I refuse to get into a pissing match about who was worse. Hooliganism is and was a cancer then and now. It was English fans from a variety of teams who were responsible for a host of issues. I just will not accept that Chelsea were really bad as an excuse anymore about why people still despise us. As I said, time to move on. Hazard isn't too good for Chelsea. He's perfect for us. ******** the rest of them. Their opinions suck.
In the late sixties, early seventies we were quite admired, again in the Zola years, also what a lot of people don't realise is that we were attracting HUGE support in the early 20th Century despite a relative lack of success, I don't think Chelsea's popularity has ever really been in doubt. There was the hooligan period in the 80's when the place was 'poison' and matchday attendances suffered a bit then but over the clubs history this amounts to only a 'blip' really. When they have been successful or even 2nd division also ran's Chelsea has always attracted attention simply because of the clubs location. People that harp on about the 'no history' thing are simply clueless when it comes to English football.
That dynamo Moscow photo is one of my favourites. One fact I enjoy about that match was that it was officially defined as a riot
What really gets me about this no history thing is that it does not take into account what history is. If history is the accumulation of trophies then we have done alright. Only London team to win the champions league, etc. If it is having large fan base, well we have always had that, even if at times it has been the wrong type of fan base – the hooligan element. Football history is made up of some unlikely contenders. Nottingham Forrest have two European cups and Arsenal and Spurs and Man City have none. Zero. Nothing. And although, Notts Forrest have this great history it is their neighbours Notts County who are the oldest professional football club in the world. History. . .
Agreed. The way people mention "history" and "tradition" in football seems like all teams needed to win trophies until 1970 in order to build tradition, and then, after that, the group of "traditional teams" is built and can't have any newcomers. People mentioning we only won trophies after getting rich is something that is also beyond me. The only difference is that we got rich later than other "traditional" teams. At the end of the day, they also "bought trophies", they just did it before us.
The thing that makes me laugh most of all is the pride fans take in the historic achievements of their club, most of which were from long before they started supporting them. Take an example: 5 times European champions, Liverpool. 4 of these were won before 1985 and yet speak to any 20-30 something Liverpool fan and they will bang on about their European pedigree, especially their 5 Cups. How many were they there to experience? One at most and in many cases not even that. Same thing goes for their league count. Very impressive at 18, staggering really. And how many supported them for their last one in 1990, very few of the ones I know. And yet, if they win the league this year, you will be hard pushed not to find a single Liverpool fan who won't go on about number 19, nearly back where they belong at the top of the count. It's already annoying and why I fervently hope City pull it off. So what a fan tells you when they say their club is better than yours because of trophies won before their time is that they are, in fact, glory hunters. They literally chose to support a club who happen to be extremely successful historically. Whoop-dee-do. What an achievement. You must be so proud to take such a leap of faith. Personally I am delighted that I have enjoyed, in my own time as a fan, 5 of our 6 league titles, 7 of our 8 FA Cups, our only European Cup, 1 of the 2 Cup Winners Cups, our only Europa League and 4 of 5 league cups. Oh and BOTH Full Members Cups, what a ride that was. I've also experienced relegation and nothing hardens you as a fan more than being knocked down a division. Brutal. Far better to enjoy current victories than going on and on about memories that other people have.