Forever Blue - The History of Chelsea F.C. from 1905 to 1997 - video Dailymotion

Chelsea FC

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Transcript

00:00:30Best 43 seconds they've won ever in football.

00:00:34Well, the game started.

00:00:37Well, they took it.

00:00:39And then it went back to the middles for a half.

00:00:43Chelsea's second touch of the ball.

00:00:46And then Dennis Wise got the point.

00:00:48Dink from Waze, and that was it.

00:00:51Passed it to Di Matteo, and I was making a cup of tea.

00:00:56As Di Matteo started to run with the ball.

00:00:58Everything appeared to be in slow motion.

00:01:00We're still celebrating the kick-off, really.

00:01:04Suddenly there was a telephone call, and I thought,

00:01:06should I go and answer it?

00:01:07It's just the space they give him.

00:01:10Di Matteo kept running and running, then pow.

00:01:12Di Matteo shoots!

00:01:14Blink and you miss it.

00:01:15Game, set and match.

00:01:18He's getting comfortable and back up again.

00:01:22I think they must have a chance of seeing that someone's set up in front of them.

00:01:26Constantly the quickest ever goal in a Wembley Cup final.

00:01:29I just couldn't believe it.

00:01:30I was just amazed.

00:01:31Gobsmacked more than anything else.

00:01:33Jumping around, cuddling with my granddaddy.

00:01:35I was so shocked.

00:01:37Brilliant.

00:01:38I was shocked as well.

00:01:39I've never celebrated like that ever before, after 43 seconds.

00:01:42I'm having an orgasm, to be honest.

00:01:45I think Chelsea always lived on the memories of the past, didn't they?

00:01:48And now, obviously, the ghosts have been light.

00:01:51Robbie Musto battling with Dennis Wise.

00:01:53It's difficult to imagine that there's ever been a better 43 seconds in Chelsea's 92-year history.

00:02:04Together with Eddie Newton's nerve settler, 83 minutes later.

00:02:10It meant an awful lot of this.

00:02:13And at long last, no more of this.

00:02:15Blue is the colour.

00:02:17Football is the game.

00:02:19We're all together.

00:02:22I'm pleased for the Chelsea people that are there now, and the supporters,

00:02:25that they've emulated us, because they keep talking about us,

00:02:29and now we've gone.

00:02:30We're history.

00:02:31I get a buzz every time I'm there.

00:02:33It's exciting.

00:02:34It really is exciting now.

00:02:35In five years, I've never seen a club transform so much.

00:02:38A club which had worshipped the names of Osgood and Bonetti, Hutchinson and Webb,

00:02:42finally had a new team of heroes.

00:02:44Some were Stamford Bridge born and raised.

00:02:46Others were definitely not.

00:02:47After almost three decades of knocking, nobody could deny the quality of the football

00:02:52once again being played on the Fulham Road.

00:02:55I mean, my favourite is Zola.

00:02:57You've got Vialli, you've got Leboeuf.

00:02:59You've now got even a host of new players now.

00:03:03The foreigners that come in there, they don't look like foreigners.

00:03:06They do when you see them technically, but they don't look like they're apart from the rest.

00:03:10They look like Chelsea boys.

00:03:11They're mixed in.

00:03:12You know, you look at Matteo, and you look at De Matteo, and you look at Dennis Wise.

00:03:15They look like two cheeky lads that are from Chelsea, you know, and Zola.

00:03:20And they all look part of it.

00:03:22Blues fans loved them, and they were quickly learning the English, for the feeling is mutual.

00:03:27It's been very nice for me to find that the supporters were very, very close to me.

00:03:34They supported me very well, and this is why I gave a performance.

00:03:40Without their help, I couldn't do what I did.

00:03:49To say thank you to the supporters, because they've always been so kind with me,

00:03:54so close with me, shouting, screaming,

00:03:59Vialli, Vialli all the time, even if I was doing just a little warm-up.

00:04:04He's here, he's there, he's everywhere.

00:04:08And, yeah, I like it.

00:04:10In England, in particular, in Chelsea, it's a perfect atmosphere.

00:04:16That FA Cup victory marked a new chapter in Chelsea's long, but only sporadically glorious history.

00:04:22Chelsea are backsang the fans, as they had so many times in the 27 years since Ron Harris brought the FA Cup back from Manchester.

00:04:29This time, though, they were right.

00:04:31The new chapter began four years ago, when the Chelsea chairman decided that it was about time his sleeping giant finally woke up.

00:04:38Step one was the appointment of Glenn Hoddle as player-coach.

00:04:42Hoddle may not have had much impact on the club's league position,

00:04:46but his sheer presence brought glamour and self-belief back to the club,

00:04:50added 10,000 to the weekly gate, and finally saw Chelsea regain its long, cherished reputation as a good cup side.

00:04:58Oh, yes, and he also signed Mark Hughes and Ruud Gullit.

00:05:02Everybody kept saying it was a sleeping giant, and never really achieved what they could have achieved.

00:05:07And I think Glenn, to be fair, went a long way to putting a stop to that,

00:05:11and made everybody more professional, the players, the staff.

00:05:15I mean, you look around the training ground these days, and the stadium's taking shape,

00:05:19and it's how a top club should be now.

00:05:23I think when you look back on Glenn's period of the leadership of Chelsea, he's a bit like John the Baptist.

00:05:30I mean, he arrives and doesn't do the job. He's preparing a way for somebody else.

00:05:34But the fact that Glenn arrived suddenly gave Chelsea a buzz again.

00:05:38It suddenly meant that people wanted to come to the club.

00:05:41Whereas, you know, there were some very nice, decent guys, Ian Porterfield, Bobby Campbell, people I liked as managers.

00:05:46But the best ones in the world, they didn't have that glamour that Glenn had.

00:05:49And although, you know, we were 11th when Glenn arrived, and 11th when he left,

00:05:53Hullet and Mark Hughes and people like that were willing to contemplate coming to the club.

00:06:00Glenn was a good manager. He had his ways of doing things.

00:06:05He wanted to play certain ways, and it was nice, attractive football.

00:06:09I enjoyed it under Glenn, although he taught me a few things, you know,

00:06:14about not football, but life as well, I think, which is good.

00:06:19Here he is again, another telling cross! What a goal!

00:06:23The ball from Hoddle was superb.

00:06:26Success in the pre-season Makita tournament raised expectations, as they have been so often raised at Stamford Bridge.

00:06:33But the introduction of Glenn's beautiful game to all levels of the club was clearly going to take time.

00:06:39In the league, the club was destined for mid-table,

00:06:41despite typical Chelsea victories against Manchester United and Liverpool.

00:06:50As for the FA Cup, a team that took two games to dispose of a Barnett side

00:06:54that included Glenn's younger brother Carl, could hardly claim to have its name on it, could it?

00:07:04A 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round suggested not.

00:07:08Only those with fond memories of that epic Milk Cup encounter ten years earlier travelled to Hillsborough with much hope.

00:07:14Everyone didn't give us a chance, and everyone said that we'll go back to Hillsborough and we'll get beat.

00:07:19Everyone in the country most probably thought the same thing,

00:07:21except for the eleven players that went out on the pitch.

00:07:24For me, that was the most satisfactory performance of the season.

00:07:28It was a great result, and that's what really made us think,

00:07:31I'll tell you what, this could be our year, you know, going all the way.

00:07:34Kevin Peacock, who gets it into the middle to Burley!

00:07:37Chelsea have done it!

00:07:38There was a little bit more belief about the place.

00:07:40We went to Oxford, we went a goal down.

00:07:47Whereas in the past I think we'd have panicked,

00:07:49we just kept playing our way in, playing our way in,

00:07:51eventually we got back in the game and we managed to win the game 2-1.

00:07:58Victories at Oxford, and against Wolves,

00:08:00finally convinced doubters that this time Chelsea were on their way.

00:08:07A semi-final against Luton Town was hardly the glamour tie that fans had hoped for,

00:08:11except for the fact that it was played at Wembley,

00:08:14and the Luton centre-forward was Kerry Dixon.

00:08:22It was just something else, the reception was phenomenal,

00:08:25and I'm very grateful for that.

00:08:27It was basically the most emotional day of my footballing life,

00:08:30and it probably eclipsed me playing for England in the Aztec Stadium.

00:08:36The sun shone, and Dixon was too much the gentleman

00:08:39to continue the long and painful tradition of former players

00:08:42scoring crucial goals against their old club.

00:08:52The return to Wembley a month later for Chelsea's first FA Cup final for 24 years

00:08:56was to prove a distinctly less enjoyable experience.

00:09:00Still, having beaten Manchester United twice in the league,

00:09:03hopes were perennially high, as a future Chelsea star recalls.

00:09:08In the league games, Chelsea scored a goal and then defended very well,

00:09:12and United weren't able to get back into the game.

00:09:14If Chelsea had scored, I think we'd be gathering Peacock at the bar,

00:09:18which was a great chance. It would have been very difficult for United.

00:09:22Peacock! Peacock!

00:09:25Oh, he's hit the bar!

00:09:27We went into the game really confident, started off really well.

00:09:30We were playing so well that we should have scored in the time

00:09:34that we were in the first half, and it didn't really work for us.

00:09:37They were always going to come out, be improved for the second half,

00:09:40and in the end they were too much for us.

00:09:42I gave the first penalty away, Frank gave the second penalty away,

00:09:45and that was the end of the game, really.

00:09:47They just had a bundle of confidence, and they could do what they wanted.

00:09:51Our heads dropped, and the story of the game was over, really.

00:09:54It was a wretched afternoon and a wretched evening for anyone in blue and white,

00:09:58but with Manchester United landing the double,

00:10:01Chelsea were through to the Cup Winners' Cup.

00:10:03In a season again destined to end in mid-table anonymity,

00:10:07at least it gave us something to look forward to,

00:10:10provided Glenn could find enough players to meet strict rules

00:10:13that classed even Steve Clarke as a foreigner.

00:10:16It was disappointing for me because I'd been at the club a long time,

00:10:19and I ended up missing out in the first European game at Stamford Bridge

00:10:22because I was a foreigner,

00:10:24even though I'd been playing in the English league for eight years.

00:10:28I think it affected us all the way through.

00:10:30We had to keep shuffling the pack a little bit

00:10:32and bringing players in that hadn't been playing regularly,

00:10:36and obviously that upsets your rhythm and the balance of the team.

00:10:41A potentially tricky tie against FK Austria Vienna

00:10:44was clinched by a vital John Spencer goal.

00:10:52The best night of that particular cup run was the night we played Bruges.

00:10:57We'd lost 1-0 in the away leg,

00:10:59and we felt really confident we could turn it over.

00:11:02As soon as the game started and the crowd got right behind us,

00:11:05we knew we were going to win it.

00:11:07I've got a feeling the crowd knew they were going to win it as well.

00:11:10It was a really good night.

00:11:19Coming back from 1-0 was one thing,

00:11:21but from 3-0 in a European semi-final, that was definitely quite another.

00:11:25I think it was a bit naive going to Zaragoza.

00:11:28It gave them a bit too much space and time,

00:11:30and basically we lost it in the first leg when we were 3-0 down,

00:11:34which was a shame because we proved that we could beat them well in the second leg.

00:11:45The crowd got right behind us,

00:11:47and we nearly pulled off what would have been a miracle.

00:11:49Roared on by the most passionate crowd Stamford Bridge had seen in years,

00:11:52Chelsea very nearly pulled off the impossible,

00:11:55with goals from Sinclair, Steen and Furlong raising the sort of hopes

00:11:58that only a vital away goal scored by Santiago Aragon could dash.

00:12:02Once again, the highlight of a huddle season

00:12:04had been a glorious and memorable semi-final.

00:12:07But at least cup runs were beginning to be a bit of a habit.

00:12:10The following season was simply extraordinary.

00:12:12It began with the shock arrival of Ruud Gullit.

00:12:14Ruud Gullit at Stamford Bridge? Surely some mistake.

00:12:17And in May 1995, Glenn and I sat down,

00:12:22and we worked on a strategy of raising the profile of the club

00:12:28and realising that with football, particularly in Europe,

00:12:33changing dramatically, and the European League probably no further

00:12:38than the end of the century away,

00:12:40there would never be a greater opportunity for Chelsea

00:12:44to try and get into the big time and drag itself to the level

00:12:49to fulfil the potential that has so often been talked about.

00:12:54And so Glenn and I identified two players that we would like to bring in.

00:13:00Those two players were Ruud Gullit and Paul Gascoigne.

00:13:04Well, history, of course, has recorded that we pulled off the coup of Ruud Gullit.

00:13:09We weren't successful with Gascoigne,

00:13:12and he decided to go to Glasgow Rangers.

00:13:16I think it was a club that wanted more than what they were doing

00:13:20for the last couple of years.

00:13:22And, of course, because Glenn was there, and I knew Glenn,

00:13:25and I played against him, and I knew also the way he wanted to play,

00:13:29I decided to come to Chelsea.

00:13:32And the beginning was, of course, like a culture shock for me

00:13:36because I lived for eight years on the highest level.

00:13:40It was also something that I needed

00:13:42because I think I lived for eight years on a straight regime,

00:13:46and I needed also some space privately and also on the pitch,

00:13:51and that's why I think it was the best decision that I made.

00:13:55Then came another present from Manchester United.

00:13:58Ever since I've come here, the Chelsea fans have been marvellous to me.

00:14:01It could have been very easy for them to turn against me

00:14:04because of the United connection,

00:14:06but sometimes I was guilty of taking the game home with me.

00:14:09But since I've come here, I feel more relaxed in my football.

00:14:12The attitude to the club is a lot more relaxed,

00:14:15but certainly just as a professional, that relaxed atmosphere has helped me,

00:14:18and I think it's helped my football as well.

00:14:20It was a season that would end with Hoddle's appointment as England coach,

00:14:23probably the best reason that any of Chelsea's 19 managers to date

00:14:26has ever had for leaving.

00:14:28But before all that came the league.

00:14:30Well, by now, XI had a comforting feel about it, and yet another cup run.

00:14:35A third-round draw against Newcastle United was not a promising start,

00:14:39and a disastrous last-minute equaliser, a far from perfect end.

00:14:45The boys had gutted the result at Stamford Bridge,

00:14:47but we still went up there believing we could win,

00:14:50and then we played well and were unlucky to go down.

00:14:54The game up there was a marvellous performance,

00:14:56probably our best of that year, and we were good value.

00:15:00OK, it went to the penalties, but we felt we could have won it before then.

00:15:05You're confident when you're going out to face penalties,

00:15:08and it puts pressure on the opposition, so you just do your best.

00:15:12I think in that game we showed that we could do better than we thought we could do,

00:15:16and that gave, I think, the group a lift.

00:15:18Having seen off one of the best teams on the land,

00:15:20Chelsea progressed to the quarter-finals in typical style,

00:15:23beating another Premiership side, QPR, 2-1,

00:15:26before taking two goes to get past Grimsby.

00:15:29A quarter-final against Wimbledon was never one for the faint-hearted,

00:15:32but eventually Chelsea won through.

00:15:34The game was a bit of a stalemate.

00:15:36I think there was a corner, and then it got broken down,

00:15:39and I was still up there, and then Spenny and Wisey combined, and it come over.

00:15:45I can remember I was just going mad.

00:15:47I was thinking, yes, and I was just running.

00:15:49I was thinking, just stay that way, just stay that way,

00:15:51and I was like, glory, boy, I just want to hug the glory,

00:15:54but Sparky scored and spoiled it, but we still got through anyway.

00:15:58The prize was a semi-final draw against Manchester United

00:16:01on a cabbage patch of a pitch that had once been Villa Park.

00:16:04Those whose memories stretch back to the 1960s,

00:16:07when Chelsea contested three FA Cup semi-finals in a row

00:16:10at the Aston Villa ground,

00:16:12travelled with expectations a little on the low side.

00:16:15The one bit of good news was that this time Mark Hughes was playing for us.

00:16:19I was doing my jinky and left-winger impression,

00:16:23and I was able just to swing it over,

00:16:26and Rudy was able to nudge it in through the dreadlocks.

00:16:29We survived the half-time, and we'd got it reorganised,

00:16:32and then to start off the second half the way we did,

00:16:34losing Terry Phelan straight away,

00:16:36I think you can carry one injury in a game like that,

00:16:39but to get another one so soon afterwards

00:16:41and then have to reshape the team again,

00:16:43I think we lost our way a little bit.

00:16:45The injuries and a back pass that brought tears to the eyes

00:16:49meant that for the second time in three years,

00:16:52United had thwarted the club's bid for Cup glory.

00:16:55As the crowd made its way quietly home,

00:16:57reflecting on an afternoon when Michael Dewberry

00:16:59ran his studs off on the right wing,

00:17:01one man had already worked out what was needed

00:17:04if Chelsea were ever to go that extra mile.

00:17:07We just missed the quality, you know,

00:17:09that they had more than we had.

00:17:11We could cope with them one half,

00:17:13but then later on, you know,

00:17:16it was just the difference in cars that they had.

00:17:18Hullet would get the chance to do something about it sooner

00:17:21than he could possibly have imagined.

00:17:23First of all, a warm welcome to Glenn

00:17:25and congratulations on the appointment

00:17:28from everybody at the Football Association,

00:17:30including Terry, of course.

00:17:32I think it's the most rewarding job I've done in football.

00:17:36I'm very proud of the fact that I can leave

00:17:40with a foundation that I've built, not just myself.

00:17:44I think that's very unfair.

00:17:46I should be saying there's a lot of people,

00:17:48all the staff, Peter, Eddie, Glenn, Cornwallis,

00:17:51you know, the whole lot, the medical staff,

00:17:53and plus the players.

00:17:55So there's a lot of people, but it was a very sad occasion for me.

00:17:58It was done with a heavy heart.

00:18:00And as I've said, there is no way

00:18:02that I would have left Chelsea Football Club

00:18:04for any other club in Europe.

00:18:06This is the only job, really, that I would have left the club for.

00:18:10Hoddle's three-year experiment was over.

00:18:12Chelsea's league form remained gloriously inconsistent

00:18:15and despite three thrilling cup runs,

00:18:17silverware was still conspicuous by its absence.

00:18:20But the fans knew a revolution had taken place,

00:18:23that at last something special was happening at Stamford Bridge.

00:18:26They also knew exactly who they wanted to continue Hoddle's work,

00:18:29as they made abundantly clear at the last game of the season.

00:18:38More and more, the success that Hoddle and Hullett

00:18:41had brought to the club was reminding season supporters

00:18:44of another great run of results.

00:18:46Not just the triumph of the famous 1970s team,

00:18:49but a ten-year period which, without a doubt,

00:18:52was the most successful in the club's history.

00:18:54So far, anyway.

00:18:56It ended with Chelsea's surprise defeat against Stoke City

00:18:59in the League Cup in 1972,

00:19:01but it began with the newly promoted side of 1963,

00:19:05led by a young and enthusiastic Scottish manager.

00:19:08Docherty's diamonds were about to sparkle.

00:19:11But it wasn't polish the team needed

00:19:13when Tommy Docherty took over in the autumn of 1961.

00:19:16It was knocking into shape.

00:19:18Ted Drake, Docherty's predecessor,

00:19:20left behind a side in transition.

00:19:22Jimmy Greaves, the most exciting youth prospect

00:19:25the club had ever produced, had been sold the season before.

00:19:29Goal-scoring to him was a piece of cake.

00:19:32He's the best goal-scorer I've ever seen, Greaves.

00:19:35Jimmy, that quickness in the box.

00:19:37Jimmy wasn't quick over 50 yards.

00:19:39Didn't have to be.

00:19:41You never run 50 yards in a game.

00:19:43Off the mark, quickness and control.

00:19:46You need to leave people standing.

00:19:48We'd have won the challenge four or five times.

00:19:50I'm sure we'd have won it two or three times anyway

00:19:53if we'd have kept Jimmy.

00:19:55With Greaves seemed to go Chelsea's hopes for the future,

00:19:58despite a first team that already included Peter Benetti,

00:20:01Barry Bridges, Terry Venables

00:20:03and Chelsea's eventual record goal-scorer Bobby Tamblyn.

00:20:06Perhaps the side were too young to avoid relegation.

00:20:10They were going through the motions.

00:20:12I took my first one or two training sessions with them

00:20:15and coaching sessions. They didn't want to know.

00:20:18The next year, it was the change-around.

00:20:20It was all our younger boys coming in

00:20:23and it was a very young side that moulded together

00:20:26and got on particularly well together.

00:20:28Chelsea were back at the first attempt

00:20:30and the most successful decade in the club's history

00:20:33was about to begin, with Doherty fielding a team

00:20:36destined to become legends.

00:20:38Well, with Peter Benetti in goal, brilliant, world-class.

00:20:41For my money, he was world-class.

00:20:43Great in the air, it was a waste of time, crossed the ball.

00:20:46Anyone that crossed the ball, I just used to start laughing.

00:20:49I mean, just taking grapes out of a tree.

00:20:51The cat, he called him the cat.

00:20:53Full-back, a fella called Ken Chiluto.

00:20:55Arguably the best right full-back I've ever seen in my life.

00:20:58George Cohen would never get a World Cup medal in a million years

00:21:01if he hadn't got injured,

00:21:02because he was the best right full-back I've ever seen.

00:21:05A full-back from Scotland for 5,000 quid, Eddie McCready.

00:21:08Great player, great tackler, great distributor of the ball.

00:21:11Lovely, correct what he was.

00:21:13They loved Chelsea and they loved him.

00:21:15Then we had a young kid come in at the side, John Holland.

00:21:18A little cherub of a boy, actually.

00:21:20Great tackler, good distributor of the ball.

00:21:22So fit and so enthusiastic, it wasn't true.

00:21:25A lad called Marvin Hinton we got from Charlton for 23,000 quid.

00:21:29Next to Bobby Moore, the best sweeper I've ever seen.

00:21:32He was a fantastic player.

00:21:33Ronnie Harris, outstanding.

00:21:35We called him the late Chopper Harris.

00:21:37He was not dead, he was just late all the time.

00:21:39Great man-marker.

00:21:41Greaves and all the great players hated playing against him.

00:21:45OK, I'm not a big lad, I'm only 5'8".

00:21:49But I think I might have frightened one or two fellas

00:21:51that looked in the programme before and said,

00:21:53oh, Chop now, if he's playing today.

00:21:55Especially some of the forwards that were a little bit not that brave.

00:22:01Fenerbahce was a great player, captain.

00:22:03He was a regular captain before Chopper took over, Ronnie took over.

00:22:07Good player.

00:22:09Great vision.

00:22:10General Romelu Lukaku was a fox.

00:22:12Crafty.

00:22:13I was always a bit wary of Terry, actually.

00:22:15Good fun, great company.

00:22:17Super lad.

00:22:18But he overstepped his authority at times.

00:22:24But whatever Docherty's admiration of Venable's skills as a footballer,

00:22:28the two were destined not to get on.

00:22:30It was a personality clash that would eventually lead to the break-up

00:22:33of a brilliant side.

00:22:36Barry Bridges we had, centre-forward.

00:22:39First touch, not very good.

00:22:42Very quick, strong.

00:22:45Bobby Tamlin, that one side forward.

00:22:47Strong as day.

00:22:50That was really a fun team on the pitch and off it.

00:22:53I mean, can you imagine people like Eddie McCready, Terry Venables,

00:22:57the Harris brothers.

00:23:02For the moment, however,

00:23:04Stamford Bridge was swinging and so was the King's Road.

00:23:07It was a coincidence that would seal Chelsea's reputation

00:23:09as a fashionable club.

00:23:11It was a bit of a twist.

00:23:13It was a bit of a twist.

00:23:16I mean, with George Graham,

00:23:17who I bought for 5,000 quid from the villa,

00:23:19a magnificent player, very elegant player.

00:23:22George liked the bright lights and so did Terry.

00:23:25It would just open my eyes up to how big London is

00:23:29and what goes on in London and how difficult.

00:23:33There's unique problems in managing or playing in London

00:23:36that the rest of the country don't seem to have.

00:23:39But it was Chelsea's attitude,

00:23:42But it was Chelsea's achievements on the pitch

00:23:44that would cement the club's reputation as a cup side.

00:23:47With so much attention understandably focused

00:23:49on the 1970 cup side,

00:23:51Docherty's achievements in the mid-1960s

00:23:53have sometimes unfairly been overlooked.

00:23:55And we got to three semifinals and a final

00:23:57in three years in succession, which a lot of people forget.

00:24:0064, 65, 65, 66, 66, 67.

00:24:05So we could win three finals with a little bit of luck,

00:24:07a game, minutes away from three finals.

00:24:10We were a very, very good cup side.

00:24:13We were good every four weeks.

00:24:15In 1965, Chelsea's second season back in the First Division

00:24:19and Peter Osgood's first at the club,

00:24:21Docherty was not that far off a treble.

00:24:23Third place in the league for only the second time

00:24:25in the club's history, winning the League Cup

00:24:27by beating Leicester and securing a place

00:24:29in the Fairs Cup the next season.

00:24:31Only the FA Cup semifinal would go down as a disappointment,

00:24:34with Chelsea travelling to Villa Park

00:24:36but losing 2-0 to Liverpool.

00:24:38Another semifinal the following year

00:24:40would end exactly the same way.

00:24:45But it was European football that really fired the imagination,

00:24:48both of the fans and Docherty's fast-maturing side.

00:24:51Already keen on the limelight, Europe offered them

00:24:53an even bigger stage on which to strut their stuff.

00:24:56It began with AS Roma at Stamford Bridge,

00:24:58a night which saw Venables score a remarkable hat-trick.

00:25:01He was so inventive in the game.

00:25:03His mind was always thinking about different things, Terry.

00:25:06And I always remember the wall against Roma,

00:25:08and he walked up to the wall and he paced it out.

00:25:12And he went to the referee and turned like that to say,

00:25:14referee, they're not ten yards.

00:25:16And then somebody slid it down the side of the wall.

00:25:18And he went and knocked the ball in.

00:25:20Of course, everybody stood still.

00:25:22They couldn't believe it.

00:25:24A 2-1 win on aggregate over Venus Sport Club

00:25:26saw Chelsea progress to football's holy of holies,

00:25:28the Sands 0 and a third-round draw against AC Milan.

00:25:30In Italy, a vital away goal kept Chelsea in the hunt,

00:25:33despite Milan scoring twice.

00:25:35At Stamford Bridge, the scores were reversed,

00:25:37leaving the scores level after two legs.

00:25:39A third game at the Sands 0 ended 1-1 after extra time.

00:25:42Chelsea went through on the toss of a coin.

00:25:44With an Osgoode goal eventually getting the better of TSV Munchen,

00:25:47it was Chelsea that progressed to a dream semi-final against Barcelona.

00:25:51Chelsea were playing with the big boys,

00:25:53but already one future Barcelona coach

00:25:55had realised that his time at Stamford Bridge

00:25:57was about to come to a premature end.

00:25:59The team was developing and getting a lot better.

00:26:01But Tom, I think, had made his mind up that he was going to replace me.

00:26:04And I can remember we played at Barcelona.

00:26:07And Charlie Cook, who came to replace me,

00:26:10came in the dressing room before the game.

00:26:14I mean, that was a little bit off-putting.

00:26:16And to be fair, Charlie went on and done exceptionally well for Chelsea.

00:26:22And we played them over in Barcelona, and it was 2-0.

00:26:26I think it was.

00:26:28And they come to Stamford Bridge, and we had a few injuries.

00:26:31And we should have played them.

00:26:34I think on a Tuesday night.

00:26:36And with these injuries, we had no chance.

00:26:41So I got the fire brigade in at night, that night,

00:26:44and flooded the whole pitch.

00:26:45It was a quagmire. It was a beautiful pitch.

00:26:47It was a quagmire, actually.

00:26:49And the referee came the next day and examined the pitch.

00:26:51And of course, it's just sunk into the ground.

00:26:53The game was put off, wasn't it?

00:26:56We played it the next night, and we'd beaten them 2-0.

00:27:00So that was a draw.

00:27:01So we tossed for ends, and we lost the toss.

00:27:03We had to go to Barcelona, where we eventually lost 5-0 over there.

00:27:07So we got our comeuppance for my shady tactics with the fire engines.

00:27:11By now, Venables and Bridges have both played their final game for Chelsea,

00:27:15thanks to an extraordinary incident that had taken place the season before.

00:27:18One or two of them started being a bit naughty, you know.

00:27:23But in those days, I was too much of a sergeant major.

00:27:25I mean, I was a disciplinarian, but I was ridiculous.

00:27:29I think, when I look back on it now, I was too much of a sergeant major.

00:27:34And I think we were having quite a lot of arguments leading up to that.

00:27:39It was a them-and-us situation.

00:27:43And really, and then on the way back, he said,

00:27:45that's it, you don't go out.

00:27:46And it was the final straw for some of us,

00:27:49because he'd been doing this inconsistent attitude for a while.

00:27:52So we were at Blackpool for, I think, it was almost a week.

00:27:55And we went out one night.

00:27:56There was a curfew.

00:27:57But we thought, on a Wednesday night, it wasn't too near a Saturday,

00:28:01and we went back out again.

00:28:03And we upset Tommy, and Tommy just sent us all home.

00:28:06A lot of people thought, quite right.

00:28:09And a lot of people thought, ridiculous, too strict.

00:28:11Which, fair enough, is their own opinion.

00:28:13And some of the players were very friendly.

00:28:16We had Terry Venables and George Graham,

00:28:18who were quite friendly with one or two of the media men.

00:28:21And, of course, the media men came out on their side,

00:28:23saying that I was too strong in doing this.

00:28:25It was headlines.

00:28:26We just didn't realise how huge it was.

00:28:29And it did turn out a real nightmare.

00:28:32And that was, I think, the beginning of the end.

00:28:34And it had become a situation where it was them or me,

00:28:37whether they were going to pay attention to me or they weren't.

00:28:40I gave them a little bit of leeway regularly, and they abused it.

00:28:43That was it in a nutshell.

00:28:44He just saw things, he said, no, I can't have it.

00:28:46I can't have them sort of people playing for me, and that was it.

00:28:48And I think it was a shame in all fairness,

00:28:50one of his few mistakes he made, because it was a good sign.

00:28:54And it could have only got better.

00:28:56It culminated in, eventually, the other players moving on

00:29:01and the younger element of the side staying with it.

00:29:05I knew it was coming, and I think that was plain to see.

00:29:09But, you know, you look back, and I broke my heart over it.

00:29:13I was choked to leave, because it was such great times.

00:29:17It was, you know, like losing your family.

00:29:20I honestly believe that side would probably have been better

00:29:22than the semi side if it had stuck together.

00:29:24But he had his conflict with Terry, and he got rid of Terry,

00:29:27got rid of Barry Bridges and Bert Murray

00:29:29and these sort of people who were all friends in them days.

00:29:31And, you know, that's when the sides split up.

00:29:36Blackpool may have been the beginning of the end,

00:29:38but Doherty still had two more cracking seasons at Stamford Bridge,

00:29:41culminating in his third successive FA Cup run.

00:29:44Venables may have gone to Spurs, Graham to Arsenal,

00:29:46and Bridges and Murray to Birmingham,

00:29:48but Doherty's remaining diamonds, now including Charlie Cook,

00:29:51Tommy Baldwin and Tony Hateley, made it to Wembley without them.

00:29:54The club's first appearance there in a peacetime cup final.

00:29:57And if Osgood hadn't still been recovering from a broken leg,

00:30:00who knows what might have happened.

00:30:02But first it was semi-final time, which by now meant only one thing.

00:30:05It was back to Villa Park again, this time to take on Leeds.

00:30:08Surely it would be different this time.

00:30:10It was, but only just.

00:30:12A perfect centre pass from Eddie McCready to Tony Hateley.

00:30:16A free kick for Leeds, a tremendous shot from 25 yards,

00:30:19but it's disallowed as the referee wasn't ready for it.

00:30:22As Erland Janssen learned 30 years later,

00:30:24you need a bit of luck to win the FA Cup.

00:30:26More luck, in fact, than Doherty's team enjoyed at Wembley,

00:30:29as they took on a Tottenham team that included two of Chelsea's

00:30:32best ever players, Venables and Greaves.

00:30:34Ron Harris has a shrewd idea about what went wrong,

00:30:37despite a consolation goal from Tambling,

00:30:39the only player ever to score 200 goals for Chelsea.

00:30:43We got beat 2-1 and they never played particularly well, the Spurs,

00:30:47but we were absolutely diabolical.

00:30:49We were disastrous.

00:30:53A dramatic score by Bobby Tambling...

00:30:55Despite a track record that perhaps only now is being appreciated

00:30:58for its quality, it was time for Doherty to go.

00:31:01I would say overall that was the best side I had,

00:31:04the best side I developed, was at Stamford Bridge.

00:31:07To this day I've got great affection for the club.

00:31:10They're a marvellous club.

00:31:12And to me, Chelsea will always be very close to my heart

00:31:15and Manchester United is.

00:31:17When Dave Sexton arrived in the autumn of 1967,

00:31:20there's no doubt he took over a cracking side,

00:31:22despite discontent in both dressing room and boardroom.

00:31:25We had a great balance.

00:31:27We had a great goalkeeper, a superb goalkeeper,

00:31:29only second to Banksy in the world at that time,

00:31:31I don't care what anybody says.

00:31:33We had four assassins, we call them, Webb, Dempsey, McCready, Harris.

00:31:36I mean, they could tackle for fun, they loved it.

00:31:38Then you had the great midfield, you had Hudson, Cook and Hollins.

00:31:41I mean, I'm not being funny today, as I said to people,

00:31:44if they had that midfield at Chelsea today,

00:31:46they would still get in the side, them three especially.

00:31:49Cook, Hollins, Hudson.

00:31:51Had so much flair, how he could rule the game,

00:31:53slow it down, not great pills.

00:31:55Charlie was the dribbler and Ollie was the grafter and the worker

00:31:58and could score great goals from any angle and from any distance.

00:32:01Good work by Hollins! Oh, against the post!

00:32:04Can he do it? He can!

00:32:07And then we had a bunch of four lads up front,

00:32:10Tommy Baldwin, Hutch, myself and Peter Housman,

00:32:13and it was superb again.

00:32:15It was just everybody knew what job they had to do and everybody did it.

00:32:19It was just a great balance, it really was,

00:32:21and that was down to Dave, to be honest.

00:32:23It was a sign that in five seasons,

00:32:25never finished lower than seventh in the league

00:32:27and in 1970 matched the achievements of Tommy Docherty in 1965

00:32:31and David Calderhead in 1920 by coming third in the First Division,

00:32:35helped by a rare double over Manchester United.

00:32:39It's a goal, it's put in by Hutchinson!

00:32:43Hollins.

00:32:47And into the net by Hutchinson.

00:32:49Having made it to the sixth round of the FA Cup in 68 and 69,

00:32:52Chelsea were determined to do better as the 1970 campaign got underway.

00:32:57Things started well enough with a 3-0 win over Birmingham,

00:33:00but then came a familiar Chelsea stumble.

00:33:04That hiccup with Burnley, because we were 2-0 up at home,

00:33:07Ralph Coates and I think, I can't remember who else scored one.

00:33:15And to go up to Burnley, you think, oh my God,

00:33:18to go up to Burnley and try and come away with something,

00:33:21I think we beat them 3-1.

00:33:23We were very lucky to go through on that,

00:33:25but then you always need a bit of luck in winning the FA Cup.

00:33:28With Crystal Palace dismissed 4-1,

00:33:30the sixth round took Chelsea to QPR and two very familiar faces.

00:33:34Venables and Bridges may have got themselves on the score sheet,

00:33:37but Chelsea ran out winners by four goals to two,

00:33:40helped by an Osgood hat-trick.

00:33:42At a semi-final against Watford at White Hart Lane,

00:33:45the goals were distributed more widely.

00:33:48David Webb!

00:33:49Osgood in the middle.

00:33:51And Osgood!

00:33:53Steady goes on.

00:33:54And a goal by Hausmann!

00:33:57Hutchinson, oh, a nice little one-two there for Hausmann.

00:33:59There it is! Number five!

00:34:02But to win any FA Cup, you have to beat a top side at some point.

00:34:06The only problem was, Chelsea had saved theirs for the final,

00:34:09and it was Leeds, who earlier in the season

00:34:12had beaten Chelsea 5-2 at Stamford Bridge.

00:34:15I think we were nervous on the day because Leeds were a top side.

00:34:19We'd always had massive battles against them in very early days.

00:34:23In our sort of 64s, 65s, we had some big battles with them.

00:34:27We were going into this game, I think, second favourite, shall we say.

00:34:31Ron Harris was rather more confident than John Hollins,

00:34:34although he knew the injured Alan Hudson would be much missed.

00:34:37Huddy was an exceptional player.

00:34:39I felt that another one, the bigger the game, the better he played.

00:34:44Tommy Baldwin coming, no disrespects to Tommy,

00:34:47you would miss anyway,

00:34:49and Huddy was one of the three exceptional players in our side then.

00:34:53Pete Osgood, Charlie Cook and Alan Hudson,

00:34:55and they pulled the strings for us.

00:34:57As for Pete Osgood, he was on the verge of creating a new record

00:35:00by scoring in every round of the FA Cup,

00:35:02providing he didn't trip over a Wembley hoofprint.

00:35:05We'd heard about this beautiful pitch at Wembley, a billiard table.

00:35:08The first time I played there, it was a disgrace.

00:35:10It was terrible. They'd had the horse show two weeks before.

00:35:13But I think it was a credit to both sides.

00:35:16It was four goals scored, and it was such a good game.

00:35:19Housman, a pure score!

00:35:22One of the reasons that we'd done reasonably well over the years

00:35:25against Leeds was we had some good players

00:35:28and had some people that could put some stick about,

00:35:30and I think they frightened a lot of the sides.

00:35:33But we had fellas that would stand up for themselves,

00:35:36like Ozzie and Hutch and John Dempsey and Webby,

00:35:39that could look after themselves.

00:35:41And I think that if you asked anybody at Leeds

00:35:45who they respected most,

00:35:47I'm sure they would have turned around and said,

00:35:49I'm sure David Webb would tell you, he got the biggest chase

00:35:52I've ever seen a professional footballer get in any type of football.

00:35:56Oh!

00:35:58Clark and Jones and Goulds and Koenig up in the middle!

00:36:02A wonderful save by Benetti!

00:36:05We always had that upper hand in that if ever we went a goal down,

00:36:09they knew we'd come back,

00:36:11and that was always in the back of their minds,

00:36:13that you've got to get one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

00:36:17That you've got to get one, two, three up before they'll die,

00:36:21and we weren't going to die easily.

00:36:23I always remember, Hutch had just come through,

00:36:25and he'd crossed the ball, and Norman Hunter had come across,

00:36:28and he came across on his left peg and done Hutch right down the shins,

00:36:31and I went across and he just went down on his knees.

00:36:33Now, the big fella doesn't go down for nothing.

00:36:35I went across and said, you all right, mate?

00:36:37He said, he hurt me, but I'm not going to let him know.

00:36:39Just after that, I heard Hunter say to him,

00:36:41Hutchinson, if you didn't have a long throw,

00:36:43he said, you wouldn't be in this side.

00:36:45It was a big Hutch diving in the near post.

00:36:47Hutchinson, a goal!

00:36:53Four minutes to go, what a sensational final.

00:36:56We should have lost that game at Wembley.

00:36:59We could have lost it in the first 90 minutes, perhaps 5-1.

00:37:03Put in the extra time, the last half an hour,

00:37:06we could have won it 3-1.

00:37:08A great save by Spring from Hutchinson.

00:37:11Battle resumed at Old Trafford over a fortnight later,

00:37:14with Webb and Harris swapping positions.

00:37:16Eddie Gray was about to discover why.

00:37:18The replay was about three weeks after,

00:37:20and from then onwards, we swapped over positions,

00:37:23and maybe, like the tackle I'd done in the first few minutes,

00:37:26nowadays, you'd have got banned for six months,

00:37:29but when you think Harry tantalised Webby,

00:37:32you know, he never done that well against me,

00:37:35because I think the tackle I'd done him,

00:37:37maybe I should have got sent off,

00:37:39but years ago, the referees were a little bit lenient.

00:37:42But it was an injury to the great Peter Bonetti

00:37:44that was causing Chelsea fans concern.

00:37:46He was thin, if anybody wanted to knock him about,

00:37:49they could easily, because he was like a bag of feathers,

00:37:52but I think he'd done exceptionally well to even carry on.

00:38:00For the third time in the final, Chelsea went a goal behind,

00:38:03and for the third time, Chelsea equalised.

00:38:06Ending ball in now, Collins again.

00:38:09Osgood, Hutchinson, Cook.

00:38:16And Osgood!

00:38:18And Charlie floated this lovely ball there.

00:38:20It was like slow motion, you know, it was like I was floating through the air,

00:38:23and I had so much time to pick my spot.

00:38:25I mean, Harvey, who took over from Sprakey from Wembley, he didn't come.

00:38:28If he'd have come, it would have been a different ball game.

00:38:30I think Sprakey would have come, but he didn't come.

00:38:32It was such a lovely weighted ball that gave me the time,

00:38:34and as I went to glance, he went one way, I just flicked it in the other.

00:38:37And when I got up, I looked across because I thought I was offside.

00:38:40There was nobody near me, there was nobody within 10 yards of me,

00:38:42and you never get that with a Leeds defence.

00:38:44Brilliantly made, brilliantly taken, and Harvey had no chance at all.

00:38:48You could see them there then, again, visually,

00:38:51their shoulders round and their shoulders dropped,

00:38:54and we were just needing that goal, we got it.

00:38:58We were three, four, five yards sharper than them,

00:39:02and it was only a matter of time before we got the second one.

00:39:06Near to the penalty box, and up goes Dempsey and Webb,

00:39:10as Hutchinson prepares to take the throw.

00:39:12Hutch took the long throw, I got the little touch to it,

00:39:14and he flicked off Jackie Charlton's head and went right over the far post.

00:39:17I mean, if I hadn't got a touch, I think Big Jack would have knocked it,

00:39:20and it would have gone, but it went right over the far post.

00:39:22And it's a goal! Yes, a goal!

00:39:26Big Davey, as usual, at Webby.

00:39:28150 per cent, you know, he's got more cuts than Henry Cooper, this guy.

00:39:32He was so brave, it was unreal.

00:39:33He's gone in, and Cooper's headed the ball out,

00:39:35and it's hit Davey on the face and gone back in.

00:39:37And once he went in, three of them sat down on their backsides,

00:39:40the Leeds players, we knew then we won.

00:39:42Chelsea have won it, and there's Webb getting mobbed.

00:39:47The scorer and the winning goal.

00:39:49It was a wonderful moment that any Chelsea fan over 35 can remember to this day.

00:39:53For the first time in its then 65-year history,

00:39:56Chelsea had won the FA Cup.

00:39:58The only disappointing thing was that you had to be at Manchester,

00:40:01because when you win the Cup, you've got to walk up the steps,

00:40:04and run round.

00:40:06The next day is the thing, you get back to Euston Station,

00:40:08and then you start seeing the people, and you get on the bus,

00:40:10and then you see Chelsea pensioners, all the gear on,

00:40:13and their medals, and these guys were in tears.

00:40:15And you went...

00:40:17Everybody was there, there was people throwing streams, it was brilliant.

00:40:21We'd won the FA Cup, and that's everybody's dream,

00:40:24and that's what the Chelsea supporters wanted.

00:40:27And they'd eventually got their name on the Cup.

00:40:30The following season saw Chelsea finish a respectable sixth in the league,

00:40:34and go out of the FA Cup in the fourth round.

00:40:36It didn't matter.

00:40:37Chelsea were off on their second European adventure in five years,

00:40:41beginning with Aristolonika.

00:40:43The Greek team managed to draw at home,

00:40:45but back at Stamford Bridge, they ran into a spot of bother.

00:40:48...opening up in front of Hinton.

00:40:50Hutchinson playing a little one-two with Hinton!

00:40:52Oh, Marvin Hinton!

00:40:54Slipping badly for Hutchinson.

00:40:56A flicker and a goalkeeper!

00:40:58With a Baldwin away goal in hand,

00:41:00Chelsea brought CSKA Sofia back to the bridge,

00:41:03where a Dave Webb goal and a virtuoso performance from Peter Benetti

00:41:07took Chelsea on to the third round,

00:41:09with Benetti more than living up to his nickname, The Cat.

00:41:12Home legs that saw Bruges beaten 4-0

00:41:15and Manchester City 1-0 saw Chelsea through to the final

00:41:18against Real Madrid in Athens.

00:41:21It was winning 1-0, and then they scored in the last ten seconds.

00:41:25Unbelievable. They brought the cup out and were ready to resent it.

00:41:29But justice was done in the replay,

00:41:31thanks to a superb volley from Dempsey and a winner from Osgoode.

00:41:36And Dempsey has scored!

00:41:39Number eight, Baldwin.

00:41:41Osgoode.

00:41:43With the Cup Winners' Cup joining the FA Cup

00:41:45in the Stamford Bridge Trophy Cabinet,

00:41:47Chelsea fans settled back and waited,

00:41:49confident there'd be more silverware to come.

00:41:51They waited and waited and waited.

00:41:53The long years without success that followed

00:41:55fuelled a myth that the Sexton side simply fell apart.

00:41:58It didn't. The decline was gradual.

00:42:01In 1972, the team, now reinforced by the likes of Chris Garland

00:42:04and Paddy Mulligan, finished a respectable seventh

00:42:07and made it to the final of the League Cup,

00:42:09after a cracking semi-final against Spurs.

00:42:11It finished 5-4 on aggregate,

00:42:13thanks to a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge.

00:42:15The final against Stoke was surely a formality.

00:42:18Whether we thought that by turning up was enough,

00:42:21we were still young, we were still young in our minds,

00:42:23but they were a very old side, very experienced,

00:42:27moved the ball around, chased us around, chased us around,

00:42:29and they broke us down.

00:42:31Put a naivety by us and scored two goals and leave.

00:42:34One towards Ritchie, knotted down again.

00:42:36And a good save!

00:42:37That League Cup defeat marked the turning point.

00:42:40On their day, Chelsea could still put four past Leeds,

00:42:43but slowly the results started to disappear,

00:42:45as the gap between Sexton and his charismatic superstars widened.

00:42:49Dave was looking for different things.

00:42:51He was playing Alan Hudson right wing, playing me in midfield,

00:42:54and he just completely lost faith in us, really.

00:42:56Once you lose that, and the players lose respect as well,

00:42:59which we did in the end for Dave, we lost respect

00:43:01and just thought, well, it's a waste of time.

00:43:03In 1973, Chelsea finished 12th.

00:43:05The following year, it was 17th,

00:43:07and Peter Osgood, for so long the king of the Fulham Road,

00:43:10was playing for Southampton.

00:43:11It was the end of an era.

00:43:13I couldn't believe how this guy had got to whatever his age,

00:43:15I think it was something like 18, he'd been working on a building site,

00:43:18and he was magnificent from day one.

00:43:20Scored by Osgood!

00:43:22You honestly could think about it for days and days,

00:43:27you could not possibly get a better forward than Peter Osgood.

00:43:31He always reminds me of Van Basten or Albert

00:43:33that used to play for Hungary, that tall, long range,

00:43:36good in the air, physically strong, not frightened,

00:43:39great skill, good passer, go-by people.

00:43:42People maybe laugh, I don't know, I watch the television today

00:43:45and I watch a lot of games today,

00:43:47and I see them talking about Ronaldo, and people like that.

00:43:52I'd have Osgood before I had Ronaldo.

00:43:55Osgood completely free!

00:43:5750, 60 games a year in all sorts of weather.

00:44:02No, give me Osgood.

00:44:04Carrying the way, Osgood!

00:44:06One-nil!

00:44:08News that the end was nigh came typically

00:44:10while Osgood was having a drink in a Chelsea pub.

00:44:13We were down at Kings Road in the Markham Arms

00:44:16and we got a phone call from Eddie McCready

00:44:18saying that David had been sacked.

00:44:20And we went, yes, that's great,

00:44:22it's the best thing that's happened for us, really, to be honest.

00:44:25Anyway, went back there and he'd been reinstated.

00:44:27But I was sad to leave, I never wanted to leave.

00:44:29Never change a winning side, they say, and at Chelsea they didn't.

00:44:33They sold them, hero by hero.

00:44:35Osgood to Southampton, Hudson to Stoke, Webb to QPR.

00:44:3920 years on, it's a process that's still painful to recall.

00:44:43True, there were new names to cheer,

00:44:45Droy, Locke, Swain and Britton,

00:44:47and a massive new stand to watch from.

00:44:49So it wasn't all bad news, was it?

00:44:51They'd built the stand, which seemed to cause...

00:44:54You know, coincide with some of the players leaving,

00:44:57and I remember the chairman, it was Brian Mears then,

00:45:00calling all the players together to say not to worry,

00:45:03that they would make the wages available,

00:45:05although it was a few days later than what it normally is.

00:45:08But it just seemed to coincide with the couple of years

00:45:11from being a top-class side to a team of also rams.

00:45:14Given the speed at which Stamford Bridge

00:45:16has changed in the last few seasons,

00:45:18it's difficult to believe the problems that the new East stand,

00:45:21ironically built to accommodate the crowds

00:45:23that the 1970 Cup team would go on to attract,

00:45:26would cause off the pitch and on.

00:45:28The stadiums that are being built now

00:45:30are built in six months, eight months.

00:45:32The stadium we were building took four years, I think,

00:45:35and all you looked up at was a concrete mass

00:45:37and you couldn't see any shape.

00:45:39Not for the first time in Chelsea's history,

00:45:41Stamford Bridge became a ground

00:45:43that away teams looked forward to coming to.

00:45:45Teams used to love to come and play Chelsea

00:45:48because there was no atmosphere.

00:45:50But as a galaxy of stars left the bridge,

00:45:52at least one who would rank alongside them arrived.

00:45:55Ray Wilkins, then better known as Butch,

00:45:57made his league debut when Sexton was still in charge.

00:46:00A year later, with the club firmly on target

00:46:02for second division football,

00:46:04Eddie McCready appointed him captain

00:46:06at the age of 18 against Spurs.

00:46:08I obviously thought one of the other lads would pick that up.

00:46:11But Eddie, being Eddie, wanted to start something afresh

00:46:15and he decided to give it to me,

00:46:17which I was very proud to take on the mantle of captain of Chelsea.

00:46:20But looking back, possibly it was a touch too early.

00:46:23To be honest, the team revolved around Ray.

00:46:25He was our bit of class

00:46:27and he won a lot of games for us that year.

00:46:30He was the main focal point of the team because he made it tick.

00:46:35Not many people could get near him at that age.

00:46:38He was top class.

00:46:43At the time, things actually seemed a great deal less black

00:46:46than they look now.

00:46:47With the popular McCready at the helm,

00:46:49Chelsea would be back in the first division soon enough.

00:46:52I think one of the key elements

00:46:54was we had so many homegrown players playing in that team

00:46:57that we'd grown up together

00:46:59and we were just prepared to work until we dropped for each other.

00:47:03And coupled with some smashing players, some smashing ability,

00:47:07we were always going to get promotion.

00:47:10Promotion was confirmed in a memorable home game against Hull.

00:47:17We never actually got the game going for more than 20 minutes

00:47:20before we scored a goal.

00:47:21We got a pitch invasion, which was a bit of a shame, really.

00:47:24I think Eddie had to come on the pitch

00:47:26and appeal to the supporters to stay off it.

00:47:28But it didn't mar the fact that we'd gained promotion

00:47:31and in fine fashion as well.

00:47:33We'd finally done something together

00:47:35as a group of basically homegrown players.

00:47:38And when it finally comes to an end

00:47:40and you realise you've been successful,

00:47:42I think that was a very pleasant time.

00:47:44And what better way from then to say farewell to the Second Division

00:47:47and go up into the first.

00:47:49But what followed the celebrations was astonishing,

00:47:51even by Chelsea's standards.

00:47:53We'd actually finished the season, gone on our summer break,

00:47:56and next thing we knew, we'd lost our manager,

00:47:58which seemed the nonsense, really.

00:48:00We didn't really know the ins and outs of the thing,

00:48:02just that Eddie had left,

00:48:04and then we began to find out about the financial side.

00:48:07He was asking perhaps for a little bit more.

00:48:09We were staggered. I think everybody at the club was.

00:48:11Eddie had done a wonderful job

00:48:13in a nice manner as well.

00:48:15Eddie was a jovial character.

00:48:17Ken Shellito, the man Doherty once considered

00:48:19as the best right-back in England, took over,

00:48:22but with the club in dire financial straits,

00:48:24there was nothing he could do,

00:48:26apart from beat Liverpool 4-2 in the third round of the FA Cup.

00:48:29And it's another one!

00:48:313-0!

00:48:34And another one for Walker!

00:48:36Two seasons and Danny Blanchflower later,

00:48:39Chelsea were relegated for the second time in four years.

00:48:43And Ray Wilkins was on his way to Manchester United

00:48:46for a record club fee of £825,000.

00:48:49His former team-mates would be playing second division football

00:48:52for the next five years.

00:48:54But there was worse to come.

00:48:56As John Neal set about repairing the damage

00:48:58done by an initially promising

00:49:00but eventually disastrous season and a half under Geoff Hurst,

00:49:04Brian Mears, whose family founded the club 77 years earlier,

00:49:08unexpectedly sold Chelsea Football Club and Stamford Bridge

00:49:12to different people.

00:49:14This was to prove not so much a dark hour as a dark ten years

00:49:18and threatened the very existence of the club.

00:49:20People who come to Chelsea these days have no idea what it's like.

00:49:23The people who actually owned what we think of as Chelsea,

00:49:26you know, the stadium, all the land around,

00:49:29these people were not... They wanted to destroy the club.

00:49:32To understand the threat posed to Chelsea

00:49:34needs a bit of a history lesson.

00:49:36In 1982, Chelsea was a football club potentially without a ground.

00:49:40In 1905, Joe and Gus Mears had a ground but no football club.

00:49:44They changed Stamford Bridge from an athletics ground

00:49:46to a purpose-built football stadium

00:49:48for exactly the same reason that would lure the property developers

00:49:51to it almost 80 years later.

00:49:53It was central, enjoyed good transport links

00:49:55and would attract the crowds.

00:49:57The one thing old Joe Mears did when he...

00:49:59Or H.A. Mears, when he founded the club,

00:50:01was he built it in the right place.

00:50:03He built it in this village,

00:50:05because in those days, when he started Chelsea,

00:50:08it was a market garden and a sandpit.

00:50:11Stamford Bridge is in Fulham,

00:50:13a borough which already has a famous club bearing its name.

00:50:16So when the cottagers turned down an invitation to move to Stamford Bridge,

00:50:19the Mears brothers decided to start a club from scratch.

00:50:22They found a manager, John Tate Robertson.

00:50:24All they needed was a name.

00:50:26The perfect answer was eventually found the other side of the railway line.

00:50:29Chelsea, a little white lie and a stroke of marketing genius.

00:50:32From the start, the crowds loved it.

00:50:34Chelsea's first home game against Hull City

00:50:36may only have been watched by a crowd of 6,000,

00:50:39but by April, 67,000 packed into the bridge

00:50:42to see Chelsea take on Manchester United.

00:50:44But there were problems, albeit of the sort that most owners could only dream of.

00:50:48What nobody could ever know at Stamford Bridge

00:50:50was how many of the crowd were supporting Chelsea,

00:50:53a problem that was still affecting the club 50 years later.

00:50:56Of the famous 100,000 reported to have watched Chelsea

00:50:59against Moscow Dynamo in 1945,

00:51:02how many had come to see the Blues

00:51:04and how many had come to see the novelty of a Soviet side playing in Britain?

00:51:08You never quite knew at Stamford Bridge.

00:51:11Whatever it was that kept the crowds coming to Stamford Bridge,

00:51:14it certainly wasn't results.

00:51:16In the first 54 years of its existence,

00:51:18Chelsea won absolutely nothing of any significance.

00:51:21David Calderhead, for example, the club's second manager,

00:51:24and by far its longest serving,

00:51:26won through to just four FA Cup semi-finals in 26 years.

00:51:30He won just one, but unfortunately there was a war on,

00:51:33so the khaki final of 1915 was not destined to become the club's finest hour,

00:51:38especially not once Sheffield United had won it.

00:51:41Calderhead's last semi-final was in 1932 when Chelsea took on Newcastle.

00:51:45Despite a Huey Gallagher goal, it was still not our year.

00:51:49It was time for somebody else to have a go,

00:51:51but Calderhead's successor, Leslie Knighton, fared no better,

00:51:54although the club gained a reputation for playing even prettier football

00:51:58and getting even larger crowds.

00:52:00In 1939, a crowd of almost 60,000 saw Chelsea beat Arsenal at Stamford Bridge

00:52:05in the third round of the FA Cup,

00:52:07beginning a cup run that would see off Fulham and Sheffield Wednesday

00:52:10before a quarter-final defeat against Grimsby Town.

00:52:14Three days later in the league, Chelsea beat them 5-1.

00:52:17Billy Birrell was next up.

00:52:19You could be injured with Billy Birrell for six months,

00:52:21but as soon as you got back on the field, you were back in the first team.

00:52:24He had his favourites.

00:52:25Birrell had to wait for the end of World War II to get properly underway,

00:52:29although an improvised side did make it to Wembley for the first time in the club's history

00:52:33when they lost the final of the Football League South Cup to Charlton.

00:52:37A year later, an even more improvised side went one better,

00:52:41beating Millwall in the final of the same competition.

00:52:44It was silverware, but not necessarily as we know it,

00:52:47although a crowd of 90,000 didn't seem to mind.

00:52:50As the war drew to an end, the club embarked on a period of heavy investment,

00:52:54made, as ever, in the certain knowledge that success was, as ever, just around the corner.

00:52:59Two goalkeepers arrived, Bill Robertson and Harry Medhurst,

00:53:03defenders John Harris and Stan Willamsie,

00:53:05inside forward Tommy Walker,

00:53:07and, most famously of all, Tommy Lawton,

00:53:10then rated the best centre-forward in England.

00:53:17It didn't make any difference, of course.

00:53:19Chelsea's league form was almost worryingly indifferent at times,

00:53:22and cup runs were few and far between.

00:53:24But as the 40s headed towards their close,

00:53:27and Lawton departed for Notts County,

00:53:29one man arrived who would make a difference.

00:53:34Actually, it was two men,

00:53:35but winger Bobby Campbell would have to wait 40 years for his moment of Chelsea glory.

00:53:40Roy Bentley would have to wait seven,

00:53:42but it was definitely worth waiting for.

00:53:47In the history of the club,

00:53:48few players can have arrived at Stamford Bridge for a more curious reason than Bentley.

00:53:53He was allergic to Newcastle.

00:53:56I was losing a lot of weight,

00:53:57and I never realised why I was losing weight.

00:53:59Evidently, and it's been proven since,

00:54:02that the North East, which is very, very bracing,

00:54:07didn't agree with me.

00:54:09The doctor was aware of it.

00:54:10In fact, he eventually told the club

00:54:12that the best thing that happened to this boy

00:54:14would be to be let go down south again.

00:54:18Gurrell might have become a Chelsea legend too,

00:54:21but Arsenal kept getting in his way.

00:54:23In two marathon semi-final battles,

00:54:25the Gunners won both in 1950 and again in 1952.

00:54:29Defeat in the first was particularly cruel.

00:54:32After I was 2-1, Freddie Cox scored straight from a corner.

00:54:36He knew the winds at Tottenham,

00:54:39and he used them to score a goal.

00:54:41I mean, that was sad times, if you can believe it.

00:54:44And the other one was a corner again.

00:54:46It was a corner taken by Dennis Compton.

00:54:48I'd gone back to Mark Biggs-Lez.

00:54:50As the ball came over, I went up,

00:54:52and I couldn't quite get it.

00:54:53It just tripped the top of my head.

00:54:55Again, it hit Les.

00:54:56Damn near hit, didn't it?

00:54:57My shoulder going back.

00:54:58And it went and bumped up in the air like that

00:55:01and dropped in the far post.

00:55:02That was 2-2.

00:55:03Freddie Cox would also score the winner in the replay

00:55:06and would be on the score sheet again

00:55:08as the two clubs drew another semi-final in 1952.

00:55:12What happened in the replay is best forgotten about,

00:55:15unlike the fifth-round tie against Leeds

00:55:17when Chelsea scored five times.

00:55:19But these near-misses in the Cup were not enough

00:55:22to disguise Chelsea's miserable league form in the 1950s.

00:55:26Birol announced his retirement at the end of the 1952 season.

00:55:29No championships, no silverware,

00:55:31but he had put in place a youth team structure

00:55:33that his successors would benefit from enormously.

00:55:36The stage was set for Chelsea's fifth manager, Ted Drake.

00:55:40If victory in the 1997 FA Cup laid the ghosts of the 1970 team,

00:55:44it certainly stirred up others,

00:55:46none more so than the team put together by Drake,

00:55:49the only team in the club's history

00:55:51to win the top division championship.

00:55:53Like those who seek to emulate his achievement

00:55:55more than 40 years later,

00:55:56Drake began with one great advantage.

00:55:58He was a great player.

00:56:00He had the charisma of having been a great player himself.

00:56:04You know, that's a great start.

00:56:06And you couldn't argue with that.

00:56:10People respected him.

00:56:12Yeah, and his ability to score goals

00:56:14and his ability to get stuck in,

00:56:17so that he could demand that you got stuck in when it was necessary.

00:56:21Drake also knew what he wanted.

00:56:23And he changed all-side round, didn't he?

00:56:25You can look it up.

00:56:27I don't know how many players bought in the first couple of years.

00:56:30Ted said in the very first days,

00:56:32you need three years to get the side you want

00:56:35to win you the championship.

00:56:37And, damn, he done this.

00:56:38In the end, Drake delivered both good football and good crowds

00:56:41with the help of a team that now included John McNichol,

00:56:44Les Stubbs, Eric Parsons, Frank Blunstone,

00:56:46Stan Wicks, Peter Sillett and led, of course, by Bentley.

00:56:49He got his defence right, you know,

00:56:52that could play to our strength,

00:56:55and our strength was in the air to me,

00:56:58if it had to be a long one.

00:57:00His great strength, of course, was his speed.

00:57:03And his heading ability was tremendous.

00:57:06You could always run in on crosses,

00:57:10knowing that high balls, that he would be first there.

00:57:14He never encouraged his half-back line, which would be midfield today,

00:57:18use long balls.

00:57:20They had to play the passing, they wanted to give it to us.

00:57:23Give it to the fast and good wingers,

00:57:25which was Parsons and Frankie, Frankie Blunstone.

00:57:28Blunstone going through, on his own, and it's a great goal.

00:57:31And I was the one looking forward to either my chance

00:57:34to head for goal or head down to the likes of Hughie Bennington

00:57:37or whoever, Johnny McNichol.

00:57:39Johnny McNichol scores the equaliser.

00:57:41Peter Sillett was cut for England.

00:57:44Kenny Armstrong had been cut for England.

00:57:47Roy Bentley, cut for England.

00:57:49Frankie Blunstone, cut for England.

00:57:51Stan was picked for the English party.

00:57:55Amazingly, Chelsea's championship season

00:57:57included a run of six games without a win,

00:58:00including an unlikely 6-5 defeat by Manchester United at the Bridge.

00:58:04But by Christmas, things were back on track.

00:58:07We played up at West Brom,

00:58:09and I think from that match that we won away,

00:58:12we went on right to the end of the season without losing a match.

00:58:16Going after two months, January, February, coming into March,

00:58:20there weren't many players in the side that didn't think,

00:58:23my God, are we going to win this?

00:58:25So the Wolves thing, it may have had a little tumble,

00:58:29seeing about the penalty with Billy right flicking over the bar,

00:58:33but when Peter hit that in, we said, that's it, you know, we've done it.

00:58:38A crowd of over 75,000 had watched Chelsea beat Wolves,

00:58:42their nearest rivals,

00:58:43but confirmation that the championship was really theirs

00:58:46had to wait for the last game of the season

00:58:49against Sheffield Wednesday at Stamford Bridge.

00:58:51Remember those jokes about the pensioners? No more of those now.

00:58:54Watch those boys go.

00:58:55The first one comes from Parsons' head,

00:58:57and doesn't that head get a ruffling by his jubilant teammates?

00:59:01A penalty goal by Sillet,

00:59:03a third goal by Parsons soon after, and it's all over.

00:59:06Even then, they had to wait 15 minutes for all the scores to come in.

00:59:10The crowd waited after the game finished

00:59:13so that we were all brought out again to the stand to meet the crowd.

00:59:19All the players were around and seeing all these faces

00:59:23that for years had been waiting and had stayed and stayed with us

00:59:26when things were really bad.

00:59:28At the time, it was, oh, I felt, oh, goodness, what we thought of people.

00:59:32This is the happiest moment of my life.

00:59:35I was asked, would we win the Cup?

00:59:38And I thought we might,

00:59:40but I thought we had a great chance of winning the championship even better.

00:59:43Ted done such a great job after the first,

00:59:47that you can't take any credit whatsoever away from him.

00:59:51We say about the team,

00:59:53but you've got to have the right man there to be able to put the pieces together,

00:59:57and this is what Ted done.

01:00:00He put a whole list of people up that were available for sale,

01:00:07so he probably just wanted a new start,

01:00:11but it didn't come off for him.

01:00:14When Ted put me on the transfer list,

01:00:17he felt that it was time for the old ones to go.

01:00:20A year after winning the championship,

01:00:22six out of the championship side had to go,

01:00:24but it would age.

01:00:26Drake left two legacies.

01:00:28One was a championship that only Doherty and Sexton

01:00:31have subsequently had a realistic chance of landing

01:00:34until Ruud Hullet came along.

01:00:37The other was that from that 1955 season onwards,

01:00:40Chelsea was Stamford Bridge.

01:00:43They still wanted to admire good football,

01:00:45but they wanted the best football to be played by the men in blue shirts,

01:00:49which was a bit of a pity in the early 1980s

01:00:51because the club was still in the second division,

01:00:54and it seemed only a matter of time before Marlborough Estates,

01:00:57the property development company that now owned the ground,

01:01:00got its hands on it.

01:01:02The constant threat of the ground being bulldozed

01:01:05and this mythical site off the M25 being made available,

01:01:09we know it never would have been,

01:01:11because Stamford Bridge was going to be the end of the club.

01:01:15And I can remember giving evidence for the club

01:01:18with the planning appeal at Fulham Town Hall.

01:01:22I can remember endlessly being closeted with Ken

01:01:25as we discussed tactics.

01:01:27I can remember him telling me once he'd spent more than two million,

01:01:30and we're talking real money back in the 80s,

01:01:33two million when the club didn't have a lot of money.

01:01:36He'd spent two million on legal fees to fight the developers off.

01:01:40He, however, was having none of it.

01:01:42In 1982, Ken Bates, a businessman who quickly gained a reputation

01:01:46for straight talking, bought the club,

01:01:48took on its massive debts and prepared to do battle.

01:01:51But not even he could have known just how long it would take him

01:01:54to secure Chelsea's future.

01:01:56In 1982, I was asked if I'd take it, and I jumped at the chance.

01:01:59I regarded it as a challenge, although it was a worthwhile interest.

01:02:02I sold my other business interest and made it my last work.

01:02:05And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

01:02:07Some of my knockers have said,

01:02:09I wish somebody else would have done this and that,

01:02:12but the fact is they didn't.

01:02:14Never a man to court popularity,

01:02:16it's only now, as his dream for a new Stamford Bridge becomes reality,

01:02:19that the nature of what he achieved is becoming understood.

01:02:22Chelsea comes from behind, if you like, if you think about it.

01:02:26Arsenal and Tottenham were building their stands,

01:02:28and they had the competition, because we competed in London.

01:02:31I mean, Chelsea was hanging on by the skin of its teeth to stay alive.

01:02:37And the only thing I quickly realised,

01:02:39the only way that we would ever catch up with these people and take them on,

01:02:43was if we had to develop our off-field activities.

01:02:46I don't think most supporters know how near the club came to destruction.

01:02:50You know, what's only really in the eye of history,

01:02:53just a sort of, you know, a spitting distance away.

01:02:56Bates is stuck by the club. Bates has done everything for this club.

01:02:59And Bates is Chelsea, basically.

01:03:02I don't think you could ever forget him.

01:03:05Because he's done so much, he's turned it around.

01:03:08There was hard times. He had the hard times, and now there's good times.

01:03:12It is a good partnership,

01:03:14because he knows exactly where he has to be for the team,

01:03:17and he knows exactly also to step out of the team.

01:03:20And I think that makes a good chairman,

01:03:22because if you want to be all the time everywhere,

01:03:25screaming, shouting, everything, then things going away,

01:03:30he gives people responsibility, and that works.

01:03:34And everybody knows what to do.

01:03:37But back in 1983, with more grass growing through the crumbling shed terraces

01:03:41than there was on the pitch,

01:03:43the idea of Stamford Bridge as an all-seater stadium

01:03:46with its own hotel, restaurants, bars, and Chelsea Village

01:03:50having its own stock market listing seemed the stuff of fantasy.

01:03:54As for what was going on on the pitch, that was more a nightmare.

01:03:58If 1955 was the club's finest hour, then May 1983 was its darkest,

01:04:03when Chelsea had to beat Bolton to avoid relegation

01:04:06to the third division for the first time in its history.

01:04:10Remarkable to think that just 12 months previously

01:04:13they'd dumped the mighty Liverpool out of the FA Cup.

01:04:28Back in 1983, John Neill's third season in charge

01:04:31saw the arrival of a centre-forward who came to personify Chelsea in the 80s.

01:04:38There was four clubs, I think, in for me at the time.

01:04:41For me, Chelsea were the biggest of the four,

01:04:43even though they were in the second division.

01:04:45Ken Bates took me down to Aberystwyth, where the lads were training at the time,

01:04:49and he explained his dream to me,

01:04:52of how he saw Chelsea and what he would like,

01:04:55and he said that there's five or six new players coming in that season.

01:05:00Among those joining a team that already included such stalwarts

01:05:03as Clive Walker, Colin Pates, John Bumstead and Nigel Spackman,

01:05:07were David Speedy, Pat Nevin and goalkeeper Eddie Nijveski.

01:05:12We integrated very, very well, and to be honest,

01:05:15we won our first game 5-0 at home to Derby,

01:05:17and it sort of all took off from there.

01:05:19Everybody became very, very excited.

01:05:21Neill had bought well, and his team were promoted as champions.

01:05:24The championship goal would come away at Grimsby,

01:05:27but victories over the chairman's old club, Oldham,

01:05:30and Manchester City, another big club now enduring leaner times,

01:05:33helped put John Neill's hugely popular team back where they belonged.

01:05:37Obviously, myself, David Speedy and Pat Nevin grabbed a lot of the limelight,

01:05:41which was a little bit unfair of some of the unsung heroes.

01:05:44Eddie Nijveski, for example, was a fantastic goalkeeper,

01:05:47and for me, he would have been in the top five I've ever seen.

01:05:51The following season should be remembered

01:05:53for a hugely impressive finish of sixth place in the league.

01:05:56And Dixon again!

01:05:58And Chelsea have equalised!

01:06:00But as ever with Chelsea, it's the cup games that stay in the memory,

01:06:03none more so than a certain Milk Cup encounter with Sheffield Wednesday.

01:06:08At the bridge, a David Speedy goal had ensured a 1-1 draw,

01:06:12but back at Hillsborough two days later, Chelsea trailed by three goals to nil.

01:06:16I mean, I was a little bit too easy to beat that night,

01:06:18but no, I mean, to be fair, they played terrifically well in the first half.

01:06:21We didn't get close enough to them, and they scored some good goals.

01:06:24A couple of months later, we heard that in the Sheffield Wednesday dressing room

01:06:27at half-time, I mean, they were winning 3-0,

01:06:29and they were sort of joking along,

01:06:31oh, let me score, let me score.

01:06:32I think John Hollins was very instrumental, being a coach at the time as well,

01:06:35and Ian McNeill, and they basically said,

01:06:37look, you now go out and play for your pride.

01:06:39You're representing Chelsea Football Club.

01:06:41Canterville came on as a substitute in the second half,

01:06:44and with virtually his first touch, he scored.

01:06:47Canterville playing out wide on the left and involved early.

01:06:49Oh, and what a start!

01:06:51And they had a little bit of a wobble, a little bit of a panic up,

01:06:53and we just kept flying forward, you know,

01:06:56and we kept daunting them off for fun,

01:06:58and then we actually went 4-3 ahead.

01:07:00...by Nicky Thomas.

01:07:02The ball for Dixon to chase, and he'll get there.

01:07:05Oh, he's found Canterville!

01:07:07Chelsea have done it!

01:07:09And then poor old Dougie stuck a foot out and tripped Mel Stirland,

01:07:13and the saga went on.

01:07:15Back to Stamford Bridge, we won the toss,

01:07:17and Nicky Thomas grabbed the winner down at Stamford Bridge.

01:07:20Still Nevin.

01:07:22Is it in? It is!

01:07:25Here's Thomas. It's there!

01:07:27It was a wonderful win,

01:07:29but typically Chelsea were bundled out of the semi-final

01:07:32by a Sunderland team that now included Clive Walker.

01:07:35The following season began with a shock managerial reshuffle.

01:07:39Ill health forced popular and successful Neal

01:07:42to move upstairs to assist the chairman,

01:07:44and the loyal John Hollins took over as manager.

01:07:47The fans willed it to work,

01:07:49but after an impressive first season

01:07:51which saw the club repeat its 6th place

01:07:53and win the four-members cup at Wembley,

01:07:55it started to go wrong.

01:07:57The next season, Chelsea finished 14th,

01:08:00and the next, well, that was a familiar story.

01:08:03The players had great regard for him as a coach.

01:08:06I think he found it very difficult when he became manager.

01:08:09He had decisions to make,

01:08:11and he wasn't frightened to make those decisions,

01:08:13but unfortunately you're judged by your decisions,

01:08:16and at the time they didn't quite go as well for John

01:08:19as possibly they could have done.

01:08:21It was hard for me just coming into a new club

01:08:23and settling in with new players,

01:08:25and everybody was on a downer,

01:08:27and the only way we were going to go was down

01:08:30because no-one was pulling together,

01:08:32and we needed to be together,

01:08:34and sadly that wasn't the case.

01:08:36The arrival of Bobby Campbell,

01:08:38Chelsea's winger from the 1950s

01:08:40and now an experienced manager,

01:08:42could do nothing in a battle

01:08:44where it seemed easier for Chelsea to stay up than go down.

01:08:47The playoffs simply prolonged the agony,

01:08:50especially with Chelsea putting six past promotion hopefuls,

01:08:53Blackburn Rovers.

01:08:55But defeat against Middlesbrough

01:08:57meant Chelsea were relegated once again,

01:08:59despite finishing 4th from bottom.

01:09:01Chelsea, however, bounced straight back

01:09:03as runaway champions of the second division.

01:09:06I think the manager at the time, Bobby Campbell,

01:09:08made some good signings.

01:09:10He brought in Peter Nicklaus and Graeme Roberts,

01:09:12who had a lot of experience,

01:09:14and that helped us to stabilise the club a little bit

01:09:17and make sure that we were progressive

01:09:19and got ourselves straight back in the first attempt.

01:09:22It wasn't as an enjoyable season as the one when I first came

01:09:26because the expectancy levels started to rise,

01:09:29and by about Christmastime, everyone was saying,

01:09:31well, Chelsea will win the title.

01:09:33Sure enough, by about Eastertime,

01:09:35we'd virtually had it wrapped up with a 26-game unbeaten run.

01:09:38And it's an amazing break by Chelsea,

01:09:40and Tony DiRigo...

01:09:43..who goes round Devil

01:09:45and finishes it all in style

01:09:47and surely quelled the Manchester City fire.

01:09:53Campbell consolidated promotion

01:09:55with a hugely impressive 5th place

01:09:57and another victory in the four-members' cup.

01:10:00His second season, however, saw Chelsea slip to 11th.

01:10:04As for cups, Oxford knocked us out of the FA Cup,

01:10:07but only the League Cup,

01:10:08then lumbering under the Rumble-O banner,

01:10:10offered much hope,

01:10:11especially after a win over Spurs in the fifth round.

01:10:14But sadly, especially for Campbell,

01:10:16there was to be no repeat of 1985

01:10:18when Chelsea faced Sheffield Wednesday in the fifth round.

01:10:21Ian Porterfield's season and a half in the limelight had arrived.

01:10:25His first move was not a popular one.

01:10:27To Dixon, to the back of the net.

01:10:30Dixon is there first.

01:10:33And Dixon with the touch.

01:10:35And that's another.

01:10:37Dixon gets his hat-trick.

01:10:39And he reaches the cross and scores!

01:10:42Kerry Dixon!

01:10:44I was basically told that I wasn't going to be in the plans

01:10:48for the forthcoming season.

01:10:50I decided that Kerry Dixon, at the age of 31,

01:10:53didn't really need reserve-team football.

01:10:56One of the sad aspects was I was nine goals short of the record,

01:10:59Bobby Tamblyn's.

01:11:01But with Steve Clarke, Graham Lasseau and Dennis Wise

01:11:04already in the side and the signing of Paul Elliott,

01:11:07it wasn't all bad news,

01:11:08especially when Chelsea made it to the quarter-final of the 1992 FA Cup.

01:11:13Typical of Chelsea insofar as we can go out and play a world against

01:11:17people that mattered, but there'd always been some unfashionable,

01:11:21unassuming type of opposition that would turn around

01:11:24and get the better of us.

01:11:26It was an equaliser by one of those sides

01:11:28that took Chelsea back to Roka Park and out of the FA Cup.

01:11:32There were a lot of potentially very high moments at Chelsea

01:11:35in those days and, unfortunately, they all ended in disappointment.

01:11:40But that's something that was a sign of the times then.

01:11:45One of those high moments that didn't end in disappointment

01:11:48came when Chelsea finally beat Liverpool at Anfield

01:11:51for the first time in 56 years.

01:11:54I've always said the most important character of the club is Dennis Wise.

01:11:58He was there when I was there and he's in his eighth season now

01:12:02and he is the most important component in the side.

01:12:05He brings something to Chelsea that you said to yourself,

01:12:08if he wasn't there, the club wouldn't be the same.

01:12:10We wouldn't have the same...

01:12:12I mean, the team wouldn't have the same stability,

01:12:15the same reassurance, the same will to win.

01:12:17But despite such one-off successes,

01:12:20league positions of 14th and 11th,

01:12:23the latter eventually secured by his short-lived replacement Dave Webb,

01:12:27was never going to be good enough to keep Porterfield in a job.

01:12:31With the arrival of Glenn Hoddle, our story is about to turn full circle

01:12:35and all because things off the pitch were finally going the club's way.

01:12:40Ken Bates' 10-year battle to keep Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

01:12:43may have cost millions of pounds in legal fees,

01:12:47but it had seen off two property development companies and a house builder.

01:12:51With the property market in the grip of recession,

01:12:54the freehold of Stamford Bridge ended up in the hands of the bank.

01:12:58Both sides were confident they could do business.

01:13:01Then just when it was all getting straightforward,

01:13:04Matthew Harding, a fanatical Chelsea fan,

01:13:06with seemingly limitless amounts of cash,

01:13:08arrived on the scene and it all got complicated again.

01:13:11He was the new boy on the block and he was a media man.

01:13:15He enjoyed being in the limelight.

01:13:17So that's when all the stories kept drifting out that I didn't agree with this

01:13:21and he didn't agree with that.

01:13:23He never said anything like that to my face.

01:13:25And I think if I may say so,

01:13:27one of the reasons why Ken found it so difficult to adjust to Matthew Harding

01:13:31is that Ken could never understand if Matthew cared as much as he did about Chelsea,

01:13:35why during all that time in the 80s,

01:13:37and Matthew didn't have as much money as he ultimately had,

01:13:40but he had quite a lot of money in those days,

01:13:42didn't come down an offer to lend a hand when the club was nearly going under.

01:13:46And of course he could never understand why Matthew suddenly emerged

01:13:49and seemed to want Ken to sort of shuffle off the stage and Matthew to take over,

01:13:53just when Ken, after more than a decade of really hard work,

01:13:58had got the club right, you see.

01:14:00Unlike Bates, Harding courted publicity

01:14:03and was not afraid to put his money where his mouth was,

01:14:06largely in the shape of short-term loans

01:14:08to build the splendid stand that now bears his name

01:14:10and for the buying of players.

01:14:12His only long-term investment was the freehold to the ground itself,

01:14:16although the club retained an option to buy it back at a pre-agreed price.

01:14:20That is still the intention of Chelsea pitch owners.

01:14:24Harding's largesse and outgoing nature

01:14:27made him a firm favourite with the fans,

01:14:29but not always with Ken Bates.

01:14:31The tragic death of Matthew Harding

01:14:33has touched not only the footballing nation, but the whole nation.

01:14:37Harding and four others perished when their helicopter came down in Cheshire.

01:14:41But at the time of his tragically early death,

01:14:44the differences between them had been settled,

01:14:46ironically at a meeting at which Bates had planned to repay

01:14:50all the outstanding loans and sever all links between Harding and the club.

01:14:55We gave him his player loan money back,

01:14:57which was in fact only £2.7 million,

01:15:00and I suggested in fact that it would be better if we parted.

01:15:04And within seven days we'd done a deal.

01:15:06That's when he put another £5 million, £10 million in the club,

01:15:09so a total of £15 million.

01:15:11That's what he bet when he got £15 million.

01:15:13And we never looked back.

01:15:15I mean, we then became good friends again.

01:15:18But if Harding's aim was to see a top-class side

01:15:21playing at a top-class ground,

01:15:23he couldn't be disappointed with the way Rudy's revolution was going.

01:15:32The game that we had to play against Tottenham,

01:15:35I think then from that game on we started to play.

01:15:38Then there was a different atmosphere.

01:15:41There was something like a lift or something,

01:15:43a spiritual lift or something.

01:15:45It was a revolution that began with the signing of Gianluca Vialli,

01:15:49a player who came to symbolise the new cosmopolitan era

01:15:52that was dawning at Chelsea.

01:15:54I knew that they were a very good club in the early 70s,

01:15:59and I knew that the last 25 years they didn't win anything.

01:16:04Then came Roberto Di Matteo,

01:16:06a player who would make history

01:16:08with a club record transfer fee of £4.9 million

01:16:12and would repay it all with one strike of the ball.

01:16:15Thankfully for the club accountants,

01:16:17he managed a few more along the way.

01:16:19Frank Leboeuf soon joined them,

01:16:21a Frenchman whose tackling and powerful passing

01:16:24made him the most creative defender Chelsea had had

01:16:27since Hullet gave up playing sweeper.

01:16:29But an already absorbing season was transformed

01:16:32by the signing of Gianfranco Zola,

01:16:34introducing a player very much in the mould of Chelsea favourites

01:16:38such as Nevin, Cook and Blundstone.

01:16:40Only he was probably better than all of them on a good day,

01:16:43which happily, for his army of fans, was most days.

01:16:46I think it was a boost to the fans

01:16:49who obviously felt like we all did,

01:16:52the tragic loss of Matthew.

01:16:55It came out of the blue that he was available

01:16:58and because we'd expressed an interest previously,

01:17:01we got the first bite of the cherry.

01:17:03I remember taking the call and ringing Rude

01:17:06and saying there is an opportunity to get Zola.

01:17:10And within three days, we had wrapped it up.

01:17:14And obviously from there,

01:17:17he has proved a tremendous influence and a great impact,

01:17:22not only on Chelsea, but the English game.

01:17:25With so many new players arriving,

01:17:27it was too early to be considered as serious championship contenders,

01:17:30but the FA Cup looked a real possibility,

01:17:33at least until we drew Liverpool in the fourth round.

01:17:36The match didn't start very well

01:17:38because we were two down after 25, 30 minutes.

01:17:44We were not playing so bad,

01:17:47but they had two or three occasions they scored two goals.

01:17:53It could be to kill everyone, but not us.

01:17:59We didn't feel as though we were so far out of the game

01:18:02that we weren't going to get back in it.

01:18:04We had a chat at half-time and the manager said,

01:18:06if you get the next goal, get it back to 2-1, anything can happen.

01:18:09He said, let's start playing football.

01:18:11And then he changed a little bit the tactic in the half-time.

01:18:15I knew that they could win the game.

01:18:17I was very calm also because I knew that we made some mistakes.

01:18:21I knew also where their weakness was.

01:18:23With Di Matteo putting John Barnes under pressure,

01:18:26the stage was set for the arrival of Mark Hughes.

01:18:29I actually thought the lad was going to get a tackle in,

01:18:32but he didn't, so I just swung a boot on it.

01:18:34Didn't hit it particularly well,

01:18:36but very pleased to see it go in the bottom corner.

01:18:41The way we attacked, the manner in which we attacked them,

01:18:44we were quite ruthless when we got at them.

01:18:47We caused a very good side like Liverpool to look very ordinary.

01:18:57It was a very, very good goal

01:18:59and sometimes I try to do the same thing in training,

01:19:03but I'm not able to do it anymore.

01:19:06So it was a very, very special goal.

01:19:08That was as good a spell as I've been involved in.

01:19:11I think for drama and actual excitement

01:19:14and the buzz of being involved in something like that,

01:19:16it was unbelievable.

01:19:18It's Vialli! Vialli for Chelsea!

01:19:20It's 3-2! Can you believe this?

01:19:23We could have scored more than four,

01:19:26and I scored the last two.

01:19:28Of course, my feeling was at the end of the match

01:19:30I was the happiest man in the world.

01:19:332-2 Chelsea. Mark Wright and Liverpool look absolutely bewildered.

01:19:38Those supporters hailing one of the great recoveries in the FA Cup.

01:19:42Having beaten one of the best teams on the land,

01:19:45Chelsea typically found it harder work getting past more ordinary opposition.

01:19:592-0 up, cruising, first half.

01:20:02I think we took our foot off the pedal

01:20:04and let them back into the game.

01:20:062-1 and then they got a free kick.

01:20:09I don't know, last five minutes, whipped a ball in.

01:20:12There's a bit of confusion between me and Hitch.

01:20:14I'll just stomp my leg out and the ball's in the back of the neck.

01:20:17I'm gone.

01:20:19But bringing back to Stamford Bridge,

01:20:22still again, we were confident we were going to beat them.

01:20:25It was all over them, but they were holding out really well.

01:20:27We'd done everything but scoring that game

01:20:29until the end when Erlon went through and got that dubious decision.

01:20:36I wasn't really very calm inside

01:20:39because I said before to all the press

01:20:42I wanted to win the FA Cup

01:20:44and I had the chance to put Chelsea in the quarter-final.

01:20:47It was very important to score.

01:20:49And I said, OK, forget everything.

01:20:51Think just about the penalty.

01:20:53And that's why I looked cool, but I wasn't, I wasn't, really.

01:20:56Tough game, but we won it

01:20:58and that showed us that we can beat tough teams as well.

01:21:05At Frackney Park, the quarter-final went rather more according to plan.

01:21:12Hughes.

01:21:15Zola.

01:21:16And Clarke.

01:21:17Can he follow it in?

01:21:19Space in the centre, found by Hughes.

01:21:22On for number three for Chelsea from Gianfranco Zola.

01:21:26Wise is in. Thank you very much.

01:21:29Chelsea back in full ascendancy.

01:21:33A league defeat at Stamford Bridge

01:21:35suggested a semi-final against Wimbledon at Highbury

01:21:38was not something to be looked forward to.

01:21:40But this time, there was a master plan.

01:21:42I knew a little bit what they wanted from us

01:21:45and I also knew where their weaknesses were.

01:21:48And we anticipated them.

01:21:50It was probably the first time we actually picked a side

01:21:53to do a specific job.

01:21:55We actually played with four centre-halves along the back four.

01:21:58Every one of them, Stevie Clarke, Frank Leberth,

01:22:00Erling Johnson, Frank Sinclair, they're all centre-halves, really.

01:22:03We just said, you defend, the midfield three defend

01:22:06and the front three do the damage.

01:22:08Di Matteo, Zola and Hughes.

01:22:10And that's how it worked out, I think.

01:22:12He's got Wise going outside him now.

01:22:14Hughes in the middle with Burley.

01:22:16And it's Hughes! Yes! Chelsea have scored!

01:22:19Di Matteo is square with him.

01:22:21Zola's made a run right to left now, nipping in there.

01:22:23Oh, he's turned well, Zola.

01:22:25It's Zola! It's there! It's Chelsea's second!

01:22:28He's on the side, Mark Hughes.

01:22:30It came off Chris Perry. Can he make it three?

01:22:32Yes, he can! It's Hughes again!

01:22:35And the Bullets team are there now.

01:22:38We went into the game so confident.

01:22:40There was only going to be one winner.

01:22:42We were determined in the way we were going to defend

01:22:45and the ability would come out anyway.

01:22:48Chelsea were back at their second FA Cup final in four seasons.

01:22:51This time, the team was determined that the outcome would be different.

01:22:56Last time, we had quite a few young players,

01:22:58a lot of players who hadn't experienced the atmosphere at Wembley before.

01:23:03We were taken back by the atmosphere, really.

01:23:06It was like the day first, the game second.

01:23:08This time, it was the game first, the day second.

01:23:11Let the fans enjoy the day, but we're the professionals.

01:23:14We've got to go out there and get the silverware.

01:23:16To be honest with you, I was more nervous before the Cup final

01:23:19than the one before, because playing against a team

01:23:22who's supposedly going to be there.

01:23:25But this time round, it was like everybody expected to see us there.

01:23:30Now the first sign of Chelsea on the attack with Di Matteo.

01:23:33Where was I? I was actually just starting to get there,

01:23:36trying to organise the defence and settle down into the game.

01:23:39It was just basically, I nicked the ball off of Musto, I think it was,

01:23:43and played Robbie in the halfway line and he just kept going.

01:23:47I just ran off from our half and I thought, yeah.

01:23:52I was screaming down the right-hand side,

01:23:54calling for Robbie to pass it out wide for me.

01:23:56I hadn't had a touch of the ball yet.

01:23:59I was ducking and weaving in front of him.

01:24:02I wasn't too far behind him, to be fair.

01:24:05Yeah, we're standing right behind him.

01:24:08I was just behind Roberto.

01:24:12I had a very good view. I was just behind the ball.

01:24:15It just shows you we must have been playing on a straight line.

01:24:22As soon as he hit the crossbar, it just seemed like the whole place went quiet

01:24:26and then I realised it had gone in.

01:24:30I went crazy after the goal and I don't remember what happened after.

01:24:38I tried to chase him and I'd still be chasing him now if I didn't stop, I don't think.

01:24:49I was running, trying to catch Roberto Di Matteo.

01:24:57And Chelsea come away again with Newton.

01:25:00We needed a second goal and Eddie's done and it was very important for us.

01:25:07And Chelsea come away again with Newton.

01:25:10Petrescu is to the right.

01:25:12Dan Petrescu got the ball, whipped a great ball over.

01:25:15A great flip from Zola and I just put it in the back of the net with my left foot.

01:25:19It's the net!

01:25:23It's Eddie Newton for Chelsea.

01:25:26It's 2-0.

01:25:30And it looks like Chelsea's cut now.

01:25:32And it's a moment for Chelsea to cherish.

01:25:36It was a blue day all right and the Chelsea faithful were in the mood to party.

01:25:40So, not surprisingly, were the players.

01:25:42The best thing is picking it up.

01:25:44I wanted to go to pick it up, make everyone cheer and then don't put it up and then put it up.

01:25:49Just to wind them up, but I thought, no, I'll do it properly.

01:25:52I said to Steve Clarke to make sure that he was up the front of the queue.

01:25:56So that when they lifted the trophy up, he'd be on all the pictures.

01:26:01But unfortunately for Steve, as wise he lifted the cup up, he was getting his medal.

01:26:05So he had his back to everybody.

01:26:07I played only three minutes, but I could say to my nephew that I won an FA Cup.

01:26:23We'd done the usual.

01:26:24We'd gone round the pitch, right round the whole pitch and we got to the tunnel.

01:26:27And I think it was Graeme Ricksie who said, look, this is the bit you should remember.

01:26:31So go back out, milk it, hun.

01:26:33That's when we did the famous chance down the pitch.

01:26:36I will just remember the whole day as something special in my life.

01:27:07As the fans celebrated the return of the FA Cup to Stamford Bridge for the first time in 27 years,

01:27:13the players celebrated and so at long last did the fans.

01:27:17Others, however, were already looking to the future.

01:27:20It's a very exciting time and I, like everybody else, want to take that forward

01:27:26so that Chelsea really does achieve as we come up to the Millennium.

01:27:32It's like constructing a castle, you know.

01:27:34You try to build it up.

01:27:36There's always somebody who tries to flick it off again, you know.

01:27:40Then you build it up again and so on.

01:27:43You build it slowly, slowly, slowly.

01:27:44Don't go too fast.

01:27:45You don't want to go too fast.

01:27:47Just step by step.

01:27:49I'd like to see this place finished.

01:27:51And I'd like to see the European Champion Cup being handed to us on that day.

01:27:59Being handed to us on that day.

01:28:02Just this side of the Matthew Harding stage.

01:28:28Chelsea, Chelsea.

01:28:30Chelsea, Chelsea.

01:28:32We're gonna make this a blue day.

01:28:36Chelsea, Chelsea.

01:28:38Chelsea, Chelsea.

01:28:40We're gonna make this a blue day.

Forever Blue - The History of Chelsea F.C. from 1905 to 1997

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