It’s the end of the season and DJ Trevor Nelson is reflecting on Chelsea while swigging water and scoffing a packet of Revels in a conference room at MTV’s London headquarters.
Passionate and opinionated, he’s been going to the Bridge for 30 years, ever since he rejected his two local sides. They were, after all, only small fry:?Spurs and Arsenal. It’s not like Arsenal had just done the Double or anything.
“I liked the blue,” pleads Nelson. “I just liked the kit. It was a toss-up between them and West Ham. I was only seven! I ended up with Chelsea and it’s been Chelsea ever since.”
The ’70s was an interesting time for Chelsea, on and off the field. Osgood and Hudson swaggered on the pitch while in the Shed, the hooligan element plotted their latest mayhem. So where did Nelson of north London fit in? He didn’t.
“I couldn’t afford to go regularly, I didn’t have friends who supported Chelsea,” he says. “I was just some odd kid who supported Chelsea. One game, against Bristol Rovers in the [1976] FA Cup, I went to the toilet and found myself next to a guy with a swastika tattooed on his forehead.
"Occasionally, you’d go to the ground and there’d be fascists campaigning out there. I knew Paul Canoville, a player, and he found it difficult. He was abused by his own fans, but…” He pauses. “But I never stopped loving Chelsea.”
"IT WAS LIKE WALKING THE PLANK"
His passion took him on a glamorous tour of England’s football grounds, each time hoping he would come home intact.
“Walking to an away ground was like walking the plank. You didn’t know what would happen. And with the violence went racism.
“But there are historic games etched in my mind. Like West Brom beating Man United 5-3 at Old Trafford with Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendan Batson. They ripped them to shreds for us to see on telly. They were getting booed, they were getting monkey chants, and they just kept scoring. It was fantastic.”
Nelson missed key games in the ’80s. “It wasn’t the racism, more the aggro. They just liked fighting too much. If you travelled with Chelsea, you’d get into trouble by association.”
His troubles with Chelsea continue today:?he’s got the ‘Saturday disease’. “I’ve always had a Saturday job, when I was studying and then when I started in radio.
"I got to Radio 1 and finally got a season ticket and I was like, ‘Woh! Brilliant’. Then they offered me a show on Saturday. I said, ‘Great, what time?’ and they said, ‘Three o’clock.’ Career? Chelsea? Career? Chelsea? Career.”
It proved a healthy move. Nelson now hosts The Lick, a Sunday evening show on MTV Base, plus a late-night BBC2 series. Both are pre-recorded. But it’s his live Radio 1 show The R’n’B Chart that’s proving irksome for him.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
