| All because Fulham refused to
play at Stamford Bridge. That’s why the owner of the stadium started
his own team, they became Chelsea and the style of the club was set long
before Blue Ken took over. The ground was to become marshalling yards
for the railway, but the plans were shunted into a siding as it
developed into a multi-use complex - hosting greyhound racing, speedway,
American Football, three FA Cup finals, electric fencing (with electric
seating too - have you noticed how their fans all leap up when a
decision goes against them ?? - 70 volts through the seats that is !!)
and now conference centre, hotel, restaurants, etc. Anything but
football really.
Division Two became the first port of call
for the Pensioners as the Southern League didn’t want to accept them
into their competition. The club had already established a reputation
for signing big stars and William "Fatty" Foulke, the 23 stone
goalkeeper was one in a long line of imports which characterised this
glitzy, showbiz club.
It is thanks to Chelsea, that the
"Southern Softies" tag arose, because five of their players
left the field when playing against Blackpool as the weather conditions
didn’t suit their liking. Unsurprisingly they now have a much bigger
dressing room than the away side.
Drake’s Ducklings were the first Chelsea
side to do anything remarkable. His youngsters took the game by storm
during the 1950’s and in 1955 the side won the League Championship for
the one and only time. By 1961, they had drafted in the talents of the
peripatetic manager, Tommy Docherty and four years later they became the
proud winners of the League Cup. In fact, Cup competitions dominated
their success, with the FA Cup (after a violent replay against Leeds
United) in 1970, the European Cup Winners Cup in 1971 (after a
forgettable replay against Real Madrid, who were at their lowest point),
the FA Cup and the League Cup double in 1997 and the Cup Winners Cup
again in 1998.
During the 70’s when the rich and famous
flocked to Stamford Bridge, the club invested in a new stand which
crippled them financially and caused the playing side to suffer. Dark
times in West London indeed with relegation and Ken Bates taking over as
Chairman after leaving that position at Oldham in 1982. It was the
dogmatic style of leadership Chelsea needed to improve and they had a
blaze of success winning Division Two in 1984, the 1986 Full Members Cup
and Div. 2 again in 1989.
The success of the club during the 70’s
had been based on a few signings and a hardcore of homegrown hard men.
Mickey Droy and Chopper Harris before him were the sort of players
favoured by the Blues and it is a progression from that heritage that
sees Lebeouf in their defence now. It was only really when ex-Spur Glenn
Hoddle arrived from Swindon to lead the side that they started playing
football and attracting star names. Gullit, signed as a player,
succeeded Hoddle as boss and the same happened with Vialli. There is
talk of Chelsea changing their nickname from the traditional
"Pensioners" to the Blue Helmets, because of their similarity
to the United Nations. The Chelsea matchday magazine now comes in seven
different language editions. The eradication of English talent from the side has
been down to the influx of foreign stars, but the shadow of the 70’s
money troubles must raise doubts about what will happen should further
glory elude the current crop. The expectation of the fans and Mr. Bates
means that Chelsea will be required to win big things soon or heads will
roll.
Just like the old days of the Shed then !!
But then, just
when it looked like they might go bankrupt under the pressure of
increasing bank repayments, along comes Roman Abramovich with his
billion roubles to snap up all the top talent in Europe (and anywhere in
the world that takes his Russian Express credit card). The aim is
to buy the Champions League, but whether that happens soon or later or
before he gets bored or bumped off by the Russian mafia, we all wait to
see. In 2004-05, they managed to buy their way to their first top
flight championship in 50 years and they have spent over £20 million on
each of two players after this to try to succeed in Europe.
FAMOUS PLAYERS : - Peter Osgood, Jimmy
Greaves, Pietro Del Picolo, Peter "The Cat" Bonetti, David
Teal, David "The Dog" Beasant, Ernest Mallard, Bobby Tambling,
"Bonecrusher" Smith, G. Lory-Hunter.
FAMOUS FANS :- Richard Attenborough
(Film Director), David Mellor (Ex-Tory MP and Radio presenter), Alec
Stewart (cricketer), Tim Lovejoy (Sky TV presenter), David Baddiel
(Comedian), Damon Albarn (Musician - Blur), John "Interesting"
Major (Tory MP and former PM).
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