The first home / away game you went to

Inspired by this:

First professional game I ever attended was Brighton at home to Charlton at the old Goldstone Ground. Score?? Brighton 7 Charlton 0. The journey back was spent with the Brighton fans I was with explaining to me how it wasn't like this EVERY week. So, yeah, Charlton lol indeed.

― pandemic, Thursday, 7 October 2010 14:42 (3 hours ago)

What do you remember about the first match you went to? Can do home and away seperately for added nostalgia.

(I do actually intend to post to this thread myself, I just haven't got time right now)

Coincidentally, I just wrote a piece about this very topic as part of the Chicago Fire's anniversary celebrations. The club is posting a week's worth of supporter blogs.

http://www.chicago-fire.com/news/2010/10/anniversary-week-blog-3

(slightly cheesy imo but enh)

First game was a home international, Scotland 1-0 Wales, 1982. I was five. I remember the goal (Asa Hartford, low shot from about twenty yards which I remember as being like a free-kick though I don't think it was).

I remember 90 minutes seeming like an unfeasibly long time and asking my dad beforehand if we'd be leaving at half time. We stayed to about 70 minutes I think. No doubt him walking really fast and me having to run to keep up, like every other match we ever went to. He got a kick out of that I think!

Mostly I remember my dad sitting me on the little wall at the front of the family enclosure so I could see and kick my legs in the ash on the other side, and a jobsworth policeman coming over and making him lift me back down, which he did but he was cheeky to the copper with it, to his credit.

First would have been some godawful Highland League game in the early 80s.

I wasn't allowed to go down to Glasgow to see Celtic on my own - first game I actually went to on my own was seeing St Johnstone clinch promotion to the Premier Division (pre-SPL) against, I think, Airdrieonians, in 1990 (I was at boarding school in Perth and sixth formers were allowed to go into town shopping at the weekend once a term. I went to the football instead). My memory tells me they won the game 3-0, and that Tommy Turner might have scored for them?

My first game at Celtic Park was therefore in 1990 when I left school and was allowed to go to Glasgow for the weekend to visit a friend, who didn't thank me for dragging her to Celtic Park to spend the afternoon. It was a goal-less draw against St Johnstone, with a wonder save from the St Johnstone keeper which a St Johnstone-supporting friend told me actually inspired half of Perth to go out and buy the Celtic View because there was a picture of the save accompanying the match report.

Buoyed by this, I joined my local Celtic Supporters Club a couple of weeks later and went to every game home and away from that point on for that whole season. My first away game saw us scudded 3-0 away at Pittodrie, game recalled here: http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/aberdeen/199271-take-five-eoin-jess-golden-moments/

West Ham 3-4 West Brom

Not an 'away game' as such, but the first time I deliberately went to the away end as being where the fun is. Boy was it ever, though it didn't seem like that when we got in ten minutes late right as Brian Deane made it 2-0 to the Hammers, then a third a few minutes later. Needn't've worried though, a classic David James inspired comeback made this brilliant fun. We were half-a-dozen rows back, directly behind the goal where five of the goals were scored, which was a just fabulous place to watch from.

spurs- away to old trafford, we wuz robbed by blatant lack of peno against wes brown handball at 0-0, nani scored his first utd goal (iirc) from a deflected 25 yard strike 1-0 loss. 2006 or 2007 season. sit in away end cos of the tickets i get for these eery year or two, so don't really enjoy it tbh. atmosphere nasty enough, and hard to get immersed.

home- only got to WHL last season for the boring boring villa 0-0 in the league. feb i think. amazing atmosphere, particularly compared to the kop the weekend before, which was awful (team in doldrums at time, opponents bolton so i guess no overarching judgement to be drawn).

ireland- old landsdowne road (poor enough), i think it was a friendly against georgia or s/t like that, 2005-6 sometime. have seen them at croke park a few times since (amazing stadium), will make one of the games in the aviva before too long i guess.

already spoke about the first home one on the other thread - the day qpr got relegated.

first away was at ipswich in 1999. they were pretty good; we were pretty shit but gerry had come back to save us (or so we thought at the time). result: a scarcely credible 4-1 win courtesy of gavin peacock, yet another goal for one-season wonder former removal man stuart wardley, and two from rob steiner, a very handy big swedish target man whose career was cut short by injury not long after. it was all a bit of a blur and i don't remember much about it tbh.

My first game was possibly a non-league one. I know my Dad took me and my brother to see Harlow Town v Bishops Stortford one cold winter day, probably during the Christmas holidays. I don't know when this was: some time between 1981 and 1984 I would guess. This was a local derby of sorts, but Stortford (despite being much the smaller town) were generally a division or two above Harlow in the Isthmian League, so I'm guessing this was some kind of cup match.

The first Manchester United game I went to was an away match, for the unsurprising reason that Manchester was a long way away and my Dad had no intention of travelling to the other end of the country and back for a football match. I was going to say I'd been brainwashed into being a Man United fan by my Dad, but I don't know if that's really true: I don't think there was any particular pressure. I think I just grew up taking it for granted that we all supported the same team. My younger brother shattered this harmony by choosing to support the infinitely more successful Liverpool.

I think supporting a team as a young kid in the early 80s was a fairly abstract thing, in that you almost never actually saw the team: I was too young to accompany my Dad to matches, there was virtually no live football on TV (apart from FA Cup finals, England matches, and Liverpool in Europe), and Match of the Day was on after bedtime (and we didn't get a video until I was 13). Despite having the 81 and 82 kits and identifying as a United fan and spending pocket money on United yearbooks of 80 and 81 and making sure I got all their stickers in my Panini books, I don't have any concrete memory of seeing them on the TV at all before the 1983 cup final. Presumably I must have seen them in highlights on The Big Match on a Sunday afternoon, but nothing has stayed in my mind (though I can clearly remember seeing Spurs v City in 81, and Liverpool v West Ham in something, and Spurs again in 82, and the 82 World Cup in Spain).

The 1983 cup final (or finals) was the big breakthrough: United won something! And it was on TV! Twice (because it needed a replay)! And then things really stepped up for the 1983/84 season: I was in the top year at junior school and so finally got to play in the school team, the BBC and ITV started showing live league matches on Friday evenings / Sunday afternoons, and my Dad said I was old enough to come to a match with him.
(will post the rest in a minute)

He'd already promised me we'd go to the game at Upton Park before they announced that it was going to be shown live on TV (IIRC the second league game to be shown live on TV - I think the first was Forest v Spurs a week or two before). In those days televised games usually saw a significant drop off in attendance and my Dad probably wouldn't have bothered going to the match but for the fact I would have been so upset.

So we headed down the M11 on a Sunday afternoon, rather than a Saturday. My memories of that day are sketchy, to be honest. I remember approaching the stadium and hearing the sound of the chanting from several streets away and that hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck-standing-up feeling. I remember we walked past the tube station and somehow found ourselves blundering into the midst of the United supporters being 'escorted' by the police. My Dad was at pains to avoid being anywhere near the away end - he wanted to avoid trouble at the best of times, never mind with his ten-year-old son. We had tickets for a seat at the side of the ground and didn't want to get funneled into the away terrace. There were fights breaking out in the street almost immediately pounced upon by the police, and the (to my eyes) gigantic men with Manc accents all around us looked pretty, er, 'tasty', but as my Dad tried to extricate us they were surprisingly helpful and said "watch out - there's a kid down there".

I don't remember anything on the pitch that day at all. I know the score was 1-1 and I know that Ray Wilkins scored for us, but I can't visualise it. I remember that I stuck to the script that my Dad had drummed into me: when United scored we didn't react, didn't smile, and when West Ham scored we went up with everyone else. I seem to remember my Dad telling me to concentrate on the game, but I was just fascinated by everything around me: the fans, the noise, the gantries. My Dad tells me (nowadays) that there were skydivers parachuting onto the pitch and cheerleaders prancing about before kick-off in an attempt to counter the stay-at-home effect of the game being on TV, he says he told me "Don't think it's normally like this". He needn't have bothered, as I've completely forgotten this as well.

The only other thing I can definitely remember is wandering in the dark back towards the car and overhearing a couple of West Ham fans talking about the match and one of them hilariously calling Gary Bailey 'Barry Gayly'.

That's 'hilarioulsy', rather than hilarioulsy.

I liked that, very good.

I realised earlier that apart from the players, my dad and the policeman, I can't remember anyone else being there. A lot of my memories are like that - I'll remember a place vividly, but have no idea who was there or even if it was busy or not. Not a people person I guess.

first home, liverpool vs norwich, last day of the old kop, think it was 95. jeremy goss scored the winner, it was a cracker. it's about the last time we were as shit as we are now. had a great day tho, my dad took me.

first away was last year actually, saw liverpool beat west ham 3-2 at upton park, stifling cheers as torres scored a total screamer in the end i was sat at.

international, first home was ireland cyprus a few years ago, end of the staunton era, a finnan equaliser made it 1-1. first away was seeing us play colombia at craven cottage in 2008. missed robbie keane getting the only goal of the game in first five mins due to tube delays...

actually tho if you count shelbourne first home would be quite a bit earlier...

My Dad resolutely refused to take me to Old Trafford all through my childhood, so I existed on a diet of two or three away games a season (apart from the season after Heysel, when my Dad refused to go anywhere near a ground in disgust). The nearest I got was Glossop on a day travelling around the Peak District when I was 14 - you could even make out the skyline of Manchester from the top of the hill, but my parents were unsurprisingly not that keen to go on a detour from the national park so that I could see the outside of an empty stadium in the off-season. The following season (1987/88) I was allowed to go to matches on my own, but only if there was little prospect of crowd trouble (which in practice meant Wimbledon and Watford). As I was earning about £5 a week from a paper round there was still little prospect of me going to Old Trafford under my own steam.

When I was 18 I headed up north to university determined to get to Old Trafford for the first time. With no real internet or anything in those days (1991) this was a bit trickier to organise than it would be now. I think I went to a call box and phoned directory enquiries to get the number for the ticket office and then phoned them up to ask the date and price of the next home game. Whereas in the 80s you could generally just turn up at a match and get in, it was getting a bit more complicated. Colin Moynihan had been leading a Tory drive to stamp out hooliganism by introducing a compulsory membership scheme for all football supporters - although this idea had been ditched, it had been at least partly taken on and Old Trafford was largely members only. Nowadays you'd take this for granted but at the time it seemed outrageous to me - like being told you had to pay £10 for a membership card to be allowed to go to the pub or the supermarket. In addition to this, the capacity of grounds had been slashed post-Hillsborough - not because they'd become all-seater (not quite yet, anyway), but because far fewer people were allowed to be packed onto the terraces. Old Trafford only held about 47,000 now instead of 58,000 just a few years before, so the ground was full or nearly full very often (unthinkable in the 80s).
(to be continued...)

There was a small section of terracing which was available to non-members on a pay-on-the-gate first-come, first-served basis, the Stretford Paddock, basically the corner next to the Stretford End. Nowadays the tunnel to the changing rooms comes out there, but at that time the tunnel was by the dug-outs.
Inside:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ngU0BcADU9E/S1ozLoQICYI/AAAAAAAAAL0/njFxqDD75pw/s320/Stretford+End+Paddock.jpeg

and outside:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngU0BcADU9E/S1ohwjZdvSI/AAAAAAAAALM/icW9hTaLZ-s/s320/Stretford+End+4.jpg

The first game I would be able to go to was against Sheffield United, either late October or early November (can't remember exactly) 1991. I set off on my own again (considering they were/are the best-supported club in England, I didn't seem to have much luck finding other people who actually wanted to watch them). The train headed off through Yorkshire, over the Pennines, through some unknown place called Stalybridge full of tower blocks, and finally to Manchester Piccadilly. The station's had a massive facelift now, but was pretty grimey back then, my lasting memory being of a barbers located in a downstairs toilet.

I knew there was railway line right next to the stadium, because it was on my poster of Old Trafford that had been on my bedroom wall throughout my teenage years, so I headed to the ticket machines and bought a ticket for 'Old Trafford'. The train was rammed with United supporters so I knew I was going the right way. Except, not the way I thought. We arrived at the station called Old Trafford and NOBODY got off. What's more, it was clearly not next to the football ground. I had a moment's panic - should I get off? I stayed on with rising fear of ticket inspectors seizing me in the near future. I was already worried enough about the fact that I had an unmistakably southern accent and could scarcely look more like a student, with my John Lennon specs and Mark Gardener haircut, so I chose not to make myself look even more out of place by saying "excuse me - does anyone know where we're going?". The next stop was called Warwick Road. This meant nothing to me, but EVERYBODY ELSE got off, so I did too. To my relief we were untroubled by jobsworths looking for minor ticket infractions and we strode out of the station, which I was still confused to see was nowhere near the football ground (but was close to Old Trafford cricket ground).

Up the road, past Lou Macari's chippy, and there was the ground at last (considerably smaller and tattier than today). I headed for the Stretford Paddock and paid the shocking price of £7.50 to get in - I'm sure I'd been paying less than half that just a few years before. Then I stood and waited as the terrace slowly filled up around me. Once again, I don't have any vivid recollection of the match itself. I know we won 2-0 (Kanchelskis plus own goal), but I can't picture either goal. In fact, the only bit I can clearly recall is immediately post-match: they played 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life' on the tannoy (an anthem stolen from Sheffield Wednesday) and bleeped out the "Life's a piece of shit" line - as if such language was going to be shocking to the average football supporter. They also read out the scores and I'm guessing Leeds didn't win that day because I clearly remember joining in with the (imaginative) chant of 'United - top of the league. United, United - top of the league'.

first home game was against man utd at the dell in 1990. we lost 2-0 and my main memory of the game is that man u scored just after half time and i, forgetting that the teams had changed ends, cheered. i was only 9. i was mortified obv. we were in the crazy-looking wedge-shaped milton road stand which i can't find any pictures of online.

i don't think i went to an away game until i saw us beat crystal palace 2-0 in 2005 (unless you count the 1992 ZDS cup final at wembley). that was also the first game i'd been to at all for about 5 years and the main thing that had changed was that i felt self-conscious about singing.

Arsenal vs Manchester United, November 4th 1995. It was just after my 15th birthday and my sister and her boyfriend (both in their mid-'20s at that point) took me along. It was the George Graham business the previous summer that got me into football,

Dennis Bergkamp scored the only goal of the game. Seem to remember he'd played about ten games at that point and had only scored away at Leeds and somewhere else, We were in the Clock End and he scored up the other end of the pitch, and even though I couldn't see a thing that led up to the goal it seemed like everyone in the stadium went absolutely crazy. I remember thinking how odd it was that no one sat down during the whole match even though you'd paid for a seat. I was pretty clueless, even for a teenager.

We were in the block of seats next to the away fans' corner and I seem to remember loudly shouting something offensive back at one particularly leary Man Utd fan towards the end of the game and getting patted on the back by a group of blokes in the row behind us.

The stuff you don't get on Match of the Day was what stood out most - walking with a throng of people from the Tube to the stadium, all the different food stands set up in people's front gardens in the surrounding streets, the Delboys selling bootleg merchandise, the fanzine sellers, the roar from the crowd when walking up onto the terrace (proper cliched lol Fever Pitch moment, that), David Seaman standing about 10 metres in front of you and turning around to wave when the crowd's chanting at him to "give us a wave", and then the grief Schmeichel got during the second half. And everyone calling Glenn Helder "Lionel", which I'd never heard before.

First away game? Southampton reserves vs Arsenal reserves at the Dell in November 2000. Was a student at the time and lived in a house that backed onto the Dell (it was great, you could hear a pin drop on Saturday afternoons). Arsenal's reserves won 4-0. Seem to remember tickets were outrageously expensive for a reserve game, like £11 or £15 or something similar. My fellow-Gooner housemate refused to pay to get in and ended up being given a ticket by Matthew Upson's dad, who he met randomly in the pub at the end of our street about two minutes before kick-off. The only players I remember were Nelson Vivas and Upson. Pretty sure it was just the kids, not a sign of the first team. Cashley was probably playing,

Could have been very different had my sister been going out with a Spurs fan.

Got dragged to many a Poulton Victoria game in the West Cheshire League in the mid-'70s (home - top of our road and away - some sick-making ride in an overstuffed Vauxhall Viva down the A41). Got to meet Bill Shankly, Jimmy Hill and Harry Catterick before I knew who any of them were at a charity match at the Vics' ground, I recall.

But the 1978 World Cup was when I first became obsessed with the game and Dad, having not been a Goodison regular for a few years, started taking me to Everton the following season. I saw us beat Wolves 2-0 (Latchford, King) early in 1978-79. I just remember the smell of cigarette smoke - thousands of Embassy Regals - hitting me as I walked up the steps into the Upper Bullens Road stand. I've been to very few away games - saw us lose 3-1 at Stoke in about 1982 (bit of crowd trouble too - not nice), win at Palace in 2004 and a pre-season victory at Exeter (with Gazza) in 2000. That's about it. Never went to an Anfield derby. I was at Wembley for the FA Cup final defeat vs Chelsea.

I've only been to Goodison once since I left Merseyside (2-0 vs Villa, Feb 2004).

First away game I attended, like NBS, was at Upton Park. Would have been very early 80's so I must have been 11 or 12. Think West Ham were in the old First Division at the time and Brighton had just been relegated the previous season so it must have been a cup match. It was a night game and the first time I'd used the tube I think. I think the game ended 1-0 but I can't remember who to!

What I do remember is that the away end was full price only, so if you were a kid and wanted to pay half price you had to go in the home end, walk down to where the fences separated the fans and ask a policeman to let you into the away end. I was terrified! Obviously now I can see that even the most committed hooligan was unlikely to punch an 11 year old kid, but still at the time-scary.

I ended up going to Upton Park quite a bit, in fact whenever Brighton were away from home outside of London I would travel up and go see either West Ham, Spurs, or Arsenal, depending on who was at home that week. Never went to Chelsea, way way too scared. The good thing about those days was that you could just front up on a match day and pay at the turnstiles for most games, but going to football could be pretty scary and intimidating at times especially if you were a mixed race kid with a big afro surrounded by 1000's of your fellow 'fans' singing songs about Vince Hilare being a "dog shit face". So yeah really don't miss that.

August 1994, Celtic vs. Flamengo, 2-2, Rangers end, Hampden. Pre-season friendly. I had just turned 10. At the time I was a fan of Aberdeen. Solely because i wasn't particularly interested in Scottish football, preferring internationals (the world cup had just been) - and not caring about Scottish football hasn't really changed, i'm just interested in Celtic, the rest of the SPL gies me the baulk - and was a bit of a non-conformist and preferred to shun the team that all my classmates at my catholic primary school supported. A large part of the attraction of the match for me was seeing a Brazilian team. The tickets must have been cheap and my dad would have been happy to go to a game as he had supported Celtic since he arrived in Scotland in '75, but hadn't been to many games after he became a father in '81 because of time constraints and straightened economic circumstances.

The aspect of the experience I remember most vividly was the angriest and most foul-mouthed cunt i'd ever encountered up 'til that point in my life. Had seen how action on the football pitch could rankle - seeing relatives watch Old Firm games on the telly - but was taken aback how this guy seemingly was seething with murderous rage at every action of each and every opposition player, no matter how innocuous, in this meaningless warm-up game.

From this point on i started going to games at least a few times a year, this game didn't really start my love affair with Celtic at all. The atmosphere was terrible, because it was a friendly, Celtic were at a low ebb, and because it was at Hampden - the worst stadium i've ever been to. The new Celtic park at capacity and in good-voice and players like Cadete, Van Hooijdonk and Di Canio were the ones to do that.

Did you actually attract abuse yourself (if you don't mind me asking), or did this charming stuff just project outwards to the pitch? Never sure to what, if any, extent footy hatred is aimed at players/managers/away fans as actual feelings towards actual human beings, or just as handy recipients for whatever 'banter' is lying around.

was xp to pandemic obviously

First home game - against Man City in 1995. We came from behind IIRC, David Howells and Klinsmann scoring. Klinsmann!

Never seen Spurs away from home, first away game was probably some QPR shite at Loftus Road around 10 years ago.

oh forgot about the away bit. I've never seen Celtic away from home. Despite the fact that i love traveling while drinking, rebel songs, and shite scottish towns.

First away, technically: Palace v Luton, ZDS Cup semi at Selhurst, must have been 1991 at a guess? Was kind of excited cos this was when Palace were really quite good - Wright, Salako, Thomas etc had got to the FA Cup final the previous year - so I was looking forward to seeing Croydon's finest in the flesh... Then it turns out my dad's mate from work is the one who's bought the tickets. And he's a Luton fan. So my first live football experience sees me shivering up in the terraces of the old Holmesdale Road end watching Luton lose 3-1. And we arrived too late for Luton's goal. It is fair to say I was not hooked.

First away as a Saints fan: Selhurst again, Saints v Wimbledon, 1995. We won 2-0, goals from the edge of the area by Magilton and Le Tiss. This, incidentally, was the one where Tiss tried to rig the time of the first throw-in, though I didn't notice this, obv. What I do remember: Gordon Watson backheeling to the opposition at every available opportunity, Neil Shipperley running around a lot without ever actually touching the ball, cheers for Grobbelaar at half time (this was a bit after the match fixing trial), Neil Sullivan being rubbish, Marcus Gayle having a minor ruck with Tommy Widdrington in the centre circle, being totally sure Jim Magilton was the best player ever.

Ismael-It's strange, not once did anyone ever direct a racist comment directly at me that I can recall. But the enjoyment and satisfaction and sometimes hatred on peoples faces as they would sing this shit did feel really really intimidating. Strangely I did still love going to football during that time and part of that was the singing and crowds and atmosphere but at the same time I would spend large periods of the day sick to my stomach scared at what may happen. I was pretty used to being the only non white face in a crowd as there were no black kids at my primary school and only 3 at my secondary school which caused me to be a little bit self conscious anyway but going to football just ratcheted that up x100. I stopped going when I became a teenager largely because I figured I WAS now old enough to be thumped and didn't fancy taking my chances.

Possibly wise. A personal low point for me was seeing a flag-clad scumbag take on (thankfully only verbally) a group of singing & dancing Brazilian girls in the queue for the tube after the England-Brazil friendly at Wembley in 2000, and nobody daring to do anything about it.

I don't remember being much into football until around 1986. I vaguely recall watching the 1982 world cup final and supporting italy, and in around 84 i decided I supported Chelsea but I never really thought about actually going to a game. Chelsea had a terrible reputation, and though there were lots of Chelsea fans in my family and Peter Bonetti was a family friend, nobody went because everybody thought it was too dangerous.

So my first game was actually Wimbledon-Spurs in an FA Cup quarter-final in 1987. Wimbledon were the local team and it was easy to get tickets, so I went with my best friend and his dad, who was a Chelsea fan. Spurs won 2-0 and Waddle and Hoddle scored. The only thing I can really remember is all the people and the noise and the colour and getting upset because I spilt coffee all over my programme.

At some point around 87/88 I became completely obsessed with Chelsea and knew all the players dates-of-birth and all that crap, so my Dad had to take me.

My first Chelsea game was October 1987. It was away at Watford - somebody we knew was a member at Watford so we sat in that crazy looking Stanley Rous stand. Dave Bassett had just taken over at Watford and all the Watford fans around us spent the whole time shouting abuse at him. Chelsea won 3-0 and went second in the league. They didn't win again until March and got relegated. Again, I remember nothing about the game and was just captivated by the Chelsea fans and the weird songs they sang. I really, really wanted to be where they were. It looked fun.

I didn't go to the Bridge until Boxing Day 1988 when my Dad finally plucked up the courage to take me. We sat in the West Stand. We were running away with the Second Division title and won easily, 3-0 I think. This was the first time I saw the infamous Shed and didn't really see what all the fuss was about. This was also the first time I realised that while going to football was incredibly exciting for me, it was pretty much a chore for a lot of the people around me, who'd been going for decades out of a sense of duty.

I also bought my first fanzine at this game and realised there was a lot more to football fans that what I read in the Evening Standard.

I started going pretty regularly after that and went to about ten more games that season. I also started to go to see other teams - mainly Charlton and Arsenal, but also Fulham, West Ham, QPR and even Spurs.

I'd meet up with friends on a Saturday morning and we'd look at the fixture list and decide which game to go to - you could always get in as all-ticket games were almost unheard of.

I reckon this was a great time to be a football fan. Violence was almost unheard of after Hillsborough, but there were still terraces so you got this amazing atmosphere, sense of danger, camaraderie etc with no really threat of anything bad happening and it was cheap - you could watch Arsenal for £3/£4 and they were the fucking champions.

Away games with Chelsea were great, we were all young and loud and everybody was scared of us, even though nothing ever seemed to happen. Turning up en masse at QPR or Southampton and making so much noise and seeing the public's reaction was incredibly intoxicating for a middle-class suburban kid like me. The football itself was shit and the team was terrible, but being a fan was a total blast and I totally embraced fan culture and the history of Chelsea supporters, good and bad.

And it was much more good than bad. Anti-semitism was rife, but I never heard the infamous hissing when we played Spurs. There was no racist chanting as players like Paul Elliott and Clive Wilson were incredibly popular. And there was very little violence. I have only once been scared at a game and that was the Millwall riot in 95. And that was fucking terrifying.

celtic vs flamengo, jesus, that takes me back. my first celtic home game was in the 94/95 rebuilding season so actually at hampden rather than celtic park. hampden was right grotty back then iirc. 0-2 loss to falkirk, as well #fml

first away game was the 1997 new year old firm where I was pt of the crowd that clapped erik bo andersen onto the field at ibrox before he scored two goals to bury celtic 3-1. bastard.

christ, cadete was a good yard and bit onside. ;_;

i am ashamed of how poor my recall of this stuff is next to everyone else's. i am pretty sure that my first home game was against Liverpool, plausibly anywhere between 1983 and 1986. i know we went to Walsall when i was pretty young but i don't even know if they were playing Cov in a friendly or something or if it was against someone else entirely :( by 1995/6 i was at uni and had my first season ticket at Goodison, and even tho i had my usual seat for the Cov game in with the home fans, my friends came up and had bought me a seat for the away section.

the first time i can actually remember a scoreline was a 0-0 against Sheffield Utd, which i think sticks with me because it was the worst game of football of all time. i am gonna say it was right before the start of the premiership era.

first and only England game was 2005 at Old Trafford vs Poland. only game abroad was during my french exchange, big derby between St. Etienne, declining giants, and Lyon, beginning their ascent to dominance under Raymond Domenech. violent, crammed terraces with flares going off everywhere. STE were winning for the whole game and Lyon equalized right at the death, and i have pretty much never been more afraid in my life.

first and last scotland game I ever went to was when world champions argentina (minus maradona) came to hampden and lost 1-0 thanks to a stewart mckimmie goal.

I was at that. I also went to a 4-0 gubbing of some minnows or other (my mind says San Marino, but I might be making that up) which featured a headed goal. From Paul McStay.

I fecking hate Hampden, btw. My first two games there featured us taking two pishing wet games to not beat Motherwell in the Scottish Cup final. One of those games featured a goal from Anton Rogan, and a goal that Motherwell fans still spunk their pants over from Colin O'Neill.

The first Hampden final I went to featured Hibs v Dunfermline, Hibs won 2-0. I remember fuck all about it apart from mercilessly ripping the pish out of my Dunfermline-supporting mate for claiming Istvan Kozma should be getting a game for Scotland, like a punchline-free version of the Antti Niemi thing.

Scottish Cup SEMI-final, that was, against Motherwell.

Pete (if you revisit this thread) - I've only been to Stamford Bridge twice. The first time was in the 84/85 season around New Year time - a very big crowd for the time (>40,000) and a nasty atmosphere (lots of fighting at the away end, lots of scary abuse from all around us at the kid with a United scarf sat in front of me and my Dad, me sitting on my Dad's lap because one of our seats had been stolen). The second time was for the League Cup semi-final in the 04/05 season (which we both posted on at the time, iirc).

In the twenty year gap the ground changed beyond all recognition and when I went back I couldn't get my bearings at all. The way I remember it from the first time is that we were in sat in a stand at the side and opposite us was a much bigger stand (with some red-coated Chelsea pensioners in the middle), to the right was The Shed, and to the left was the away end, curved and so far from the pitch, possibly behind an athletics track? Does any of that stadium remain in the current incarnation? I don't know the name of the stand I was in the second time round, or whether it's the normal away section or was a special section because we had a large cup allocation of tickets. All I know is that we had to walk a fair way round the ground from Fulham Broadway to get to that end. If you can make any sense of this rambling nonsense, I was wondering if you could tell me where I was in 2005 relative to where I was in 1984.

Yep, so in 1984 you were in the West Stand, old wooden stand with a paddock in front.
The section of the West Stand near the old away end (the North Stand) was notorious.
The only stand still remaining from then is the East Stand, where the pensioners sit and
where the tunnel is.
The new West Stand is the huge one where Abramovich sits.
The old away end is now the Matthew Harding stand.
This is usually the home end but I am pretty sure United fans were in the lower tier for that cup game, with Chelsea fans - myself included - sitting above.

I'll try and dig out some aerial views showing how it's changed. For the league cup game United fans would have been filtered further up the Fulham Road in through the main entrance and away from the Chelsea fans using the gate nearer the tube station - but that was purely a police measure, you could have used the first gate you came to.

I am pretty sure United fans were in the lower tier for that cup game, with Chelsea fans - myself included - sitting above.

Yeah, we were definitely under Chelsea fans.

This is the old ground - Shed to the right, West Stand (where you were in 1984) at bottom.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.collectsoccer.com/acatalog/StamfordBridgeStadiumPostcard-1994-L.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.collectsoccer.com/acatalog/Chelsea.html&usg=__2Khw4Vk24uN27-yBl7tC8NtNmJw=&h=307&w=448&sz=38&hl=en&start=205&zoom=1&tbnid=80b_CUehgYrLZM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=153&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstamford%2Bbridge%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1050%26bih%3D540%26rlz%3D1R2GGLL_en-GB%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=296&ei=MsC-TPf0NIuRjAfzjpW_Aw&oei=DMC-TLyJO4OytAaehem_DQ&esq=14&page=14&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:205&tx=68&ty=51

Try again.

http://www.collectsoccer.com/acatalog/StamfordBridgeStadiumPostcard-1994-L.jpg

This is the ground now from a near identical angle - in 2005 you were in the north stand/matthew harding stand lower tier - on the left.

http://www.fr.fullflow.com/images/casestudies/Stamford%20Bridge%20Stadium.jpg

I've been to the Bridge once: Chelsea 2-3 West Ham, 28 September 2002.

One of the less-memorable multigoal thrillers I've attended. Only two things really stick. One was a West Ham fan revealing himself right on the final whistle by standing up at the front of the higher tier on the West Stand and celebrating very visibly and loudly, and attracting all sorts of abuse from the whole ground - kind of cavalier, but to be commended I think.

______         _______________         ______
      ] aisle [       C       ] aisle [      
  B   ]   C   [    seating    ]   D   [   D  
seats ]       [     1 - 40    ]       [ seats
      ]       [               ]       [      

The other was the stupid signing directing you to your seat. I'd borrowed a mate's season ticket to the North Stand and typically turned up at 3.05, followed aisle C as directed, and found myself pushing past the whole bloody row to get to seat 40. I was too embarrassed to even look sideways for the rest of the match, let alone join in any banter.

I must have been at that game but do not remember a single thing about it.

Should do a thread on old grounds in general. Somebody mentioned the mad old two-tiered Milton Road terrace at Southampton. Chelsea had something similar, the old stilted North Stand. Can get a sense of it here.

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/82669584.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA548543B71CD85F0370AD63097234A786681B7E331D676904C4E

And here

http://stamford-bridge.com/images/ground_north_old.jpg

Been up in the loft today and have dug out the programmes for the matches I mentioned upthread (several years ago). Here's the West Ham one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/captainzep/12156934983/sizes/m/in/photostream/

teams on the back

bit from the middle about United

front cover

Today's Match-Ball Sponsor
Ilford Snooker Centre
Fully Licensed Private Members
Club Luxuriously Furnished
Throughout. 27 Tables

I love that, but what's the Spurs guy at the front doing?

Some real gems inside: a big picture of Paul Goddard with his dog, seats for the upcoming match against Spurs advertised at between £4.50 and £6.50, a feature on Frank Lampard (senior), today's live entertainment featuring The Acromaniacs and the Hadleigh Marching Military Band...

The opening article "European Championshp - sans England" is oddly formally written, given who was likely to be reading it:
"Unfortunately, after a brief revival of England's hopes, the situation crystallised to the Scandinavians' advantage.... one of the more astonishing features of the preparatory work is that each of the seven enclosures is being extensively altered. It is impossible to adequately cover this aspect in the brief space at our disposal here, but the pictures in the bulletin convey an indelible impression of a tremendous amount of work being carried out to bring into being a septet of stadia which are rising like a fantasy of phoenix from the literal ashes."

I don't think I've ever heard of Arthur Graham, how curious

^ I think he only played for one season (for us) - can't remember him being around once Strachan and Olsen had arrived.

Man Utd v Sheff Utd, 1991: front and back

Kind of weird to see Giggs on that teamsheet alongside the likes of Blackmore, Donaghy, Webb, Robins etc. Also weird to see Notts County v Oldham as a top flight match.