Anyone know how Bobby Tambling is?

[loz]

I am currently creating a Bobby Tambling page that a poster kindly wrote and it reminded me that he missed Ossie's funeral because he collapsed with a heart problem just a few days before it. I know that he was to have some sort of medical procedure to fix the problem but I don't remember anything other news after that. Anyone know anything?

[geezer]

I haven't heard anything very recently but I do know he has attended a number of CFC functions since then.

[Scott]

Looks like he wasn't well enough to attend the Cup Final.

Chelsea legend Tambling backs Drogba for Wembley glory

Bobby Tambling admits the last time Chelsea met Tottenham in a Wembley final his team got what they deserved - nothing. Now, 41 years on, the Blues' record goalscorer believes his old club will triumph providing Didier Drogba beats Dimitar Berbatov in the battle of the strikers.

"Sunday's match could come down to which of those has the best game," said the 66-year-old.

"Drogba is so important to Chelsea, not only as a goalscorer but also defending when he's called upon."

Drogba scored the only goal in last season's FA Cup Final, the first at the new Wembley. In 1967 Tambling was also on the scoresheet in the Cup Final, the first for the club at the stadium, but Chelsea still lost 2-1 thanks to a brace from Spurs' Alan Gilzean.

"I'm just hoping the Carling Cup Final will be better than our match," he said.

"We were so pleased to get to Wembley but we just didn't perform. The match was an anticlimax. There was so much expectation but so little was delivered and Spurs deserved to win.

"Even after I scored we didn't really even have a go after that. The game just fizzled out.

"It was so disappointing because it had all gone so well before that. [The manager] Tommy Docherty had got us nice and relaxed.

"There was nothing special planned for the night before, we just hung around the hotel the same as we would before any away league game.

"Perhaps that was the trouble. It was only when we we walked out of that tunnel before the match that we suddenly realised where we were and what we had to do.

"Alan Gilzean destroyed us on the day though, we couldn't get near him. Joe Kinnear was marking me, I remember, but we were so poor I ended up trying to keep with him as he came marauding forward from full-back.

"Gilzean was a superb player and I can understand the comparisons with Berbatov. They both have a lovely deft touch."

Tambling's goal was one of 202 he scored for Chelsea in 370 matches, a record which is something of a target for Frank Lampard, who went through the century barrier last week in the 3-1 win over Huddersfield.

"For Frank to score 100 goals for Chelsea from midfield is phenomenal," said Tambling. "He looks so fit there is no reason why he can't go on for many seasons yet and beat my record.

"When we reached 30 we were already thinking about the end but the players these days are much fitter and stronger, they can go on for longer."

Tambling has been unable to accept a club invite to attend the game so will be watching it with friends on TV at his County Cork home.

"It's a bit late to talk about revenge after 41 years but I'd be delighted if Chelsea won," he said.

"It looks on paper as though it will be a cracking game but then again, so did ours in 1967."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1779

[loz]

Good to hear that he made a comprehensive recovery from his heart problems and finger crossed he still has a lot of years ahead of him.

Greatest CHelsea striker partnership ever? Surely Ossie and Tambling are right up there.

[PloKoon13]

Greatest CHelsea striker partnership ever? Surely Ossie and Tambling are right up there.

Did you never see Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen? :D

(Kidding)

[Scott]

Did you never see Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen? :o

(Kidding)

You dug up a thread from last Febuary for that?

WTF?

[BlueBeard]

Good to hear that he made a comprehensive recovery from his heart problems and finger crossed he still has a lot of years ahead of him.

Greatest CHelsea striker partnership ever? Surely Ossie and Tambling are right up there.

I don't mean to sound pedantic (but obviously I do) - Peter Osgood & Bobby Tambling rarely played together up front. Tambling played alongside Barry Bridges in the mid 60's, a great partnership. By the time Ossie had established himself in the side he tended to play up front alongside Tommy Baldwin (and later, Ian Hutchinson)- by then Bobby Tambling had been switched to playing wide left.

If Tambling had continued to play as a striker, who knows how many goals he would have got? Not sure why he was switched to the left, maybe he lost some pace as he got older? Brilliant player all the same - first player I ever saw score four goals in a match for Chelsea (against Sunderland). Lovely bloke too, always willing to stop to sign autographs and chat with fans at the training ground - my best wishes go to him.

[Tim W]

Not sure why he was switched to the left, maybe he lost some pace as he got older?

When he stopped buying Doc a wee dram every week

[cassiya]

As a matter of interest, did Tambling played for England?

[bonetti]

As a matter of interest, did Tambling played for England?

3 times, one of which was a friendly

[BlueBeard]

Bobby Tambling made seven appearances for England Schoolboys and thirteen appearances for England Under-23's.

He only played for the full England team three times, against Wales in 1962, France in 1963 (he scored in that game), and Yugoslavia in 1966.

Three caps for a player of his ability is a sad indication of how the England team was selected back then - it seemed that if you played for Chelsea you had very little chance of being picked for England. Peter Osgood, Alan Hudson and Johnny Hollins only got 7 caps between them (and Hudson's two came after he left Chelsea). And then consider that Ron Harris, Ian Hutchinson, Tommy Baldwin and David Webb never represented their country at full level, despite the fact that the England team had some right turds playing for them at the time. I've never liked or rated Alf Ramsey since then, but the anti-Chelsea selection continued up until fairly recently. Remember, Kerry Dixon only got eight caps in total, and he was the best striker in the country by miles (in my humble and totally unbiased opinion) :D

Sorry, digressed a bit there - in summary then, Tambling only got 3 caps but should have got a whole lot more - I feel privileged to have seen him play for Chelsea many times.

Edited October 23, 2008 by BlueBeard

[clubhappy]

Ossie was in the 1970 WC squad in Mexico, from what i can remember , he was the leading goalscorer in England that season.

Jeff Astle made the subs bench v Germany and missed a f*****g sitter after he came on. That period under Ramsey saw a lot of fantastic players left out, Hudson, Bowles, Worthington, Marsh .

[Tim W]

Ramsey was a dictator and really old school and frowned on the "swing sixties" and the "Kings road" players that emerged at that time.