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Into the 90s, new league, highs and lows and a vision of the future.
Posted by
gravy
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18 May 2011
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Following promotion back into the big time and now being 18, me and my mate actually managed to find a stray bunch of Chelsea fans emanating from various small towns across the North West, who had a coach going to Stamford Bridge for home games travelling down the motorway starting at Preston picking up at services and junctions on the way, all we needed to do was book a seat and get there for about 6 o'clock in the morning, not easy thing to do when you are 18 there is only one 5 o'clock in a day 
Seem to remember the first game being a 2-2 draw with Forest, next up was a win against Coventry and later in the year a draw with Norwich, but this was the day I blagged myself a couple of tickets to Wembley to the ZDS Cup Final against Boro (a team we would meet again later in the decade in a more substantial competition). 
This was my first trip to Wembley and a Tony Dorigo thunderbolt freekick saw off Boro, we had a Trophy and a day out with memories, how I could get used to this. Problem was that was it for a few years The season of trips to games finished getting stuffed at Anfield, but I had managed 3 home league, 4 away league, 1 FA Cup Away (Crewe
) and 1 League Cup away (Scarborough 
) and Wembley. We were off and running and I could get used to this 
The next couple of years came and went, new girlfriend, darling daughter, etc slightly put paid to as many trips to football matches, but we still sneaked the odd couple in here and there and then in 1992 - 1993 came along a Shiny New Competition (also known as the start of football if you aren't Scouse as they have never won the league since this point in time - Dirty Leeds being the last winners of the First Division Title as it was known - The Premier League was born) a pretty obscure season saw us finish looking for a new manager and in came Glenn Hoddle.
This to me was the start of our revolution, not the arrival of a certain Russian guy in 10 years time. Glenn came in and brought new ideas and footballing concepts, the team was a mix of ageing players and a crop of youngsters coming through the ranks, we had an iffy season but met Man United at Wembley in the FA Cup Final, again I blagged tickets and went dreaming of glory again, having been present twice to watch us win home and away 1-0 with Gavin Peacock scoring the only goal in both games, the script was written for us to win 1-0 and lift the FA Cup for the first time since 1970, only problem was the cross bar at Wembley is obviously 4 inches lower than at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and Peacocks first half volley rattled the bar instead of nestling in the back of the net. Still scoreless at HT the dream was still on until Elleray contrived with Frank Sinclair and Eddie Newton to ruin our day, two iffy penalties later and the dream was fading and then Mclair put the nail in the coffin at the death to further humiliate us
but what it did do to me was made me think we could compete for top trophies, so there I stood soaking wet but wanting more and believing we had a good young manager that could maybe give it to us. 
Off the pitch the clubs finances had been secured by Bates, he had found a 'Frenemy' in multi millionaire fan Matthew Harding and suddenly money was being made available and in came Mark Hughes and Ruud Gullit and our club had changed forever. Not just on the pitch but off it for me as well, the new interest in the club in a media frenzied world had led to swelling attendances (that and half the ground was shut for redevelopment
) and after attending the last match of the season in 1996 where we spent 90 minutes imploring Ken Bates to stick George Graham up his arse and chanting Ruud's name, the days of turning up at the gate had gone forever as I found out the following season in the times of boom post Euro 96 and the arrival of new stars under the leadership of Ruud, I did my usual of arriving at the Bridge three hours before kick off to see signs 'SOLD OUT' by every kiosk, surely the impending goalscoring debut of reserve teamer Paul Hughes against Derby wasn't that big a draw, but chatting to fans around the ground I found this was now a regular occurence, so I was going to need a membership. So that was duly purchased and now I wasn't just a Chelsea fan, but also now a fully paid up member with the option to buy tickets in advance As it proved just in time for 'Sexy Football' and more shiny things looming on the horizon. But that is for another day when I have nothing better to do at work
Seem to remember the first game being a 2-2 draw with Forest, next up was a win against Coventry and later in the year a draw with Norwich, but this was the day I blagged myself a couple of tickets to Wembley to the ZDS Cup Final against Boro (a team we would meet again later in the decade in a more substantial competition). This was my first trip to Wembley and a Tony Dorigo thunderbolt freekick saw off Boro, we had a Trophy and a day out with memories, how I could get used to this. Problem was that was it for a few years The season of trips to games finished getting stuffed at Anfield, but I had managed 3 home league, 4 away league, 1 FA Cup Away (Crewe
) and 1 League Cup away (Scarborough ) and Wembley. We were off and running and I could get used to this The next couple of years came and went, new girlfriend, darling daughter, etc slightly put paid to as many trips to football matches, but we still sneaked the odd couple in here and there and then in 1992 - 1993 came along a Shiny New Competition (also known as the start of football if you aren't Scouse as they have never won the league since this point in time - Dirty Leeds being the last winners of the First Division Title as it was known - The Premier League was born) a pretty obscure season saw us finish looking for a new manager and in came Glenn Hoddle.
This to me was the start of our revolution, not the arrival of a certain Russian guy in 10 years time. Glenn came in and brought new ideas and footballing concepts, the team was a mix of ageing players and a crop of youngsters coming through the ranks, we had an iffy season but met Man United at Wembley in the FA Cup Final, again I blagged tickets and went dreaming of glory again, having been present twice to watch us win home and away 1-0 with Gavin Peacock scoring the only goal in both games, the script was written for us to win 1-0 and lift the FA Cup for the first time since 1970, only problem was the cross bar at Wembley is obviously 4 inches lower than at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and Peacocks first half volley rattled the bar instead of nestling in the back of the net. Still scoreless at HT the dream was still on until Elleray contrived with Frank Sinclair and Eddie Newton to ruin our day, two iffy penalties later and the dream was fading and then Mclair put the nail in the coffin at the death to further humiliate us
but what it did do to me was made me think we could compete for top trophies, so there I stood soaking wet but wanting more and believing we had a good young manager that could maybe give it to us. Off the pitch the clubs finances had been secured by Bates, he had found a 'Frenemy' in multi millionaire fan Matthew Harding and suddenly money was being made available and in came Mark Hughes and Ruud Gullit and our club had changed forever. Not just on the pitch but off it for me as well, the new interest in the club in a media frenzied world had led to swelling attendances (that and half the ground was shut for redevelopment
) and after attending the last match of the season in 1996 where we spent 90 minutes imploring Ken Bates to stick George Graham up his arse and chanting Ruud's name, the days of turning up at the gate had gone forever as I found out the following season in the times of boom post Euro 96 and the arrival of new stars under the leadership of Ruud, I did my usual of arriving at the Bridge three hours before kick off to see signs 'SOLD OUT' by every kiosk, surely the impending goalscoring debut of reserve teamer Paul Hughes against Derby wasn't that big a draw, but chatting to fans around the ground I found this was now a regular occurence, so I was going to need a membership. So that was duly purchased and now I wasn't just a Chelsea fan, but also now a fully paid up member with the option to buy tickets in advance As it proved just in time for 'Sexy Football' and more shiny things looming on the horizon. But that is for another day when I have nothing better to do at work
