Battle of the bridge - This day 1988

Can't believe that was 32 years ago. I remember it so vividly. Can even remember what I was wearing (Dickens light blue away shirt). I wasn't even 18. Incredible day
 
I wasn't wearing any colours that day. Best decision I've ever made I reckon, Claret all over on the way back to the station. Chelsea everywhere.
 
Brilliant day and met the players afterwards at a north London chip shop. Happy days.
A long way to run across that pitch just to throw gravel.
 
I remember after the match it wasn't too bad at first, just a few idiots on the pitch. But then, and I can remember it clearly, a steward opened a gate at the bottom of the shed end. The fans then poured through the gap. There were thousands of Chelsea fans on the pitch with just a thin line of policemen between us. I was glad for once we were fenced in as it added some protection. It seemed to take an age to get them cleared away. And then the party started
I was wearing no colours and the streets were relatively quiet managed to get round to Liverpool street and then catch the train out to Brentwood without any incidents
 
Yep, mental day. Early start going down on the buses with my intended. Remember seeing all the cockneys waving 20 pound notes at the buses like Harry Enfield.
The walk to and from the stadium, getting moved from the seats at half time, the ambulance coming onto the pitch, and then the last hour with just us and the players.
It'll never be like that again.
 
5 of us travelled down in a Ford popular, when we got close to Stamford Bridge, we parked at the top of this Bank with SB at the bottom of this long road
We started to walk slowly down this longroad passing past a few pubs with wall to wall Chelsea fans with a few up against the window waiting for a few Boro strugglers
I didn't wear colours back then, we thought we were OK then a white van kitted out with Boro scarves & banners pulled up & about 20 Boro fans picked out, what followed was chaos, the pubs just emptied, someone shouted 'run' & we legged it, to the bottom of this long road into what, loads of other Chelsea fans, when I got to the bottom I went in to a shop & bought drink, crisps & a Mars bar, then slowly made my way to the Boro end & met my mates who were already in the ground
I met some lads that days who had been escorted out of the seats for their own safety & have remained Boro match friends since that great, emotional day
 
Can’t believe it’s 32 years ago.

I drove down to Southampton after the match to spend a few days with a mate who lived down there and we ended up in the clubs and had an all nighter.

What a day, I didn’t want it to end.
 
We ended up at one of the passanger brothers pub in Watford when a disco was on, great way to finish a fantastic day
After we had a long, long journey home to the Boro
 
I remember walking down the Kings Road before the game and seeing a Chelsea fan run out of a pub and throw a fire extinguisher against the window of a coach of Boro RaRas stuck in traffic , luckily the extinguisher bounced off the window. The atmosphere before the game was very toxic and the Chelsea fans had obviously being drinking for many hours before kick off on a very hot day. All Chelsea seemed to be blokes in their 20s, no women, kids or older blokes. I suspect anyone fancying having a go at some Northerners had turned up as there were no other games that day. There seemed very few police about compared with trouble expected. Chelsea's Steve Wicks had been extolling all Chelsea fans to make the Kings Road "hell" for Middlesbrough and their supporters in the southern edition of the tabloids. The Chelsea side was full of internationals and should never have finished near the bottom which added to Chelsea fans frustrations.
 
Better than winning the cup. The Boro end was filled with women and kids and was in stark contrast to the Chelsea hooligans. I've never witnessed such a mass feeling of fear when the Chelsea lot came running across the pitch towards us. Together with the sound of smashing bottles being thrown from their big stand. Irrational as there mush have been 10000+ in the Boro end. But scary all the same.
 
There were a lot of Boro fans at the game, but there was such hatred from what seemed most of the Chelsea crowd. There was a story in the Evening Gazette that a group of Chelsea fans in the so called Members Stand to the right of the Boro fans had got a young Boro fan who was with his family and dangled him by his ankles over the back of that Stand. The danger in those days was coming out of grounds getting a bit isolated and being ambushed by a gang away for the Police etc. I am glad those days are over.
 
I remember walking down the Kings Road before the game and seeing a Chelsea fan run out of a pub and throw a fire extinguisher against the window of a coach of Boro RaRas stuck in traffic , luckily the extinguisher bounced off the window. The atmosphere before the game was very toxic and the Chelsea fans had obviously being drinking for many hours before kick off on a very hot day. All Chelsea seemed to be blokes in their 20s, no women, kids or older blokes. I suspect anyone fancying having a go at some Northerners had turned up as there were no other games that day. There seemed very few police about compared with trouble expected. Chelsea's Steve Wicks had been extolling all Chelsea fans to make the Kings Road "hell" for Middlesbrough and their supporters in the southern edition of the tabloids. The Chelsea side was full of internationals and should never have finished near the bottom which added to Chelsea fans frustrations.
Yes that’s right they had a very good team on paper but our team was probably far better than we realised at the time with a lot of young players who went on to be international players with top clubs.
 
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