Chelsea in Magazines - Soccer Stars, September 1993

Back to 1993 and we're looking at Soccer Stars magazine. Soccer Stars was primarily a magazzine aimed at younger readers with not much content but lots of posters. For this particular issue, the first bit of Chelsea content we have is the retelling of Dave Beasant's infamous salad cream incident:

A shame in a way that 'Lurch's Chelsea career would end with him being injured by a condiment bottle. Then we have two posters, one of long time servant David 'Rodders' Lee and Andy Townsend, who I believe would have already left the club by the time this issue was published.

Match Report: Chelsea 1-0 Brighton and Hove Albion, Carabao Cup

 

Nicolas Jackson ends Chelsea's goal drought

Finally! A goal and a win for Chelsea!

The irony perhaps in Chelsea's win against a strong Brighton side is that it probably came when the Blues were least deserving. In contrast to recent performances, Brighton dominated possession and made the most chances in the game.

Chelsea had several former Seagulls in their line-up and the first half played out fairly evenly. Brighton had the best opportunities but they were made by Chelsea's former Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez gifting the ball to their forwards but they failed to make the most of their opportunities.

Then on 50 minutes the magical moment: Cole Plamer collected the ball on the edge of the box and played it inside for the incoming Nicolas Jackson to sweep home. The joy in the Stamford Bridge crowd, so starved of goals in 2023, at finally seeing Chelsea actually score a goal was obvious to all.

Chelsea thought they had two when Jackson stroked in a few minutes later but the goal was ruled out for offside. Luckily for Brighton there was no VAR in effect but Chelsea would have been furious if the Seagull's counter-attack had gone in, Sanchez making an excellent save from a March header.

There were a few more scares for Chelsea but they held on to book their place in the next round where they will play Blackburn Rovers.

Nobody is likely to be saying this will be turning point in Chelsea's season but it is the little boost in confidence they need ahead of a tough trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham this weekend.

Line-Up: Sanchez, Cucurella, Disasi, Colwill, Chilwell, Ugochukwu, Caicedo, Maatsen (Gallagher 75'), Palmer (Fernandez 75'), Mudryk (Sterling 68'), Jackson (Broja 87')

Unused Subs: Petrovic, Washington, Gilchrist, Brooking, Matos

Match Report: Chelsea 0 - 1 Aston Villa

 

Another disappointing afternoon for Chelsea, as a red card and the continual failure to take chances cost them yet again.

A decent enough first half, Chelsea had a few good chances. Emilio Martinez in the Villa goal produced a good save from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez also had a decent effort from the edge of the box but was just off target.

Axel Disasi did manage to head the ball in the Villa net shortly before half-time but was (correctly) adjudged offside.

Chelsea didn't have it all their own way though as Robert Sanchez made a couple of fine saves from Lucas Digne and Nicolo Zaniolo.

There was a bizarre incident at the end of the first half when the referee Jared Gillett (who will not be welcome back at Stamford Bridge any time soon) blew for half time on 47 minutes, when three minutes had been held up on the board.

Chelsea started the second half brightly and were the team in control but the game changed on 57 minutes. Malang Gusto went in for a tackle on Digne and after a lengthy VAR check, referee Gillett decided was worthy of a red card.

Villa had to wait til 72 minutes to take the lead, an effort by Ollie Watkins from a tight angle squeezing through Sanchez's legs.

Frustratingly, it wasn't even the case that with the man advantage Aston Villa dominated the play. Chelsea continued to make chances, most notably from substitutes Ben Chilwell and Cole Palmer but predictably failed to take any of them.

Tempting though it is to blame everything on the red card, really its Chelsea's inability to score that is catching them out.

In the calendar year of 2023, Chelsea have managed just 37 goals in all competitions. That record is simply not good enough at any level of the game. Especially not at Chelsea.

Line-Up: Sanchez, Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill, Caicedo (Broja 79'), Gallagher, Sterling, Fernandez (Ugochukwu 67'), Mudryk (Chilwell 61'), Jackson (Palmer 67')

Unused Subs: Cucurella, Petrovic, Maatsen, Washington, Bergstrom

Match Report: Bournemouth 0-0 Chelsea

Tell me if you've heard this before - Chelsea dominate possession but don't take their chances and fail to win.

Admittedly, it was a somewhat makeshift team with Chelsea having a long injury list but the lack of goals is a continued source of frustration.

In a largely dull first half, Chelsea dominated the possession as has been the trend but arguably didn't do enough with it.

Nicolas Jackson did hit the post and Conor Gallagher had a shot in the box well saved by Neto in the Bournemouth goal but it was arguably the Cherries that had the best chance. The Chelsea defence switched off at a free-kick and a low-cross to Ouattaro coming in at the back post brought an excellent save from Robert Sanchez.

In the second half, Raheem Sterling saw his free-kick come off the bar and bounce down on the line. Levi Colwill swept in the follow up but was judged offside.

Neto made some good saves from a Jackson header (though thats being generous, it more hit his face) and Cole Palmer.

Bournemouth looked to play smash and grab throughout and had chances of their own they may be feeling they should have done better with.

There were several times in the game where Chelsea players got themselves in good shooting positions but would try and pass it to a team-mate rather than take it on themselves. This cowardice is one factor that really harms the Chelsea team. Everyone wants the assist, nobody wants the responsibility of actually scoring.

Chelsea Line-Up: Sanchez, Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill (Chilwell 80'), Gallagher, Ugochukwu, Sterling, Fernandez (Maatsen 80'), Mudryk (Palmer 62'), Jackson

Unused Subs: Petrovic, Washington, Gilchrist, Bergstrom, Matos, Stutter

Chelsea in Magazines - Shoot, 05-11-1983

 

In an interview with Shoot Magazine, new Chelsea striker speaks about his early experiences with Spurs, playing as an amateur and how many he hoped to score for Chelsea.

Dixon would score 34 in total as Chelsea marched to promotion and the Division Two Championship.

Chelsea in Magazines - Football Star 24-11-1973

 Football Star was a short lived football magazine from the 1970's that only ran for 15 issues but long enough to produce some Chelsea related content.

First up was a preview of the upcoming Arsenal-Chelsea match, Peter Storey and Alan Hudson are highlighted as potential key players:

 

The writer needn't have got so hyped, the match ended as a 0-0 draw.

As well as this, there was praise for young defender Gary Locke, who was being tipped for a big future by David Wagstaffe of Wolves:

Locke would make 319 appearances for Chelsea between 1972-83 but never got the international recognition he perhaps deserved.

Chelsea in Magazines - Soccer Star 07-10-1961

 1961 and Chelsea feature in the pages of Soccer Star magazine (not to be confused with the SoccerStars magazine of the 90's which was a poster magazine for younger readers).

Chelsea's second highest scorer Bobby Tambling scores at Villa Park but its not enough to stop Chelsea losing 3-1 to Aston Villa.

As well as this Chelsea had also taken a big defeat to Blackpool:

This bad form would eventually see Chelsea relegated at the end of the season but the blooding in of young talents Tambling, Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris, Terry Venables and Barry Bridges would pay off in the long term.

Match Report: Chelsea 0 - 1 Nottingham Forest

 

A story that is all too familiar Chelsea. All of the ball but completely toothless in attack.

It almost feels like Chelsea have to play a perfect game every time if they are going to get anything from a match.

A totally unremarkable first half though Nottingham Forest possibly had the better chances to go ahead.

The second half couldn't have started worse for Chelsea, when Anthony Elanga found himself clear of the Chelsea defence and slotted the ball beyond Robert Sanchez's reach from the edge of the box.

From that point on, Forest dug in deep defensively. Chelsea had all of the possession but never looked like breaching the Nottingham team's goal. Forest keeper Matt Turner would have been delighted with just how little he had to do.

The only bright spot for Chelsea is new signing Cole Palmer looked bright when he came on.

Chelsea need to be more ruthless in attack and quickly, or this will be a long season for the Blues supporters.

Team: Sanchez 4, Disasi 5, Silva 5, Colwill 6, Gusto 5 (Mudryk 77'), Caicedo 6 (Maatsen 77'), Gallagher 5 (Palmer 61'), Fernandez 6, Chilwell 4 (Madueke 61'), Sterling 4, Jackson 3

Unused Subs: Petrovic, Bergstrom, Cucurella, Ugochukwu, Washington