crowd surges, knees up mother brown and the rest of it. Alas I doubt I will ever experience such an occasion again with all seater stadium. I feel sorry for the younger generation of fan that will never experience that. Sorry about the lack of paragraphs mate but I'm on my phone.
posted on 20/10/14
The night we won the Champions league in Munich.
I took my son.
It was absolutely incredible.
The Bayern supporters were convinced that they would finish the night with the cup.
After the match watching the players on the pitch was fantastic , in particular Drogba , something changed that night for me, I've been pretty chilled out about Roman and CFC ever since!
posted on 20/10/14
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 20/10/14
Greatteams,
I think everyone at the club had experienced so many C/L disappointments , that win seemed to make up for all of the near misses in the previous 9 seasons.
Since then Chelsea have gone in a better direction, things have fallen into place, Romans choices have been proven correct .
Happy days !
posted on 20/10/14
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 20/10/14
Greateams , each day i kiss the badge and thank my lucky stars we have an owner at the club who puts his money where his mouth is and is not afraid to make the tough choices.
posted on 20/10/14
ifarka, Munich was without doubt the greatest weekend of my life, and like you the experience is never to be forgotten, but even that didn't seem as intense as that day we played Spurs at the Bridge.
The reason for it may possibly be that at the time we played them we were desperate for any sign of us actually getting near to winning something after years of mediocrity after the Osgood years, whereas Munich (was cathartic after the near misses of the previous years) but we were used to and had gorged on winning things, like leagues, cups, doubles etc. I always think that any set of fans are far more "Up for it" when they are starving hungry for success than when they are regularly getting it.
I know that an FA Cup Quarter Final does not anywhere near compare in real terms to a Champions League Final, but in that era it sure as hell felt like it because we desperately needed some sort of validation (as a supposedly big Club in hibernation) and beating First Division Spurs after beating First Division Liverpool in the previous round would have felt like the World Cup to us at the time.
Expectation levels change with success and the perceived intensity is all relative I guess. Our current capacity is almost the same as the crowd that day against Spurs, but despite that and despite the fact that it is now enclosed on all four sides we still can't seem to generate the noise and atmosphere that both sides made that day in an almost open air arena. The scenes at half time in the Shed and the Spurs boys in the second half were as others have described earlier in the thread quite simply unbelievable, the like of which I have personally never witnessed before or since that day.
posted on 20/10/14
comment by ifarka,BOYCOTT QATAR22/8-STARDBLATTER (U8182)
posted 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
The night we won the Champions league in Munich.
I took my son.
It was absolutely incredible.
The Bayern supporters were convinced that they would finish the night with the cup.
After the match watching the players on the pitch was fantastic , in particular Drogba , something changed that night for me, I've been pretty chilled out about Roman and CFC ever since!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
best night of my life so far I reckon, great weekend. The faces of everyone queing up and realising it was non alcoholic beer was funny too. In regards to the atmosphere I reckon there was loud parts and the bayern fans were deafening(especailly when they called out the players name, and muller when he scored) but I think we had quiet parts too due to the nervousness of the occasion.
ifarka you have a son!?
posted on 23/10/14
When I queued and found out it was non alcoholic beer is when we decided not to watch it on the big screen outside the ground. We got the metro back a few stops and watched it in a bar at Odenplaz!