trouble,” says Vic Locke, a member of the
Chelsea Pitch Owners and a fan who travelled
home and away, despite the ban. “There was
all the talk of Chelsea smiles [an infamous
knife wound], though that was more a myth,
really. But there were fans intent on trouble.”
Chelsea’s challenges were hardly unique in
a decade synonymous with hooliganism. But
as time wore on and patience became ever
thinner, the ordinary fan was viewed with the
same disdain by both police and government.
You could hardly accuse Chelsea of sitting
on their hands. In March 1982, an FA Cup tie
against rivals Spurs was marked by a solemn
programme cover, which laid bare the major
obstacle facing English football. On a black
background, the Blues used their biggest gate
of the campaign (42,557) to issue the threat
of private prosecution against anyone whose
“sole purpose is to cause trouble”.
Such a move didn’t come entirely out of
the blue. In the previous round, Chelsea had
knocked out Liverpool, and their fans had
Hillsborough disaster of April 1989. In the
early ’80s, though, Stamford Bridge already
had more seats than almost any ground in
English domestic football – and was probably
the most dangerous place to watch a match
in the country. Just ask the Leeds fans who
travelled south in October 1982.
“Chelsea’s hooligan fans have chillingly
exposed the argument that all-seater
stadiums will end violence inside grounds,”
said the Evening Standard’s Peter Blackman,
as the Second Division meeting concluded in
a near-riot. “Their rough-house fans left The
Shed for seats along both touchlines against
Leeds on Saturday. Clearly, they’ll pay more
cash to terrorise anyone near them.”
Colin Pates was a centre-back mainstay for
the Blues from 1979-88. “The ground would
be rocking, and just before kick-off I’d turn
to the Shed End – all you could smell was the
beer coming off the breath of fans behind
the fences,” he said.
In short, a trip to Stamford Bridge wasn’t
for the faint-hearted in whatever capacity
you found yourself. So, spare a thought
for the white-bearded knight charged with
overseeing the club on a day-to-day basis.
“Ken was very present,” recalls Hutchings.
“He was the man who would carry out all the
wage negotiations with the players. You’d go
into his office with a lump in your throat, and
very often he would agree the first figure you
mentioned. You’d come out of there kicking
yourself – you got the feeling you could have
earned another £50 a week.”CHELSEA
taken it upon themselves to do likewise to the
travelling support. “A section of the Britannia
terraces occupied by around 500 Chelsea
fans, mostly teenagers, went wild like a tribe
of savages as they fought with police and
opposing fans,” sighed John Wasbrough in
the Fulham Chronicle. It was enough, he said,
to “put you off going to football matches”.
As league crowds plunged, a generation of
Chelsea fans knew how he felt.
Bates would assume control of the Blues
a month later and, after sorting out the dire
finances, he made restoring their appalling
image an immediate priority.
“There was something happening every
week, not only at Chelsea but up and down
the country,” says Locke. “I remember once
picking up a newspaper and seeing a fan with
a dart embedded in their skull. The dart just
avoided their eye but it was literally hanging
off the side of the person’s face. It was grim.
“A bit closer to home, I was on a train from
Woking with some pals, heading to Chelsea
around the time that Bates took over. All of
a sudden, a bloke started chasing us through
the train. We ran down every carriage being
tailed by this guy with a knife. When we got
to the end, I honestly thought about jumping
out the door, out of a moving train. I was that
terrified. Then he pulled his lip down, started
laughing and showed us the word ‘Chelsea’
tattooed on the inside of it.”
By the end of the decade, Lord Justice
Taylor would recommend the introduction of
all-seater stadiums in the aftermath of the“I nEARLY JUMPED
OUT OF A MOVInG
TRAIn, THAT’S HOW
TERRIFIED I WAS”
Clockwise from
above “I told you
I was peckish...”;
the fences that
defined the ’70s;
the programme
cover requesting
calm from fansFourFourTwo June 2022 75