BlueBeard

Two of football's hardest men prepare for battle. Ron Harris & Dave Mackay before the 1967 FA Cup Final Yet another brilliant save by The Cat Dave Sexton & Chelsea chairman Charles Pratt in October 1967. Sexton had just taken over from the sacked Tommy Docherty. Of his chairman, The Doc once said "Pratt by name......." B)

1970 team photo. Not sure if that's snow or frost on the ground, but some of the players look bloody frozen [spoil]Back row l/r: - Ian Hutchinson, John Dempsey, Alan Hudson, Tommy Hughes, David Webb, Marvin Hinton, Peter Bonetti, Alan Birchenall, Eddie McCreadie, Ron Harris Front row l/r: - Stewart Houston, Paddy Mulligan, Charlie Cooke, Tommy Baldwin, John Hollins, Peter Houseman, Bobby Tambling, Johnny Boyle, Peter Osgood[/spoil] Ian Britton, just before he was arrested for being in possession of an offensive hairstyle Another FA Cup pic (you can't have too many!)

This should bring back some memories then, Lauren, though I think the pic was taken well before your time!

Sounds good to me, Loz. Maksimov's idea is good, too - maybe have a section for particularly special Chelsea occasions. And Maksimov, it's just as much your business as mine or anyone else's - any sensible suggestions are welcome A picture category in the Albums section isn't just for me to post in, I should imagine it'll be there for anyone to add pictures to. We could end up with quite a gallery!

1970 team photo Chelsea fans in Bruges for the first leg of the ECWC quarter-final 1970/71 - Ron Harris with the ECWC. Altogether now, "Blue Is The Colour" Ossie challenges Pat Jennings at WHL His name is Tommy Baldwin....... Dave Sexton with Charlie Cooke on his return to Chelsea from Palace. You can almost see Charlie thinking "What the f*ck have I let myself in for here...." David Hay

1970 FA Cup Final (please excuse the quality of these, they're just vid caps) Dave Webb knocks in the winner It's all over! Ron Harris receives the FA Cup from some soppy old git from the FA (probably). The same old git who didn't want to give Ian Hutchinson a winner's medal because he had a Leeds shirt on A brilliant sight - Ron Harris holds aloft the trophy! Some pics of the lap of honour Ossie tries to calculate how many pints of lager will fit in the cup Chelsea fans in the Stretford End - I'm in there somewhere!

1968 to 1969 Alan Birchenall scores with a diving header in the 4-0 win at QPR Peter Bonetti saves an Alan Ball penalty. Either the cameraman was pissed, or there was a hell of a slope at the Bridge back then Harry Medhurst - Chelsea keeper in the 40's & 50's, he later became our trainer, a position he held for many years. Who can forget his hunched sprints onto the pitch to treat players! Peter Osgood celebrating a goal at Southampton, 1969/70 Ian Hutchinson, soon after joining the Blues Paddy Mulligan, just after signing from Shamrock Rovers

Without the handbags

1966 to 1968 1966/67 team photo [spoil]Back row, l-r: Joe Kirkup, Jim Thomson, Marvin Hinton, George Graham, Peter Bonetti, Alex Stepney, Ron Harris, John Hollins, Eddie McCreadie Front row, l-r: Johnny Boyle, Bobby Tambling, Charlie Cooke, Alan Harris, Peter Osgood, Peter Houseman, Tommy Robson[/spoil] Jim Thomson In the dressing room - Ron Harris, Marvin Hinton, Tommy Docherty & John Hollins Bobby Tambling 1967/68 team photo [spoil]Back row l/r: - Ken Shellito, John Hollins, Ron Harris, Tommy Hughes, Peter Bonetti, Marvin Hinton, Colin Waldron, Eddie McCreadie, Peter Houseman Front row l/r: - Barry Lloyd, Charlie Cooke, Tommy Baldwin, Peter Osgood, Bobby Tambling, Johnny Boyle, Jim Thomson, Ian 'Chico' Hamilton[/spoil] Barry Lloyd Peter Bonetti in typically spectacular action against Man.Utd. at the Bridge Charlie Cooke Colin Waldron Charlie Cooke puts in a cross at Man.City Ron Harris leads the team out

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see that team, I went to my first game in 1967. But my uncle always said that Docherty's Diamonds were the best Chelsea side he'd ever seen, and he'd been following Chelsea home and away since WWII. He wasn't alone in his views, many other people I've spoken to have heaped similar praise on Docherty's side, and speculated on what might have been if the team hadn't been broken up. I've read many accounts of those days - by ex-players, managers, club officials and journalists - and they all seem to agree that Docherty's Diamonds were something very special. In 64/65, Chelsea were top of Division One for nearly the whole season, and were looking good for the domestic treble, but then we were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final. We won the League Cup in April, but the team started to show signs of strain - they were a very young side. Chelsea slipped to third in the league, and things came to a head when we had to play Burnley away. The team stayed in Blackpool, and some of the players defied Docherty's curfew and were grassed up by the hotel porter. Docherty then famously sent eight first team players home in a fit of pique - Terry Venables, Barry Bridges, George Graham, Eddie McCreadie, John Hollins, Joe Fascione, Bert Murray and Marvin Hinton. Chelsea were hammered 6-2 at Burnley as a result, and the remote chance of the championship had gone. Two days later, with a full-strength side, we lost 3-2 at Blackpool in the final game of the season, and as a result we finished third in the league, though we'd qualified for the Fairs Cup due to the League Cup win. 65/66 was just as exciting! Chelsea finished 5th. in the league, ten points behind champions Liverpool, got to the semi-finals of the FA Cup again, only to be beaten by Sheffield Wednesday, and more impressively, reached the semi-finals of the Fairs Cup (now the UEFA Cup). Chelsea lost 2-0 in Barcelona, but won the second leg by the same score. The playoff was back in Barcelona, but we got stuffed 5-0 in what was the final game of the season. Docherty lost confidence in the side, and sold off Venables, Bridges, Murray and Graham, while bringing in Charlie Cooke and Tommy Baldwin. The following season was a disappointment - we finished 9th. in the league, and although we reached the FA Cup Final it was only to be beaten by the scum from N17. Tommy Docherty was sacked early on in the 67/68 season after a series of awful results, and just as significantly, some public run-ins with the board.

1965/66 Team photo, 1965/66 - name them? [spoil]Back l-r, John Hollins, Allan Young, Peter Bonetti, Marvin Hinton, Ron Harris, Eddie McCreadie Front l-r, Barry Bridges, George Graham, Peter Osgood, Terry Venables, Bobby Tambling[/spoil] Joe Kirkup, who went to Southampton in part-exchange for David Webb a couple of years later The one and only Peter Osgood Ron Harris having a quick toss Peter Osgood, George Graham & Barry Bridges We've just scored against Leeds in the FA Cup! I'm guessing Gary Sprake has made yet another cock-up, judging by the look the defender on his knee is giving him George Graham heads our second goal from a Bobby Tambling corner against Hull City in the FA Cup Peter Bonetti just beats Hull's Chris Chilton to the ball in the same game Traditional Chelsea celebrations (loads of beer!), after beating TSV Munchen 1860 to get through to the Fairs Cup Semi-Final Chelsea International team photo Have a look at that Glasgow Charity Cup, makes the League Cup like like a tin pot!

Some of these have been posted before, but what the hell! These are from 1963 to 1965. Three future Chelsea managers, Ken Shellito, John Hollins & Eddie McCreadie, submitting to the 60's injury treatment - paddling in the freezing sea at Blackpool Tommy Docherty chats with five young Scots he'd signed for the club - leaning on gate l/r Johnny Boyle, Joe Fascione, Billy Sinclair and behind them l-r, Stewart Henderson and Jim McCalliog Celebrating the 1964/65 League Cup win - how many can you name? [spoil]l/r - Barry Bridges, Eddie McCreadie, Terry Venables, Frank Upton, John Boyle, John Mortimore, Peter Bonetti, and in front, Bert Murray[/spoil] Marvin Hinton, just about to seperate George Armstrong's lower legs from his body at Highbury

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That's only because he's crouching down - he was about two feet taller than Alan Ball

Cheers, mate! I was going to mention the blue & white walking sticks, but thought I'd maybe already mentioned violence too much I remember being told about the sticks being used at WHL in 67/68, where the game was held up because of the fighting in the Park Lane. The Chelsea programme for the following match against the mancs had a double-page spread covering the trouble at WHL, including a list of the weapons used - and I quote: - "In days not long ago the inventory of spectators' equipment amounted to nothing more sinister than rattles, scarves in club colours, handbells and the occasional bugle. Not any more. Possessions found on the animal contingent at Tottenham a week ago included a meat-hook, a metal cosh, a weighted sandbag, leather straps, paint sprays, a dog-chain, jagged coins.....a mallet". A weighted sandbag?

A couple of our 'hardest' players in the 60's

Anyone remember this lot? [spoil]Back row, l-r: Joe Kirkup, Jim Thomson, Marvin Hinton, George Graham, Peter Bonetti, Alex Stepney, Ron Harris, John Hollins, Eddie McCreadie Front row, l-r: Johnny Boyle, Bobby Tambling, Charlie Cooke, Alan Harris, Peter Osgood, Peter Houseman, Tommy Robson.[/spoil]

I've got many memories of standing in the Shed, mainly in the early 70's. My first real memory of the Shed was when I was about 12, and standing on the terracing between the Shed and the old East Stand - we were playing Tottenham in a league match, the week before the FA Cup Final against Leeds, so it must have been April 1970. I was reading my programme about an hour before kick-off, and as per usual for the time, there were loads of people already in the ground. The atmosphere suddenly changed though, which made me look up. Over on the north terrace, loads of Tottenham fans had just appeared, then they started climbing over the wall and onto the greyhound track. Hundreds of them then started running across the pitch, manky navy & white scarves and all, with the obvious intention of 'taking' the Shed. They got as far as the goal at the Shed end, when a mass of Chelsea skinheads, clad in Ben Sherman & Brutus shirts & Levi Sta-Prest, plus of course, the obligatory DM's, stormed down the terrace from the Shed and over the wall to meet the scummy hordes from N17. The Tottenham fans, on seeing this, swiftly did an about-turn and legged it back the way they came, only twice as fast! The Shed boys chased them right up to the north terrace, and I can still remember seeing Spuds fans actually diving over the wall head-first to escape. The Chelsea fans that had remained behind gave the Shed boys a rapturous ovation as they swaggered back across the pitch and back into the Shed. Even some of the old blokes near me were shouting things like "Well done, Chelsea" and "That showed the c*nts". I'd never seen anything like it before, and was absolutely buzzing with excitement - needless to say, from the next game on, I stood in the Shed. A lot of people criticise terracing, but all I can say is this - if you've never experienced being in the Shed during a stirring chorus of 'Knees Up Mother Brown', then you've missed out big-time. Thousands of young nutters all bouncing up and down, being carried down, across, and even up the terracing, there was nothing like it. Probably all the more exciting because, it was normally sung as soon as Chelsea had scored a goal! Of course, there were bad times as well. I was standing by the White Wall when West Ham came in early and 'took' the Shed. The sheer ferocity of the fighting was a bit scary for a 13/14 year old to see, but I vowed that when I was old enough, if another mob came into the Shed, then I'd have some of that! I think it was the following season when we played Arsenal at home, and they 'took' the middle of the Shed that day, with Chelsea fans being forced to the White Wall & West Side. As the game progressed though, it was becoming obvious that things were changing somewhat. Hundreds of Chelsea fans stood just in front of the Arsenal, and there were clearly loads of Chelsea getting in behind them too. Throughout the rest of the game there was non-stop fighting, with Arsenal surrounded on all four sides. I remember seeing Shed boys trying to climb over the police, kneeling on the coppers' shoulders and swinging at the Arsenal with both fists - great stuff. Someone even threw a pot of yellow paint all over the place - absolute mayhem. The Arsenal fans were absolutely terrified by the end of the game, and they never came in the Shed again. It wasn't all violence though. When the teams came out before the game, every Chelsea player had his own chant or song, and they'd wave to the Shed in acknowledgement. And I know that a lot of people hate the scouse song YNWA nowadays, but fans from all clubs sang it back then, and the Shed was something to behold when they were in full voice and thousands of blue & white scarves aloft, especially on a big matchday. The best atmosphere I ever experienced at the Bridge was the night we played Bruges in the Cup Winners Cup in 1971. We were 2-0 down from the first leg, and the it was like the air was electric - non-stop singing and chanting, I've never heard anything like it before or since. As most of you probably know, we pulled the tie back to 2-2 on aggregate, then got another couple of goals in extra time to take us through to the semi-final. Peter Osgood's goal celebration that night was something that anyone who was there will always remember! I started going up the North Stand round about 1973ish, there was more to do Later on I'd go in the West Stand, and later still in the early 80's, Gate 13 of the East Stand - but the Shed will always hold a special place in my heart, it was a special place - rough and ready to be sure, but also a place of great humour and camaraderie.

That was just like watching Gary Sprake again

Bonetti, you're clearly thinking exactly the same way as me!

He'd play about 2 games, then be out injured for months - and the pattern will probably stay the same for the rest of his career. I never rated him all that highly anyway, and he's also a cheating diving c*nt.............so, you may be surprised to hear that my answer is an emphatic NO!!!B)

Great news, I've never liked Charlton Naturally, it'd be superb if Wet Spam were to go down with them, but failing that, then Wigan. I'd like to see Warnock and Sheff.Utd. stay up, don't know why

Great post - I agree with nearly all of those sentiments

If Sheva is staying to play alongside Drogba, then I'd go for a young striker to come in as backup and be used if there is any squad rotation needed. Dave Nugent fits the bill, and having now won an England cap I doubt he'll want to stay in the Championship (or Division Two as I prefer to call it). Trouble is, if we go in for him the price is going to rocket.

Essien for me, for all the reasons that Jack mentioned. It's a bit hard on Drogba, who's also had a great season and scored over 30 goals - but I still go for Essien!