628 ViewsChelsea vs. West Ham United : 5 May 2024 With my good friend Alan’s absence from the Chelsea vs. West Ham game due to Bromley’s participation in the National League play-off final at Wembley, there was an extra space in The Sleepy Hollow. Clive had originally given his ticket to Glenn, but it was…
Category: Tales From…
Tales From St. George’s Day
663 ViewsArsenal vs. Chelsea : 23 April 2024 I was up early, around 4.45am, with yet another long day ahead. As I pottered about the house in a semi-conscious state, for some reason I kept thinking of that ridiculously chirpy – certainly for 5am on a week-day morning – Arsenal ditty that goes on about…
Tales From The Sweet FA
700 ViewsChelsea vs. Manchester City : 20 April 2024 “Climbing up on Solsbury Hill I could see the city light. Wind was blowing, time stood still. Eagle flew out of the night.” It was just before 7.45pm on Wednesday 17 April and the PA at Larkhall Athletic’s picturesque Plain Ham ground, high on a hill,…
Tales From Our Tenth League Cup Final
761 ViewsChelsea vs. Liverpool : 25 February 2024 We just weren’t good enough were we? This was always my fear. Despite a resurgence in our play over the past month – high points at Villa, the second-half at Palace and at City – there was still a niggling doubt that whatever team was selected to…
Tales From Three Little Points
886 ViewsCrystal Palace vs. Chelsea : 12 February 2024 As we travelled up to South London for the away game at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace, we wondered if the performance of the season at Villa Park would turn out to be a solid stepping stone for the rest of the campaign. Or just a…
Tales From A Mess
942 ViewsChelsea vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers : 4 February 2024 Away games are all well and good, but there is something strangely comforting about a home match at Stamford Bridge. It’s our base camp, the place where we return every fortnight or so, and a place where we, hopefully, feel at home, at ease. I felt…
Tales From A Long Day
775 ViewsLiverpool vs. Chelsea : 31 January 2024 Although our heads seem full of the two domestic cups for the moment, here was a sobering trip back to normality and the league campaign. They really don’t get much tougher than this one. Liverpool vs. Chelsea. Gulp. I was up early, at 5.30am, and I soon…
Tales From ‘Boro In Our Borough
1,046 ViewsChelsea vs. Middlesbrough : 23 January 2024 My seat for the second leg of the League Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough was in row Q – the rear row all but one – of the Matthew Harding Upper and I was inside with about fifteen minutes to go. There had been a greater queue than…
Tales From Forty-Four Years And Counting
880 ViewsChelsea vs. Fulham : 13 January 2024 On the long drive home from Middlesbrough last Wednesday, with the Semi-Final first leg defeat still fresh in my mind, I am not sure if I was overly brutal or just pragmatic about the rest of our campaign. “Listen, we are a tenth place team. We’ll beat…
Tales From Ironopolis
821 ViewsMiddlesbrough vs. Chelsea : 9 January 2024 In the build up to our League Cup semi-final first leg at the Riverside Stadium, I had read somewhere that Chelsea had won every single one of the previous nine games against Middlesbrough, encompassing both venues and across all competitions. From February 2007 to March 2022, Chelsea…