Away Day Alfie’s Guide To Blackburn v Chelsea

Blackburn away – Saturday 30th October Kick Off 3pm

Allocation: 4,925 (tickets still available)

Travel:

By Train – Due to the game kicking off at 3pm no problems getting back to London after the game – however be warned it’s a good half hour walk away from Ewood Park

By Car – Come off the M6 at junction 29 then M65 and A666

Parking: Plenty of parking around the ground – look for signs as you approach

Boozers: The Fenhurst is the designated away pub – a decent boozer with two large bars – they also usually have beer on sale in the car park, in a mobile beer van along with burgers and hot dogs; a five minute stagger from the bar to the away turnstiles.

Police/stewarding: Never a problem when we visit Blackburn – it appears that the local plod take all their angst out on Liverpool and Manchester United fans (probably due to the large ticket allocation they get and the large number of dickheads they attract)

Away end: Chelsea fans will be situated in the upper and lower tier of the Darwin Stand – usual facilities for beers, pies etc. Definitely a standing end so try and educate the away Chelsea season ticket holders to stand for more than 2 minutes and create an atmosphere – football is more than just being there!

Home fans: Very traditional northern support, plenty of flat caps but no whippets. Don’t be surprised to see people carrying coffee/soup flasks when heading for the ground

Memories of Blackburn

January 1984 – Noel Brotherston scored in a 1-0 Blackburn win at a ground that bears no resemblance to today’s stadium. Mainly terracing with a great old fashioned feel to the place; a large Chelsea support resulted in numerous skirmishes on the way back to the station – good job I was fit in those days as we were chased up and down various side streets with 20 second handbag and wind milling action every now and then to keep us on our toes. I vaguely remember “Leicester” a well known squeaky voiced midland based Chelsea supporter getting a smack in the face outside the train station – he should never have had CFC tattooed on his forehead

🙂

November 1996 – Zola makes his debut at Ewood Park – little did we know what a legend he would turn out to be

February 2005 – The Arjen Robben tackle – a disgraceful tackle by Mokoena on Robben ended his involvement in a 1-0 win for the blues in what was an end to end game poorly reffed by Uriah Rennie . Though he stayed for another season I still think that this was the moment when Robben decided he wanted to get out of English football , a shame as he was a fantastic player. This was an unbelievably dirty game full of incident and all who were there witnessed a team that was prepared to get stuck in for the cause. at the end of the Battle of Ewood Park, the players, led by Mourinho came to the Chelsea end throwing their shirts in to the crowd – bared chest, clenched fists – everyone who was there will never forget that moment, and it sent out a message to everyone that this team would battle – and we all knew the title was ours.

“Fight like your fans” was a banner that used to hang on the old shed fences – this team certainly did.

A memorable game never to be forgotten