Chelsea FC’s 110th Anniversary: A Brief History Part One

Hollywood Blues

Published on Wiki Commons by Andrew

The 60s witnessed a period of football and glamour at Stamford Bridge as superstars like Lord Richard Attenborough (the club’s life president until his death in 2014), Michael Caine, Steve McQueen etc, regularly attended games at the Bridge, establishing the club as one of the biggest in English Football. The glamour off the field was matched on it as the team developed a style of play based on high energy, quick passing football with innovative tactics (which included the use of overlapping full-backs).

Unfortunately, it didn’t translate to much success as the club suffered relegation in 1962, but regained promotion the next season under Tommy Docherty (who employed a regime of strict discipline) and began the 1963-64 season with a squad he called his “little diamonds”, with players like Bobby Tambling, Ron Harris, Peter Bonetti, Terry Venables (products of the youth team), Eddie McCreadie, Marvin Hinton (shrewd signings for minimal fees) etc.

The club secured the League Cup in the 1964-65 season (beating Leicester City by 3-2 over two legs) but suffered a 2-0 semi-final loss against Liverpool in the F.A. Cup before losing the league to Manchester United with four games to go during a period that witnessed disciplinary issues between Docherty and several of his key players. The period also saw Chelsea suffer several other near misses in the league and cup competitions, including their Inter Cities’ Fairs Cup semi-final loss to Barcelona in 1966 and their 2-1 F.A. Cup final loss to Tottenham Hotspurs in 1967.

Docherty was sacked 10 games into the next season, amidst bad results and dressing room unrest over player bonuses, and was replaced by Dave Sexton, who helped stabilize the team and lead the team to two consecutive top six league finishes in 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons. In 1969-70, he finished the league in 3rd place and secured the F.A. Cup after defeating Leeds United in the final by 4-3 over two legs. He then led the team to its first major European trophy the following year, defeating Real Madrid in the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup final in a replay by 2-1 after the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw.

Next: Decline and Battle for Stamford Bridge