- Jul 28, 2004
- 27,719
- 54,929
I just don’t think the bold part is accurate to say. I was only just in uni at the time Abramovich took over so didn’t experience the 80s Chelsea but have heard such stories from my dad and other people your age, but growing up in the 90s while I didn’t meet many Chelsea fans compared to ours, and more so Utd Arsenal and Liverpool, I did meet a decent number. By the age of 18 I’d meeta grand total of one West Ham fan.I was being facetious !
Would probably be more accurate to say West Ham had a bigger and more loyal fan base than Chelsea at the time Abramovich took over. In the 7/8 years before that they had some success due to Matthew Harding then Ken Bates overspent to such an extent they were on the brink of bankruptcy when Abramovich rescued them.
Throughout the 80s and 90s I regarded them as a nothing club, and pretty much how most of us now see West Ham.
Just anecdotally and to illustrate, in the 2008 carling cup final after the final whistle with all the celebrations and with the chelsea fans having left, 2/3 of the crowd remained to celebrate - for every chelsea fan in the ground that day we had approx 2.