CHELSEA

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.

That elusive Champions League title still eludes them and the spending has escalated to £50 million on Fernando Torres from Liverpool and although they brought in Carlo Ancelotti as manager before that to win the Double in his first season, it all went wrong for him before Torres arrived.  A trophy-less season brought another change of manager and the seventh manager in seven years - Andre Villas-Boas - was brought in as the latest shiny new thing to grace the Kings Road after winning the Europa League with Porto.  The Portugeezer's reputation was quickly tarnished as he tried to implement a clearance of the old guard from the Pensioners and he joined the scrapheap, as did club favourite Roberto di Matteo, who on the Champions League for Abramovich.  This brought Rafael Benitez, the former Liverpool boss who had slammed Chelsea when at Anfield, causing much ill-feeling among the Chelsea fans.  No surprise there then !  After that little unsuccessful experiment, Abramovich went back to what he knew and brought back the Prodigal One in the shape of Mourinho to take charge of the team once more.  After one successful season, he was ousted by the dressing room and Guus Hiddink was recalled to stave off relegation.  Another new manager in the shape of Antonio Conte took over in the summer of 2016, with the Italian Willie Carson taking the side to riches beyond the imagination of Richie Richsky- their oliphant owner.

FAMOUS PLAYERS : - Peter Osgood, Jimmy Greaves, Ron "The Hatchet" Harris, Pietro Del Picolo, Peter "The Cat" Bonetti, David Teal, David "The Dog" Beasant, Ernest Mallard, Bobby Tambling, Jack Cock, Arnold "Bonecrusher" Smith, G. Lory-Hunter.

FAMOUS FANS :- Richard Attenborough (Film Director), David Mellor (Ex-Tory MP and Radio presenter), Alec Stewart (cricketer), Tim Lovejoy (TV presenter Soccer AM [Sky TV], Something For The Weekend [BBC]), David Baddiel (Comedian), Damon Albarn (Musician - Blur), John "Interesting" Major (Tory MP and former PM), Bernie Ecclestone (Formula 1 mogul), Phil Daniels (Actor - Film - "Quadrophenia", TV - "Eastenders", Blur's "Park Life" video); Omad Djalili (Comedian); Mark Hoppus (Musician - Blink 182).

2 points for a win : 57  -  1906-07
Division 2