‘I was a Chelsea hooligan – this is the scariest football ground I ever went to’
Notorious Chelsea hooligan Pat Dolan named another London stadium as the most intimidating ground and had one particularly scary visit in the early 1980s
A notorious Chelsea hooligan named another London club as the scariest ground to visit.
Pat Dolan, otherwise known as ‘Fat Pat’, was one of the most notorious hooligans in the 1980s. He recalled his days of football thuggery with rival fans in the book Terrace Legends, written by Cass Pennant and Martin King.
Dolan got into numerous scraps over the years and rarely backed down. But he admitted to finding one stadium an intimidating to visit –former home, Upton Park.
hooligans even handed out leaflets to rally the troops ahead of one trip to east London. Dolan said: “West Ham’s the scariest ground I’ve ever been to. In 1980/81 we put leaflets out in the Shed to get everybody to go together for the game at West Ham the following week.
“A mob of us got off at Upton Park and walked down to the ground. As we got outside the back of the South Bank we could hear, ‘Hello, hello Chelsea aggro’ followed by an even louder, ‘Hello, hello West Ham aggro’ as we were queuing to get in.”
Dolan described the chaos that ensued when the two fan bases met. He explained: “A mob of West Ham steamed into us and we were run into the ground, many jumping the turnstiles without paying. Inside, it was mental. A few West Ham were on the pitch down by the corner flag.
