The Official History of
Chelsea FC
No history, eh?
This video comes from a whole collection of club videos released by the
BBC in the late 80’s. There were histories of Liverpool, Manchester United,
Everton and Celtic. No video for Arsenal or Tottenham as far as I can see, not
interesting enough I guess. The Leeds United video only covers 10 years.
Covering the years from 1905 up until the end of the 1988/89 season,
this would have been essential viewing for any Chelsea fan. In truth, it still
is.
Narrated by the wonderful Gerald Sinstadt, it’s as good as could be
hoped for. At 90 minutes long, it’s not too in depth but all the major points
are covered:
The purchase of Stamford Bridge and formation of the club; the nearly
men of the clubs early years; 1955 League Champions; Docherty’s Diamonds; 1970
FA Cup and 1971 European Cup Winners Cup victories; the yo-yo years of the 70’s
and 80’s right up to the promotion victory in 1989.
Chelsea’s 1986 Full Members Cup victory even gets a mention.
The documentary combines archive footage, photographs and newsreel
footage with interviews of key figures such as Ted Drake, Tommy Docherty, Peter
Osgood and of course, Ken Bates. And they add a lot to the documentary as well,
revealing stories behind the scenes that fans may not have been aware of before.
‘The Doc’s’ stories are particularly amusing as he recalls the night he sent
eight players home before an important league game and the time he purposely
waterlogged the Stamford Bridge pitch to have a game with Barcelona postponed.
If you want to relive some of the great games and goals, you will not
be disappointed. Memorable strikes from the likes of Bobby Tambling, Jimmy
Greaves, Peter Osgood and Kerry Dixon are all included. Some matches get
extended highlights treatment such as the 1970 FA Cup final and the replay. And
for some reason, a friendly against Hungarian side Red Banner in 1954.
The documentary does admittedly lose some steam after the early 70’s
side, becoming a procession of managers who had taken over for a short time.
Hooliganism is only briefly raised. The East Stand and Chelsea’s financial woes
are brought up but the film doesn’t go into any great detail.
The end of the documentary is interesting to look back on. The current
manager of the time Bobby Campbell outlines his hopes for the future and
focuses on Gordon Durie as someone who could go on to be a Chelsea legend. And
he might well have been had he not tarnished his own legacy (Durie was a much
loved striker by the Chelsea fans however in 1991 he announced he wanted to
leave to ‘be closer to home’ in his native Scotland. Fair enough, the Chelsea
supporters said. In reality however, this turned out to only be 10 miles closer
to home when he moved to hated rivals Tottenham Hotspur. In my lifetime, I only
recall two players being booed on their return to Stamford Bridge: William
Gallas and Gordon Durie).
A video is shown of a (possibly staged?) meeting of Ken Bates and other
important looking types discussing his future plans for Stamford Bridge. This
was his idea for the ‘Chelsea Village.’ ‘Anthing you can find at your home, you’ll
be able to find here’ he claims. We never quite got the retail complex Bates
was hoping for but the model he has clearly shows the preliminary idea for the
hotel that stands today.
All of this was dependent on sorting out the ownership of Stamford
Bridge of course, something that was still being negotiated at the time. Although,
as Bates pointed out like the Dark Emperor he is, ‘it is inevitable.’
So, this is an excellent little documentary you just don’t see any
more. Highly recommended.
Inevitably, it ends with a rendition of 'Blue is the Colour.'
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