A friendly we won 4-0.

www.stamford-Bridge.com

7 hours ago, erskblue said:

My first Goalkeeping gloves, they were a huge upgrade from wearing oversized gardening gloves from my parents greenhouse

Remember being absolutely chuffed when parents bought me a pair of Green Peter Bonetti GK Gloves for my birthday, however, seeing this picture I suspect that they did actually wrap up a pair of oversized gardening gloves instead. Could never quite work out why so many of the other kids took the p1ss when I volunteered to go in goal.

Eddie, Grant Lunn and Steve Francis training with ‘The Cat’ in the 1980s.

Edited October 3, 2025Oct 3 by erskblue

Edited October 3, 2025Oct 3 by erskblue

Edited October 3, 2025Oct 3 by erskblue

16 hours ago, chi blue said:

My first Goalkeeping gloves, they were a huge upgrade from wearing oversized gardening gloves from my parents greenhouse

Yeah mine too.

Some difference from the goalkeepers gloves they wear now!

My shin pads were Neville Southall pads that also had built in ankle pads, I was unstoppable over the park no-one could stop me even with fouls.

The headaches did though and I met some funny characters,

15 hours ago, erskblue said:

Eddie, Grant Lunn and Steve Francis training with ‘The Cat’ in the 1980s.

Grant Lunn was asked to keep goal for a penalty shootout at the 1983 open day at the bridge.

I was second to last to go from a long line of fans. I scored 4/5 and won the competition! The prize was two tickets in the directors box behind Ken Bates for the home game against Gillingham in the Milk Cup. Then after the game meet the players and watch the press interviews, which were done down the players tunnel.

Big attention for Pat Nevin as he started his first game and played well in a 4-0 win with Kerry scoring all 4!! Great night and great memories

8 hours ago, Richard P said:

Grant Lunn was asked to keep goal for a penalty shootout at the 1983 open day at the bridge.

I was second to last to go from a long line of fans. I scored 4/5 and won the competition! The prize was two tickets in the directors box behind Ken Bates for the home game against Gillingham in the Milk Cup. Then after the game meet the players and watch the press interviews, which were done down the players tunnel.

Big attention for Pat Nevin as he started his first game and played well in a 4-0 win with Kerry scoring all 4!! Great night and great memories

Richard: Brilliant story and what a great prize that was! Seriously!!🍻

Tommy Langley scores for Chelsea against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on 4th March 1978. A goal down early in the 2nd half, Chelsea respond with three goals to record a memorable 3-1 victory which comes just weeks after a remarkable 4-2 victory in the F.A. Cup.

‘King Kerry’ celebrates the first of our three goals against Liverpool at The Bridge on 1st December 1984.

Joe McLaughlin with a rare goal and David Speedie scored the others, as we won 3-1.

On 03/10/2025 at 05:30, erskblue said:

Yeah mine too.

Some difference from the goalkeepers gloves they wear now!

And mine.

just thin cotton ones, but at the time I was happy

The Telegraph website is today carrying an interview by Jim White with David Speedie; Speedo has a biography about to hit the bookstores which may be worth a read. I wonder if Paul Canoville gets a mention?

David Speedie interview: I had a pint glass smashed in my face at team bonding

The article is titled “I had a pint glass …”

The Review: David Speedie – playing the game at all levels

DAVID SPEEDIE’s story could not be told by any contemporary player. He belongs to an era where footballers could work their way to the top of the tree through a form of apprenticeship – starting at the bottom and earning the right to play for some of the best clubs in the land. The globalisation of the game, coupled with the vast number of young boys playing academy football has more or less eradicated the old way of spotting talent in lower divisions and taking a chance that it will come good. 

His time in the game has been told, quite literally, in his own words, by Paul Hodgson in The David Speedie Story (Pitch Publishing). Hodgson, a lifelong Darlington supporter, one of Speedie’s clubs, and it’s very much a “warts and all” biography that is entertaining, hard-hitting and brutally honest.

It’s not often that a late 20^th century player can claim to have been a miner, but that’s exactly what the young Speedie was. “The most horrific job,” he recalls. “It made me even more determined to become a footballer.”

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For most people, Speedie was a Chelsea player and that’s where he first came to prominence after stints with Barnsley and Darlington. He names Norman Hunter at Barnsley and George Herd and Billy Elliott at “Darlo” as huge influences on his early career. 

Chelsea spotted him at Darlington and so keen were they to sign him that manager John Neal and Chairman Ken Bates drove to Carlisle to see the young striker play. Chelsea paid £ 80,000 for the 22-year-old who had scored 17 goals in the old fourth division in 1981-82. He scored twice in his first game against Oldham and in what was a dreadful 1982-83 season for the club, Speedie was one of the few players to emerge with any credit. The fans, whom Speedie believes were the best around, immediately took to the fiery and tenacious Scot but Chelsea were not in a good place having only just avoided relegation to the third division. “I told John Neal, who was a manager I greatly respected, that I couldn’t play in this team because it was not good enough to challenge for a place in the first division, but he assured me that he was bringing in a group of players that were better than those he was letting go,” says Speedie. 

Neal was as good as his word, because a big team-building programme started with players like Pat Nevin, Kerry Dixon, Joe McLaughlin and Nigel Spackman arriving at Stamford Bridge. In 1983-84, Speedie and Dixon formed a near telepathic relationship on the pitch, although the relationship took time to flourish. The duo scored 41 league goals as Chelsea won the second division title and for the next two seasons, Dixon and Speedie scored another 62 league goals as Chelsea claimed two top six finishes. In 1985-86, Speedie created a little bit of history as he scored a hat-trick at Wembley in the Full Members Cup final against Manchester City which Chelsea won 5-4. “That was fantastic, but then afterwards my Dad told me I should have had five!”. 

Things changed at Chelsea because Speedie found the new management team of John Hollins and – particularly – coach Ernie Whalley, difficult to work with. The 1986-87 season was not a good one for the club and at times, Chelsea seemed in disarray. Speedie let Ken Bates know he wasn’t happy and so he was on his way out of the club. Coventry City bought him for £ 750,000 and declared they were “Shopping at Harrods” which he found a little embarrassing, but he loved his time at Highfield Road. “It was a lot of fun and every day was enjoyable. I loved Chelsea but it had turned sour for me; at Coventry, working with George Curtis and John Sillett was amazing. I couldn’t wait to go into training every day, it was that good and arguably the best time of my career.” 

His next stop was Liverpool, who signed in January 1991. Kenny Dalglish was in charge at the time, but he left after four games to be replaced by Graeme Souness. Their relationship was not an easy one and Speedie knew he would not last long at Anfield with him in the dugout. So it proved, for he was sold to Blackburn in the summer of 1991 where he did link-up with Dalglish once more. He had a career-best season with 26 goals at Blackburn, but moved to Southampton for £ 400,000 in a deal that saw Alan Shearer move in the opposite direction for £ 3.6 million. It was not a happy move for him or Kerry Dixon, who the Saints had acquired in a bid to rekindle the striking partnership of 1984. “It was a mistake to move there. They didn’t seem to like me and the attitude among the players was not good. It didn’t work and I was sent out on loan a few times,” he says. His full-time career ended with Leicester City in 1993-94 where he played his part in their promotion to the Premier League.

Speedie also won 10 caps for Scotland and was very unfortunate not to be selected by his country for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He was, however, in the Scotland side on the night that legendary manager Jock Stein died in Wrexham: “Jock was a great man and a great football manager. We were all traumatised when we knew he had died in the physio’s room. I feel sure I would have gone to Mexico had he still been alive.” 

We could go on, because there is so much more in Paul Hodgson’s book to savour. It relives a colourful career that reminds us the game did not begin with the Premier League and SKYTV. Biographies can often be formulaic, but the real charm of the David Speedie story is that there is no attempt to sanitise the tale of a striker who always gave 100%.

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