A word about the boys in blue. Yesterday... before, during(neutral area), and after(not very neutral at all) the Chelsea fans were as good as gold. I saw one nutter shouting the odds outside the turnstiles but I could probably match him to a Geordie doing the same.

Great banter with them in the pubs and not a hint of bovver. What they'd have been like had they lost is another question.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Answers

That`s good to hear Geordie! Newspaper headlines along the same lines would go a long way too! Would sell papers though would it?!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Correction: wouldn`t sell papers - is what I meant to say!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

They even managed to seem amused at the "Graham Rix is a paedophile" chants, and genuinely laughed when our section on Wembley Way burst into "She's only 15, only 15".

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

I agree - in general. However, we were unable to get into the Post Office as arranged. Grant did get in, but was advised to leave pronto. Full of blue. But apart from that, everybody seemd to behave themselves.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Yeah... I was turned away from the PO, "Chewsee ownly mate"

Ended up opposite on the pavement outside Eddie's

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

That's exactly where I ended up too Geordie for a spell before I wandered down to The Greyhound. We were probably standing next to each other, with our plastic glass of frothy, without recognising each other. Damn!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Damn shame about the PO!! spoilt everyone's plans since we had no back up rendevous....

Mind you we managed to get in touch with a few people telling them that we'd be outside the greyhound....stood like plonkers waiting for HOURS for people and only had one or two to turn up to briefly say hi.....

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

What's the roll call looking like for the West Ham game? Any people staying down, or will it be fairly thinly supported due to everyone suffering a semi-final hangover?

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Clarky, I was with my young lad and in possession of a viking helmet! You may/may not have noticed us!

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

So much for the rearranged PO meet and contacting people etc .. did seem all so tenuous but hey thats life . The Greyhound was a cracking laugh with Toon outsinging the ' Dwarves' in blue on the other side of the road thousandfold ... best thing about it was the offy opposite selling cheap cans , ahhh .. and the friendly coppers that i talked to , very bizarre ! Did anybody else see the toon car with the monkey hanging out of the top ?? Very funny .

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Watched the game at the George and Dragon in Seattle. Around a dozen Toon fans, probably three dozen Chelsea fans and the rest were "neutrals". When Rob Lee scored I thought I was back in the Leazes end. All the neutrals went daft, along with us. The noise was deafening. Not one person in that bar, Chelsea fan or otherwise had anything but praise for our lads. The common theme amongst the Chelsea lads was " well we didn't deserve it, but we'll take it." I have to admit, though bitterly disappointed I left the bar very proud of our perfomance, attitude, and never say die determination. No blame assigned. It should be a day for praise, not blame. On any other day it would have been a three or four goal win for us.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Not a fan moment, but a player moment. As the chelsea players were leaving the pitch, Wise was the only one to walk over to the side we were on to applaud. Mind, I can't stand the little weasel...but that did give me a new bit of respect for him.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Funny thing to say maybe but I was really disappointed in the Chelsea fans watching the match (at Easts Leagues club, Bondi Jcn), especially after the game had ended. I ended up having a few drinks with some of them more an hour after the game (much to the concern of the bouncers who were nervous as hell things would kick off given the passion flying around the place earlier). Anyway, not once did a single Chewsee fan admit that they'd got out of jail. Not one seemed more than marginally excited that they'd just qualified for a Cup final. Not one of the tight bar stewards even offered to buy me a bliddy drink. Howay the Villa. ;-p

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Walking up Wembley Way I saw a Chelsea supporter about 50 yards in front of me walk up to some Geordies, throw in a few kicks and punches and then vanish before they knew what had even happened to them. He did this on at least 5 occasions that I saw. Each time he was stopped by police, given a ticking off and sent on his way. His grand finale was to grab a NUFC flag from a supporter aged about 13 and snap it over his knee. If I could see all of this from 50 yards away how come mounted police could not. What were they waiting for? For him to really hurt someone before they did something? ASSHOLES.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

They were obviously waiting for a 'dirty Northern bastard' to react so that they could get stuck in. Anyway, what happened to the whole confiscation of glass bottles deal? Never seen so much broken glass in my life (even when the janitor at the Sunderland glass centre got confused during a fire alarm). Could have been a nightmare if things had been different.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

Ciara, I was on "the dark side" (who said, as usual?) of the stadium - where incidentally it was bloody freezing, despite the Journal commenting on the 'searing heat' - and saw several of the Chewsee players offer somewhat token applause to the toon fans who were clapping them off. In addition to P.Wise, De Goey did, and I seem to recall Poyet, Zola and possibly Desailly. They all waited until they were close to the tunnel - almost certainly to avoid being spotted by their own fans!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

The real thing for me at the end was that incredible smile from Bobby Robson. I don't think there has ever been a warmer, more expressive or heartfelt smile than that. It said it all. How proud he was to stand there in front of the best fans in the World, adoring and adored after finally giving us a performance at Wembley to be proud of. Made his wilderness years out of the British spotlight seem even stranger considering the amount of column inches written about his 3 illustrious predecessors in the job. The man is a marvel.

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

Clarky..I saw the other players clapping as they headed for the tunnel too. I was just surprised, and thought it nice, that Wise actually came down the touchline all the way over by us. It wasn't exactly on the direct line to the tunnel.

eeek..I've just used 'Wise' and 'nice' in the same sentence! Never thought that would happen. ;-)

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000