My local boozer used to be the hangout of squatters and anarchists.
It was also the place for little-known Punk bands, but also the big hitting Punks, Wire. Robert Gotobed and his entourage.
There were now more interesting characters there in my book, these Chelsea fans.
Two old guys covered in fading Chelsea tattoos called Mick and Taigh.
Second generation but now hardcore Londoners with no affiliation to their roots.
Great stories from them both, all to a backdrop of them referencing their Ska record collections, skinhead fashion, tooled up for gang fights and all in the early seventies.
Guys in their late sixties now but still wearing a nod to the past with clothing of tassled loafers and Fred Perrys.
One of their favourite stories was the football special to Newcastle when their train was bombarded with bricks and the Police told them to get their heads down if they didn’t want to get hurt.
From their grainy descriptions it sounds like Manors station but this is approaching fifty years now, so I am second guessing.
Chelsea were the disrupters under Abramovich winning so much and these Chelsea fans are very aware of the good fortune of having money flooded on to them.
A situation that Man City also have enjoyed but it appears that Newcastle United cannot.
The Chelsea lads love my young teenage son, the daft lad, as he has stuck with Newcastle United and they know their own football supporting history.
My youngster’s collection of programmes recently got this addition from these old school Chelsea fans.
Chelsea programme
The Chelsea lads have had their day in the sun visited European cities and won trophies. Been there, done that.
The last time I had a beer with them, they could not fathom why Villa fans, Forest fans and Newcastle fans were now being denied the possibility in the modern day, of what they had been allowed to experience the last couple of decades.