 During the 1970s and 1980s in particular , Chelsea supporters were associated with football hooliganism . The club 's " football firm " , originally known as the Chelsea Shed Boys , and subsequently as the Chelsea Headhunters , were nationally notorious for football violence , alongside hooligan firms from other clubs such as West Ham United 's Inter City Firm and Millwall 's Bushwackers , before , during and after matches . The increase of hooligan incidents in the 1980s led chairman Ken Bates to propose erecting an electric fence to deter them from invading the pitch , a proposal that the Greater London Council rejected . 
