20 minutes ago, erskblue said:

Boyne; That picture above at The Bridge could be from the 1921 FA Cup Final.

Spuds beat Wolves 1-0 in front of 72,805.

The players in the picture seems to be closer to the strips rather than those who played in the 1920 Aston Villa v Huddersfield and 1922 Huddersfield v Preston North End.

The crowds for these two Finals were 50,016 and 53,000 respectively.

There were three FA Cup Finals in a row at The Bridge, 1920,21 and 1922.

@erskblue Thanks for the information. The skyline behind the North Stand has changed a lot since the twenties!

13 hours ago, Boyne said:

Not sure when this photo was taken. Am guessing in the twenties or thirties.

It was the puddles ( I assume they are puddles !) on the pitch in the picture above, caught my eye too !

Yeah some changes.

2 hours ago, erskblue said:

It was the puddles ( I assume they are puddles !) on the pitch in the picture above, caught my eye too !

Yeah some changes.

I think the pyramid type structure of the building in the background is the roof of Earls Court Exibition centre, which only got flattened recently.

Its the only thing I recognise in the skyline.

 

On 17/07/2018 at 13:16, Boyne said:

Not sure when this photo was taken. Am guessing in the twenties or thirties.

The thing that caught my eye was the raised platform with a ladder leaning up against it..................can you imagine that today !.........."there you go Ladies and Gents, climb up the ladder and take your places" !!.

And then further to the right, people actually standing on the top of the wall.

17 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

And then further to the right, people actually standing on the top of the wall.

The thing is I have also stood on walls, spiked rail fences, etc. to watch Chelsea.

7 hours ago, Osgood is Good said:

The thing is I have also stood on walls, spiked rail fences, etc. to watch Chelsea.

Flood light pylons were good!! Stood on one at Bolton in the rain at the famous 1-0 in 83. Did it at one other away game but can’t remember where. Might have been Cambridge Utd.

13 minutes ago, Richard P said:

Flood light pylons were good!! Stood on one at Bolton in the rain at the famous 1-0 in 83. Did it at one other away game but can’t remember where. Might have been Cambridge Utd.

The Clive Walker goal, one of the few highlights of what is possibly the worst season I've experienced with Chelsea. I wasn't sure if that was a floodlight pylon but you're probably right it is. I remember the massive concrete one that used to be in about the same place.

9 hours ago, Richard P said:

Flood light pylons were good!! Stood on one at Bolton in the rain at the famous 1-0 in 83. Did it at one other away game but can’t remember where. Might have been Cambridge Utd.

The two grounds that spring to mind are Cambridge ( I did once count how many steps were in the away end and it wasnt many), and Brisbane Road.

Didnt Hickey once climb up a floodlight at Brisbane Road whilst dressed in a Gorrilla suit?

Edited July 20, 20187 yr by Ewell CFC

1 hour ago, Ewell CFC said:

The two grounds that spring to mind are Cambridge ( I did once count how many steps were in the away end and it wasnt many), and Brisbane Road.

Didnt Hickey once climb up a floodlight at Brisbane Road whilst dressed in a Gorrilla suit?

Yes, the FA Cup game where the walls went down.

On ‎17‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 08:42, Boyne said:

Watched the Big Match Revisited on BT Sport last night. One of the games shown was us against Blackpool at the Bridge in 1977. The score was 2-2 and our goals came from Swain and Wicks. Highlights below.

In the second-half Britton was tackled and the wrong Blackpool was booked. 

Cheers for posting.  Enjoyed watching it, my football, my Chelsea.

What I watched as a kid back then.

Look at the state of the pitch !

 

On 19/07/2018 at 20:31, Osgood is Good said:

The thing that caught my eye was the raised platform with a ladder leaning up against it..................can you imagine that today !.........."there you go Ladies and Gents, climb up the ladder and take your places" !!.

That was probably the directors box, back then!

 

4 hours ago, Scott said:

 

Very nice mate.

6 hours ago, Scott said:

The Birch.

On ‎19‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 14:31, Osgood is Good said:

The thing that caught my eye was the raised platform with a ladder leaning up against it..................can you imagine that today !.........."there you go Ladies and Gents, climb up the ladder and take your places" !!.

I thought at first it was for a tv camera unit. Then remembered that tv hadn't been invented back then !

15 hours ago, Scott said:

Proper Chelsea player and strip.

Has to be the best away kit, f**k all that all black and all white nonsense.

Birchenall nailed his Leicester colours to the mast a few years back though.  Brought out the old 70’s playground song in me.

Alan, Alan Birchenall, picks his nose and eats it all.  

Edited July 23, 20187 yr by Peckham Blue

Chelsea at Newcastle.

13 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

Chelsea at Newcastle.

Mid 1980s ?

2 hours ago, Peckham Blue said:

Has to be the best away kit, f**k all that all black and all white nonsense.

Birchenall nailed his Leicester colours to the mast a few years back though.  Brought out the old 70’s playground song in me.

Alan, Alan Birchenall, picks his nose and eats it all.  

Birchenall is Leicester through and through. Didn't spend long with us, so there's no issue with someone like him identifying so closely with a club he has spent years with. I think he's still on the pitch before every game, getting the crowd going, although he was seriously ill not so long ago.

Edited July 23, 20187 yr by Backbiter

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32893241

World War One & the FA Cup final

• 27 May 2015
• From the section Football

One hundred years ago, perhaps the FA Cup's strangest final took place in Manchester. World War One was raging across the Channel as Sheffield United took on Chelsea at Old Trafford in front of a reduced crowd of around 50,000.

The game had to be moved from London because of the war effort and many on the terraces were wearing military uniforms - some were wounded soldiers recuperating from their time on the front line.

The match took place against a backdrop of criticism at professional football continuing despite the ongoing conflict and marked the last FA Cup final for five years, as the competition was soon suspended because of the war. Patrick Gearey reports on the only wartime cup final.

The 1915 'Khaki' FA Cup Final.

Pre-match build-up[edit]

The favourites to win the match were Sheffield United. They had combined a successful FA cup run with a strong league campaign where they finished 6th overall but only three points behind the League winners. Their defence was one of the best in the league but they had not managed to score many goals.

Chelsea were statistically the weaker side, whilst they had scored more goals than Sheffield United in the league, their defence was poor and they had conceded many more and lay in the relegation zone. They had however beaten several strong clubs away from home during the FA cup competition and the programme noted that the underdogs had won on six occasions in the previous ten years.^[1]

Chelsea also had injury problems: Bob Thomson, their leading goal scorer that season, had been injured in a league game at Bolton Wanderers ten days earlier and was doubtful. Vivian Woodward an amateur and England international who played for Chelsea in peacetime but was currently serving in the British Army, had been given leave to play in the final. However Woodward sportingly insisted that as Thomson had helped the club reach the final, he ought to play in it. There was bad news when Thompson suffered an eye injury, but he played.

Match programme[edit]

The official match programme was produced by Manchester United and is available on-line here. A special version was printed on silk for presentation to the players and officials.^[2]

The programme showed that both teams played a 2–3–5 formation and the Chelsea teamsheet listed Vivian Woodward and Laurence Abrams in addition to those who played in the match. Neither played in the match.

Match summary[edit]

As the score line suggests, the match was very much a one-sided affair. Chelsea adopted a gentlemanly "Drawing Room" style of play with attacks made up of zig-zag passes. These were broken up by an alert and cooperative Sheffield United defence.^[3] The Sheffield United forwards, with their superior tactics, pace and fitness, had the run of the Chelsea half and only the excellent performance of Molyneux, in goal for Chelsea, saved them from further embarrassment. Contemporary reports^[3] singled out Brelsford, Simmons and Utley of Sheffield United for their quality of their performances during the match and Logan, who made some unsuccessful attacks for Chelsea during the second half.

The first goal was scored by Simmons just before half-time. A ball in from the left hand side crossed over the Chelsea backs and Simmons, racing in from the right half, half-volleyed it into the top of the net. Some sources^[4] suggest that Molyneux should have stopped this goal but others^[3] state that he was let down by his defence in all three goals. Chelsea had their best chances just before half-time when they had two shots saved by Gough in the Blades' goal.

At some point Chelsea woes were added to when Harry Ford on the right wing was injured.^[2]

Play was muted at the start of the second half as a thick fog descended over the pitch, preventing spectators from seeing any action on the opposite side of the pitch, though The Times^[5] commented that they were not missing much. The final two goals were scored in the last ten minutes. A shot from Wally Masterman rebounded from the bar but Fazackerly headed it past the Chelsea keeper for United's second. Directly after this goal Joe Kitchen picked the ball up just inside the Chelsea half and passed two defenders. Molyneaux emerged from the Chelsea goal but Kitchen dodged him and placed the ball in the open net. At this point, before the final whistle, large numbers of the spectators began to leave.

The crowd included many men in uniform but a much larger contingent who, the Manchester Guardian commented, should have been in uniform. A number of wounded soldiers, one missing an arm, watched the match from lower stand.^[3]

The cup was awarded by the Earl of Derby whose speech, largely drowned out by a noisy crowd of young supporters, noted that all present needed to join together and play "a sterner game for England".^[3]

The Irwell Old Prize band provided the half time entertainment, playing a selection of tunes from around the British Isles. A collection was made during the match on behalf of the British Red Cross.^[1]

Match details[edit]

24 April 191515:00 BST

Sheffield United	3–0	Chelsea
Simmons  36' Fazackerley  84' Kitchen  88'

Old Trafford, Manchester

Attendance: 49,557

Referee: H. H. Taylor

Sheffield United

Chelsea

GK 1 Harold Gough FB 2 Billy Cook FB 3 Jack English HB 4 Albert Sturgess CH 5 Bill Brelsford HB 6 George Utley (c) OF 7 Jimmy Simmons IF 8 Stanley Fazackerley CF 9 Joseph Kitchen IF 10 Wally Masterman OF 11 Bob Evans Manager: John Nicholson

GK 1 Jim Molyneux FB 2 Walter Bettridge FB 3 Jack Harrow (c) HB 4 Fred Taylor CH 5 Tommy Logan HB 6 Andy Walker OF 7 Harry Ford IF 8 Harold Halse CF 9 Bob Thomson IF 10 Jimmy Croal OF 11 Bob McNeil Manager: David Calderhead

Match rules

• 90 minutes.
• 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
• Replay if scores still level.
• No substitutes

Aftermath[edit]

In July 1915, the Football League put all players on amateur status and clubs were only allowed to pay expenses. Attendances at matches collapsed and as fuel for transport became scarce the national league was abandoned and football teams played in regional leagues with whatever players they could find.^[2] Chelsea often played with players from other sides who passed through London whilst on active service, including Stanley Fazackerley.^[2]

Sheffield United held the FA Cup until it was contested again in 1920. They reached the final and won the cup again in 1925.

Chelsea did not reach the final again until 1967 and finally won it in 1970 at Old Trafford in a replay 55 years later.

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Unknown (1915). Cup Final Programme.
2. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d} Glanvill, Rick (2006). Chelsea FC: The Official Biography – The Definitive Story of the First 100 Years. Headline Book Publishing Ltd. p. 182. ISBN 0-7553-1466-2.
3. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e} "The Cup Final". Manchester Guardian. 26 April 1915. p. 9.
4. Jump up ^ "fa-cupfinals.co.uk". fa-cupfinals.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
5. Jump up ^ "The Cup Final". The Times. 26 April 1915.