The Shed: how a bookies' shelter became London's loudest terrace

Photo: private archive. A packed standing terrace split by stairways, the goal in front and a tower on the skyline. We don't know which match it is.

Some ends are named after a road, a compass point or a chairman. Chelsea's most famous end took its name from a shelter that wasn't even built for football, and from one supporter's letter.

1905: banking on the Fulham Road side

When Gus Mears created Chelsea in 1905 to fill Stamford Bridge, Archibald Leitch's ground had a single covered stand on the east side and vast open banking all around, above the running track. The south side, by the Fulham Road, was simply steps on earth, with no roof and open to the rain.

The crowds came quickly. Chelsea were in the First Division within two years, and in 1907-08 they had the highest average attendance in England, around 32,000 per league game. A stretch of the old wall at the back of the south terrace still stands along the Fulham Road.

The 1930s: a roof for the dogs (and the bookies)

In 1933 the Greyhound Racing Association brought dog racing to Stamford Bridge. Bookmakers and punters wanted shelter, so an odd, lopsided roof went up at the back of the south terrace, again designed by Leitch's firm. It covered roughly a fifth of the terrace. Sources disagree on the year: the We Are The Shed timeline says 1933, others say 1935 or 1936, and Chelsea's own history just says “the 1930s”. Whatever the year, that “shed” would eventually give the whole end its name.

7 September 1966: the letter

About thirty years later, in the programme for the home game against Leicester on 7 September 1966, the letters page carried a note from supporter Cliff (Clifford) Webb. He proposed that the Fulham Road End should be called “The Shed”, and that the most committed fans should gather there, under the roof, so Chelsea could have an end to match Liverpool's Kop. It is the first official reference to the name. The name stuck and the fans came. The Shed became home to Chelsea's youngest, noisiest support.

The voices of the Shed

If one person embodied the end, it was Mick (Micky) Greenaway. Raised near the ground, he was the man who started “Zigger Zagger” and carried the whole terrace with him. He is also credited with “One Man Went to Mow”, which took off on a fans' trip to Sweden in summer 1981 (that story has its own article). Greenaway died in 1999.

Those who stood there from the early 1970s to 1994 remember that the Shed had its own neighbourhoods: the West Side, the middle, the White Wall and the East Side. Each section would sing that it was the heart of the Shed, before everyone joined in together: “We're the Shed End, Stamford Bridge!” This comes from supporters' memories gathered by We Are The Shed.

7 May 1994: the last afternoon

After Hillsborough, the Taylor Report made all-seater grounds compulsory. The last game in front of the old Shed came on 7 May 1994, the final day of the season: Chelsea 3–2 Sheffield United. United needed a result to stay up and led through Jostein Flo. Kjeldbjerg equalised and Hodges put the visitors back in front. Then Mark Stein, desperate to prove his fitness for the FA Cup final a week later, scored twice. The winner came in the last minute, and Sheffield United went down. Hardly anyone knew it was the terrace's farewell, and the Shed never got the send-off it deserved.

1997: the new Shed

In its place rose a two-tier all-seater stand, joined to the Chelsea Village complex. It opened at the end of August 1997. According to the We Are The Shed timeline its first game was the 4–2 win over Southampton on Saturday 30 August 1997, and the first goal was Dan Petrescu's chip from the edge of the box after seven minutes. The name lived on. In 2006 Peter Osgood's ashes were laid beneath the penalty spot in front of it.

The photo

The picture shows everything that makes the old Shed recognisable: people standing right to the back, stairways splitting the crowd into sections, the goal in front and the city above. We don't know which match it is, and we won't guess.

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Credit: The idea and original timeline come from the supporters' group We Are The Shed, compiled with help from Chelsea's official club historian Rick Glanvill. This is our own retelling, and every point was checked independently. We left out what we couldn't confirm: the 1905 season-ticket prices, the 1928 roof proposal, the “open shed” wording in the 1933 correspondence and the “popular end” name. We also spotted a small slip in the timeline: the Southampton game was on 30 August 1997, not 31 August.

Sources: Chelsea FC – History of The Shed, Chelsea Heritage Partnership – 60 Years of The Shed, Wikipedia – Stamford Bridge, Heritage Gateway, European Football Statistics – 1907/08, Chelsea FC – Remember when… Sheffield United, May 1994, The Independent, 8 May 1994, 11v11 – Chelsea v Southampton 1997, Wikipedia – Mick Greenaway.