Season by Season: 1935/6

Part of the 82,905 crowd at Chelsea v Arsenal, 1935

We are now into themid-Thirties, and there is a look about Chelsea, on and off the pitch. thatwill be familiar to modern-day readers.

Supporters from all overLondon are flocking to the Archibald Leitch-designed Stamford Bridge ground towatch a team full of glamorous, international stars. That they may haveunderperformed is also a recognisable trait for long-standing fans.

Our attack boast some ofthe best players from across the British Isles in Joe Bambrick, Dickie Spence,George Mills and new man, the veteran Harry Burgess. They would easily outshinetheir defence colleagues – and there was nothing new about that.

“If you went to Chelsea and you were any good you lived like a king. It was like a gentlemen’s club. You didn’t get the money, but it was all paid for.’  Martin, son of Harry Burgess

And what of the stadiumitself? In a Premier League era when diversification of use of club premises isseen as vital, Chelsea’s solution – greyhounds rubbing shoulders withfootballers – may seen an unlikely one. But the dogs’ kennels are therebehind the North Stand and the racing attracted crowds – and even employmentfor some former stars of the Pensioners.

In fact, the North Standitself (begun in 1939 and still in use in the early 1970s) and the legendaryShed (erected in the mid-1930s) were openly built for the comfort of thedog-fanciers rather than the soccer fans.

There was a sense ofrenewal, too, in the administration. The veteran Chelsea board was decimated inthe space of weeks by the loss of vice-chairman and stadium entrepreneur JoeMears, assistant secretary Bert Palmer (with the club since 1907) and clubsecretary Claude Kirby, solid and sometimes inspirational captain of a shipthat often found itself in troubled waters. Young blood arrived in theboardroom in the shape of Joe Mears junior, the dominant figure of the FulhamRoad club for the next three decades.

On the field, after a poorstart to the 1935-6 campaign the Pensioners started to play some wonderfulattacking football. Bambrick, a legend with the blues of Linfield, had actuallyscored 94 goals in one season for the Irish club. His Ireland internationalrecord included six in one match against Wales.

He, Mills, one of ourall-time great netfinders, Spence and Burgess all hit double figures as LeslieKnighton’s Chelsea found their First Division range.

Just two season lateranother war would decimate British life, but just now, football in SW6 wasbuzzing again, and we would finish a respectable eighth, our best for a decadeand half. 65,000 came to watch high-flying Sunderland’s visit at the end ofSeptember, a 3-1 home win. It set up the arrival of 4^th-placedArsenal on October 12^th superbly.

Bambrick grabbed theequaliser that shared the points, but more poignantly a Football League recordcrowd of 82,905 filled the heaving stadium. It remains our largest officialattendance.

At the end of thecampaign, Knighton had achieved Chelsea’s highest finish – eighth in the topflight – since 1920.

In 1935/6...

Facts & figures:Amazingly, in this tense prewar period, Chelsea tour Holland, Germany andPoland in the summer.

League finish: Eighth in Division One, a 15-year high.

Cup run: Reached the fifth round, losing to Fulham in a replay.

All the rage: Flying thepopular ‘budget’ aircraft, the tiny Flea.

Season by Season: 1933/4

If 18^th position in May 1933 was enough to end manager David Calderhead’s tenure at Stamford Bridge, new boss Leslie Knighton hardly set SW6 alight in his debut season.

In fact, the Pensioners ambled to an even lowlier 19^th under him. Knighton’s former club, Birmingham City – mid-table regulars under him – finished one place lower. It was hardly his fault, though.

Despite the regular under-achievement, with lucrative gates of 50 and 60,000 a frequent occurrence at Stamford Bridge the ambitious board had been prepared to invest again in summer 1933.

Knighton used his contacts across the Irish Sea to bring in stylish Tom Priestley (famous for the idiosyncratic skull-cap he wore on the pitch) and combative midfielder Billy Mitchell, who would serve the club well in his time. The manager also brought in flame-haired winger Jimmy Argue from his former club and bought Scotland's keeper Johnny Jackson from Partick Thistle.

Never the less, the new man had been swiftly alerted to the enigma of Chelsea that had defeated Calderhead and now challenged him. In his first match in charge, no less than six internationals took the field at newly-promoted Stoke’s Victoria Ground. And lost 0-1.

A 5-2 home victory over struggling Wolves was followed by on-the-road defeats at Huddersfield (1-6) and Sheffield United (1-4), not helped by a massive list of key injuries that virtually killed the season.

There was plenty of talent, but team spirit? Once again the glamour boys were favourites for relegation come Christmas.

The football world was all too ready to enjoy our usual underachievement. A popular song from the halls at the time was 'The Day That Chelsea Went And Won The Cup', which related all the equally unlikely events (lawyers waiving their fees, cabbies having change of a fiver etc) that took place on a day that the satirical writer could obviously never foresee. This despite the Pensioners reaching the semi-final in 1932.

“Brave as a lion. Quick, safe, sure.” Leslie Knighton hails Jackson, one of his two great keepers

There were green shoots of promise to enjoy. Once fit Johnny Jackson would clearly prove a fine acquisition, a goalkeeper to rival Vic Woodley. Both would play regularly for their country – Scotland and England respectively – and they became the best of friends despite the professional rivalry. Jackson had all too quickly lost his first-team place through injury, but was still selected for Scotland on recovery.

Two goals in the FA Cup from Stanley Matthews helped Stoke heap more misery on us in the Cup as we lost 1-3 away, but as fitness returned a flurry of five consecutive wins in March and April saw off the last real threat of the drop. The next season, it was hoped, would bring fewer injuries and genuine progress.

Off the field, the greyhound racing that would entertain (and impoverish) crowds of punters for three and a half decades was launched at Stamford Bridge in July 1933 (pictured, top left). Former star winger Harry Ford was one of those who worked on the turnstiles at the evening meetings.

In 1933/34...

Facts & figures: More than 10,000 punters regularly attended greyhound events at the Bridge.

Cup run: Fifth round (losing to Stoke City).

All the rage: Aussie batsman Don Bradman is the new toast of Ashes cricket.

Season by Season: 1932/3

1932-3 was a season with the foreboding familiar to any fan of an attractive but ineffective team, of any era. Chelsea had made some significant signings since returning to the top flight, including the prolific Hughie Gallacher and the best keeper of his generation, Vic Woodley.

But early results suggested that veteran manager David Calderhead’s squad needed more than freshening up. It had aged with him.

In fact, thoughts turned to whether the “Sphinx” as this poker-faced Scotsman was known, was still up to the job after more than a quarter of a century. Football, after all, had changed. After the Great War, the world had changed too.

Chelsea’s status as the butt of music hall comedian was still unfortunately alive and well. The swanky west Londoners losing on the south coast to lowly Brighton & Hove Albion was the latest in a long line of FA Cup humiliations. Luckily, high-flying Arsenal lost to Walsall and stole some of our thunder.

And there was consistency in the board’s policy of multi-purposing Stamford Bridge. Stadium owner Joe Mears had ambitions to place Chelsea at the heart of the football establishment while encouraging lucrative non-football fads to be staged in SW6. The two goals were not always complementary.

In December 1932 the stadium hosted the England football team’s surprise international victory over the brilliant Austrian ‘Wunderteam’. Quite what the FA made of Mears’s latest move, though, we can only wonder.

Since 1929 the cinder track around the pitch perimeter had been used by Claude Langdon, a showman and entrepreneur, for high-profile matches of the speedway league, or dirt-track racing, imported from Australia. The Amateur Athletics Association had moved its annual meets to White City because of the disturbance to the running surface.

The Stamford Bridge speedway club had been successful and attractive, with star riders such as Gus Kuhn (pictured, top right) rapidly becoming celebrities of British sport, and between 1928 and 1932 Langdon made himself a fortune. He was soon to fall foul of stadium owner JT Mears's machinations, however.

“Langdon, I’m afraid you’ll have to go. I’m thinking of having greyhound racing here at Chelsea.” Joe Mears breaks the eviction news to speedway supremo Claude Langdon

Mears, always with an eye for novelty, had already decided that speedway had had its day, and informed Langdon. The Stamford Bridge landlord had noted the swift emergence of a new proletarian sport as a magnet for betting enthusiasts and, despite moral panic voiced in Parliament, wanted to be in at the start of greyhound racing.

There may also have been other motives involved: it is interesting to note that two of the shareholders in the White City, Harringay and Stamford Bridge Greyhound Racing Bookmakers Association were Harry and Joe Sabini, members of the notorious Clerkenwell gang masterminded by Darby Sabini that ran gambling in London.

A controversial aspect of Mears’s leasing agreement with greyhound promoter Major Dixson was the creation of a company called ‘The Stamford Bridge Stadium Ltd’, which would dominate decisions taken regarding the stadium and come back to haunt the football men with its demands for half a century.

On the pitch there was little of note, except one of the most excruciating matches in Chelsea history – at Blackpool, October 29^th 1932. The game had taken place despite icy conditions all across the north-west. As it wore on, with a north-easterly wind driving heavy, freezing sleet into their faces, Chelsea’s ‘southern softies’ began to wilt like precious orchids.

By the end, only six visitors remained on the pitch. The other five were in the dressing room, apparently being tended for exposure. It was also rumoured that the players were under the misapprehension that the referee had to abandon a game when one team was so far depleted. He didn’t, and Blackpool won 0-4.

Len Allum (on debut), Bill Ferguson, Harry Miller, James O’Dowd and Albert Oakton – you did Chelsea's reputation no favours! Luckily, only 7,311 people were there to laugh at the poor dears.

Eventually, a 4-1 win at Maine Road in May secured 18^th place and safety. Finally, after 26 years of under-achievement, the great servant David Calderhead made way for the respected Leslie Knighton as secretary-manager.

In 1932/33...

Facts & Figures: Chelsea escaped relegation by just two points.

Cup run: Third round (losing to Brighton & Hove Albion).

All the rage: Popular music recordings – newly-formed EMI dominates the market for “78” records.

Season by Season: 1929/30

As related in the previous episode of this chronicle, Chelsea spent the summer of 1929 on a gruelling but inspirational jaunt around South America, squaring up with considerable success to the best players of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

The Stamford Bridge players undoubtedly helped the Uruguayans in their ultimately successful preparation for the first ever World Cup. But David Calderhead’s squad also emerged from the experience bound together more as a team.

The only significant addition to the playing staff would come not in pre-season, but winter, in the form of George 'The Bomb' Mills, a hulking centre-forward with an unimpressive pedigree around Kentish clubs.

Mills made his debut against Preston North End on December 21st and opened his account in a 5-0 drubbing. He went on to top-score with 14 goals that season, but he wasn’t the only striker finding his range: the habitually goal-shy George Pearson and Harry Miller both found the net with confident regularity as the whole team gelled wonderfully.

The 1929-30 season was exceptional in several ways: it brought 13 of the 41 league goals managed by Miller over his decade and a half at Stamford Bridge; Pearson’s 12 out of a total 33 notches came in what was easily the best of his seven seasons at Chelsea. Even the veteran stylist Andy Wilson managed double figures in his penultimate term as a player.

“Our latest leader, he went over the top at 2.30, and at 2.32 dropped one of his bombs in the enemy’s camp.” The Chelsea Chronicle summarises debutant Mills’ impressive performance against Preston

Mills, though, would become one of our most consistent marksmen, with a return of 116 league goals in 220 appearances. By the time he arrived Chelsea’s season was looking promising.

Regular keeper Sam Millington kept 15 clean sheets; his teenage stand-in, Frank Higgs saw out his entire Chelsea career of just two matches this season and managed one shut-out, a 3-0 thrashing of Spurs.

The decisive period began on Wednesday 12 March 1930. A visit to Bradford brought two points and a 3-1 winning margin. Chelsea won the next four matches to establish one of our best sequences, on the back of which the Blues rose from third place to second.

As the final matches of early May arrived, Chelsea were still clinging to that final promotion slot, and a reassuring second win against Preston set up the closing game, at Bury, thus: rivals Oldham, two points behind but with a superior goal average, would snatch promotion if they won and Calderhead's men lost.

One precious point would suffice.

As it turned out, both hopefuls wilted in the spotlight. In Lancashire the Pensioners were nervy, and a host of chances was "frittered away by needless fanny work," as the Daily Mirror put it, while Bury won 1-0.

Oldham, though, were always behind at relegation-threatened Barnsley, and lost 1-2. As a result, on the 25th anniversary of the club’s existence, Chelsea were promoted back to the First Division.

A few weeks later, an all-time great would arrive from Newcastle to spearhead our top-flight challenge: the mighty Hughie Gallacher.

In 1929/30...
Facts and figures: Chelsea lose once all season at home, winning 17.
Cup run: Third round, losing to Arsenal.
All the rage: the British press rubbishes the World Cup, because foreigners invented it.

Season by Season: 1924/25

In July 1924, a British Empire athletics squad lost out to its USA counterpart by 3pts to 11. Among the British winners was miler Eric Liddell, immortalised in the film 'Chariots Of Fire.' Even if Chelsea’s footballers were languishing in Division Two for the third time, sportsmen could still light up the venue for an enthusiastic fee-paying public.

Relegation had come at an awkward time in the evolution of the club and during a deep economic depression in the country. The diversification of use that had been the aim of those running the stadium from 1905 was now desperately needed to bring in vital revenue.

The wooing of various sports authorities, old and new, had produced mixed results. (Much like the football team, which without significant new investment in players finished fifth in the Second Division.)

American baseball showcases had begun to be staged. In the November King George V and Queen Mary, along with two princes, watched Chicago Whitesox play the New York Giants.

A few years later, Joe Mears’ manoeuvring delighted the capital’s petrol-heads as the novel sport of motorcycle speedway came to the Bridge; shortly after that, the famous greyhounds arrived.

The hosting of athletics events was in keeping with the stadium’s roots. It had been the home of the London Athletic Association before Chelsea moved in.

“65 sports meetings held in the close season, and when there are no meetings as many as 150 to 200 Athletes are on the ground training” Football League report into the state of Chelsea’s pitch

But multiple use of the playing surface came with a price to pay. The football authorities listened to several complaints from First Division clubs in the early Twenties that the pitch was often not up to standard.

Equally important, the dream of developing a covered stadium that would rival the great football temples of Glasgow did not materialise. Major structural improvements would not come until the Thirties, and a cinder track would surround the pitch for the bikes before a lid was placed over the South Stand.

The biggest loss had come when Chelsea’s hosting of FA Cup Finals ended with the completion of Wembley stadium – a major blow, even though Charity Shields remained in SW6.

On the pitch, Andy Wilson’s skills and Bill Whitton’s goals, plus the continues defensive supremacy of Ben Howard Baker, back in goal, and full-backs Harrow and Smith, made it still worth a visit.

In 1924/25...
Facts and figures: Chelsea’s average crowd in this Second Division season was 31,000
Cup run: First Round, losing to Birmingham City
All the rage: the Charleston arrives in Britain – everybody’s doing it.

Season by Season: 1920/21

Progress on the field and the official patronage now bestowed on our inter-national class stadium by visiting royalty and the staging of FA Cup pointed to a very bright future. The 72,805 who attended the 1920 final tie at the Bridge brought in record receipts of £13,414. Football, and its place in society, was also changing.

The advent of a Third Division, almost exclusively made up of members of the old Southern League, extended the heartland of the game. Newspapers’ sports pages suddenly expanded to provide sufficient coverage and new dedicated magazines sprang up.

Crowds were returning to the terraces. Attendances of 45-50,000 were the norm. Chelsea had become a very big club with a reputation for regularly fielding top internationals.

“The best centre forward exhibition ever” Football writer on Jack Cock’s performance for England v Scotland, 1920

In October 1920 an enormous 76,000 crowd turned up to watch Chelsea seek revenge over newly-promoted Spurs, who had decimated their London rivals 5-0 at White Hart Lane the week before. (Sadly, the Lilywhites merely resumed where they had left off, and the Pensioners lost 0-4.)

Still the Corinthian spirit survived at the club, despite Vivian Woodward’s retirement from playing. Danish international Nils Middelboe would often skipper the side, and over the next few years more famous amateurs would join him, including goalkeeper Ben Howard Baker.

The war was still a strong memory – players were listed in the “Chelsea Chronicle” with the relevant service rank appended to their names. And, of course, the red-coated Pensioners sat proudly in the grandstand, as they do to this day.In truth, this was a disappointing period in our history after the promise of 1919. Veteran star winger Harry Ford (pictured, top left) was starting to miss more games, the over-reliance on Jack Cock’s goals was proving problematic, and a half-decent defensive record suffered accordingly.

On the back of the FA Cup finals success, the Chelsea board’s ambitious strategy for the Stamford Bridge stadium included an increase of capacity to 80,000 with steep, terraced banking at the north and south ends, improved conditions for dignitaries and no less than 61 turnstiles to handle those with their paste-board tickets or cash to hand over on the day.

There were even plans to build walkways from local train and tube stations. Not for the first or last time in the ground's history they amounted to nothing, and notions of the Fulham Road becoming the permanent host for national events would soon be scuppered by the building of Wembley Stadium.

Such thoughts of renovations at Chelsea did not extend anywhere near deep enough into the playing staff, however, and an ageing squad struggled to live up to the glamorous setting.

Come May 1921, we were back in the then familiar territory of 18th in the 22-strong First Division, and too close to relegation for comfort.

In 1920/21...
Facts & figures: a benefit match against the British Army in Sept 1920 was won 2-0
Cup run: Fourth round, versus Cardiff City
All the rage: Shaving fanatic Jacob Schick invents the Magazine Repeating Razor, based on a gun design

Season by Season: 1919/20

Four years of regional league competition and friendlies ended on the opening day of September 1919. In the opening match of the first postwar season of official Football League business, the Chelsea team showed five changes from April 1915 – perhaps less disruption than could reasonably have been hoped for, given the ravages of the Great War.

The six who’d played in Chelsea’s last official League match were stalwarts Walter Bettridge, Jack Harrow, Laurence Abrams, Harold Halse and keeper James Molyneux, now well into his 30s and under pressure from understudy Colin Hampton, a war hero who’d received the Military Medal for Gallantry in Mesopotamia. His bravery and dependability on the less vital stage of association football saw him splitting custodial duties with the popular Moly in what would turn out to be an excellent year for the club.

Chelsea had been handed a reprieve from relegation by a mixture of match-fixing by our rivals for the drop Man United and a League decision to expand the top flight by two clubs – Chelsea and Arsenal.

The board at Stamford Bridge wasted no time in validating the Football League’s decision. Thirty-five thousand people watched at Goodison Park as the slickers from the Big Smoke stunned the reigning Division One title-holders Everton with a 3-2 win, including a penalty from Bob Whittingham that extended his amazing wartime goalscoring sequence.

“A Thrilling Opening. Chelsea Conquer The Champions at Goodison” Athletic News headline, September 1, 1919

What chimed with both sets of fans was that back in 1915 a 2-2 draw at the Bridge had confirmed the Toffeemen as champions. They would finish this campaign in 16th place, despite gaining revenge in London against us a week later with a single goal.

However, personnel change remained inevitable. The ageing Whittingham soon moved on, and in his place arrived another Chelsea and England matinée idol, Jack Cock, from cash-strapped Huddersfield. The Londoner would top-score for the Pensioners for the next three seasons, and managed 21 in his first.

Striker Cock (above, right) hardened Chelsea's image as football's glamour club by singing on the local music hall stage and appearing (along with some of his teammates) in the first-ever football feature film, a silent movie produced by the Samuelson Film Company called, originally, 'The Winning Goal.'

It helped ensure that the arty, actor types still thronged to Stamford Bridge, though quite what the terrace wits made of a team with Hampton at the rear, Dickie in the middle and Cock upfront is not recorded.

This season proved the most successful of David Calderhead’s 26 as manager: his team finished a high-rolling third in the League behind surprise package West Brom and Burnley.

In the FA Cup there was also much at which to thrill. The kings of England and Spain watched consecutive victories in west London over Leicester and Bradford. The Bridge was definitely the place to be. One Manchester newspaper joked that Claude Kirby should have 'By Royal Appointment' engraved above the gates to the stadium.

As the cup semi-final against Aston Villa loomed, the debate reasonably turned to the FA’s decision finally to realise Fred Parker's original dream and stage the final at Stamford Bridge.

Should Chelsea be able to play the final at home? With typical generosity, the Pensioners ended the debate by dipping out 1-3 to Villa, the eventual trophy winners, in front of a crestfallen 37,771 fans.

Days later virtually the same team took the League points off them with a 2-1 win in front of 70,000. It was sets of results such as those that helped create the 'inconsistent' tag worn by generations of Blues.

In 1919/20...
Facts & figures: Jack Cock was signed for £2,500
Cup run: The semi-finals, losing to Aston Villa
All the rage: Mechanical teddy bears

Season by Season: 1913/14

The ninth season of professional football at Stamford Bridge began under the shadow of imminent war. By August 1914 the whole of Europe would be at war and British troops tramping around France. Football would soon become a meaningless sideshow, but for the time being people still flocked to the Fulham Road every other Saturday full of sporting optimism.

And before the military dispatches, a brigade of new footering favourites emerged on the Stamford Bridge terraces.

Only fourteen goalies have played more than 100 games for the Blues. Our second centurion, following the precedent set by our first great goalkeeping servant Jack Whitley, was the popular Merseysider James “Molly” Molyneux.

Whitley would stay at Chelsea as a trainer until the 1939, but the new man exceeded him in every respect, playing more games, keeping more clean sheets ... and letting in more goals. Soon, he would also become the first Chelsea keeper to appear in a Cup Final. Molly’s playing career spanned the War and he made more than 230 appearances.

Upfront, the experienced Harold Halse, a lithe England international who had twice won the Cup, had begun to share goalscoring responsibilities with the dependable Viv Woodward. There were two bit-part players who fleetingly lit up the Bridge too: Max Woosnam, an all-round athlete who would win an Olympic medal at tennis in 1920, was an amateur sportsman in the Woodward vein, but his career at Chelsea was curtailed by his business interests.

Lanky, skilful half-back Nils Middelboe, our first glamorous overseas recruit, began a ten-year love affair with the Blues that comprised mostly of one-night stands as he was so often unavailable because of his salaried work as a banker.

The “Great Dane” as he was inevitably called, is a legend in his native land. And in an era when there is overblown talk of “foreign mercenaries”, it’s refreshing to recall that the Danish amateur international would not even put in the expense claim top-ups that his English colleagues would. Middelboe was a star from the off. It was well-known he had scored the first ever goal in Olympic football in 1908, and on his debut for the Pensioners he was handed the honour of captaincy by his friend, Woodward.

"At Stamford Bridge, we have been told
Are seen obstructions; far too bold,
With Plume, and Hat, so very tall
'Not Half' the game is seen at all
Apart from that, a Gallant Dane
Is seen; and long may he remain
With Chelsea; so, please just to show
Respect; 'Hats off,' to Middelboe"
E. A. Goddard (Oxford Street)

Less fortunate was the great Ben Warren, whose descent into mental ill-health and death from tuberculosis deeply affected the football world - a benefit match was held at Stamford Bridge for his wife and children at the end of the season.

The Bridge also staged a display of hands across the water in February 1914, as George V attended a baseball match between two top US teams, New York Giants and Chicago White Sox.

As far as the football was concerned, though, this season was all about consolidation. Chelsea never really excelled, but rarely looked out of their depth in the top tier – despite a 1-6 humiliation at the hands of Burnley. David Calderhead's team finished the season in a promising eighth place.

Gratifyingly, they were also the top-placed London club at a moment when the capital’s clubs were competing feverishly for audiences. It would be two seasons – but six years – before that feat was achieved again.

In 1913/14... Facts & figures: Chelsea finished just five points short of the runners-up position in Division One
Cup run: First round, losing to Millwall
All the rage: The world’s first full-length colour feature film: 'The Word, the Flesh and the Devil,' a British production

Season by Season: 1912/13

With memories of the debacle of relegation three seasons earlier still fresh, the most realistic hope in August 1912 was that the club would survive, rather than thrive, in Division One.

A run of the three defeats at the start of the campaign, including a dispiriting 1-2 loss at home to an insignificant Liverpool team, confirmed the worst. This was going to be tough.

Still, David Calderhead’s side managed to beat Sheffield United 4-2 and swiftly followed that with morale-boosting wins over Sunderland and, in Plumstead, The Arsenal. The Gunners fired blanks that season and would finish bottom of the table and in considerable turmoil.

The map of football in the capital was about to change though. Complaining that no one wanted to go and watch them where they were – and taking just £200-odd through the turnstiles – Woolwich Arsenal accepted that other London clubs they had recently voted into existence, including Chelsea, were proving far too attractive to the football-going public in that part of the city.

They would soon move to land owned by the College of Divinity in Islington.

“It has been the experience that when professional football has been established in any quarter that a new public is created for the game. Chelsea is a case in point” Daily Mirror 1913

Chelsea’s rebuilding centred around the squad as usual. The most important new arrival had been Jack Harrow the previous campaign. Now settled into his new home, the former Croydon player (above, left) would be the left-back of choice for many years into the future. He became the first Blue to rack up 300 appearances, either side of the First World War, at that.

Yet Bob Whittingham was injured for long periods and the Pensioners missed his regularity, despite managing a creditable 51 goals, Viv Woodward again pulling more than his weight.
But 71 goals conceded in 38 games told its own story.

Between October and the start of January Chelsea notched just one win, against fellow top flight rookies Derby, in 14 attempts. The rest of the season, almost to the final day, was a torment to Stamford Bridge loyalists.

As it unfolded, it became clear that either Chelsea or Notts County would suffer the drop with The Arsenal.

Losing 1-6 at home to Blackburn Rovers at the end of March must have appeared disastrous at the time, but a spree of two wins in mid-April, one against struggling Spurs, happily rendered the final match superfluous.

Relieved, the Pensioners whacked Notts County 5-2. Better, much better, was to come in the ensuing seasons, but for now it was just great to remain among the top nobs.

In 1912/13…
Facts and figures: 21 defeats was the most suffered up to this point; it was 38 years before a worse record was established
Cup run: Second round, losing to Sheffield Wednesday in a replay
All the rage: Coco Chanel, icon of tailored chic, opened her first shop in Deauville, France

Season by Season: 1909/10

These were uncertain times around the world, not just the footballing community of London SW. In England’s coffee houses there were fears about Germany building a battleship fleet, problems in the Balkans and the destabilising effect of the Revolution in Russia.

From Indonesia, meanwhile, Dutch zoologists announced the discovery of the enormous Komodo Dragon to the world. If dragons - albeit not fire-breathing ones - actually existed, what other unwelcome surprises lay in store?

For the growing band of followers of Chelsea, London’s second and infinitely more attractive alternative to Woolwich Arsenal, the answer came on 30th April at White Hart Lane. A win against Spurs would have earned two points and, on superior ‘goal average’ (goals for divided by those against), consigned our Woolwich rivals to Division Two. As it is we lost 1-2, the winner coming courtesy of former Pensioner Percy Humphreys, and the bitter pill of relegation was swallowed for the first of six times in our history.

"To-day it is brass bands and fireworks or the Dead March in Saul and funeral coaches. Ah me! How we shall await the half-time verdict from Tottenham!" The Chelsea Chronicle ponders the club's fate ahead of the last game of the season

In actual fact for parts of the season it had looked as if Chelsea would achieve tedious mid-table again. But David Calderhead's team gradually slipped away from 14th at Christmas, with home form standing examination against the very best, but away form woeful.

The team, despite regular shake-ups from manager David Calderhead, won only once on its travels – at Middlesbrough. There were dispiriting defeats to Liverpool (1-5) and Bolton (2-5).

One of the primary causes was the early absence through injury of peerless goal poacher George Hilsdon, who played only a few matches and contributed just three goals rather than his familiar two dozen. The quality of a squad also boasting Ben Warren and Jimmy Windridge was augmented by the arrival of muscular midfield artist Sam Downing and another Chelsea legend, Vivian Woodward (pictured scoring against Tottenham). Woodward, a celebrated amateur international forward who oozed class, had quit Spurs in the summer and surprisingly reappeared as a Chelsea player.

His association with Chelsea would be a long one, but it began with disappointment. In April, as the Division Two trapdoor creaked open, Chelsea’s pockets were rifled again. English McConnell, Marshall McEwan and lantern-jawed striker Bob Whittingham, all deployed in the final match of the season, were among the panicking manager’s last throw of the dice. These emergency purchases prompted the Football Association to introduce the first ever transfer deadline.

But the wave of enthusiasm and finance that created had Chelsea Football Club, and that had carried the team into the upper echelon of the Football League after just 76 matches, had waned.

The Pensioners finished 19th, with just 29 points and a goal difference of –23.

In 1909/10...
Facts and figures: The 29 point haul remains Chelsea's worst ever
Cup campaign: Second round, losing to Tottenham Hotspur
All the rage: Morgan’s first three-wheel Runabout motor car is the urban head-turner

Season by Season: 1908/9

Chelsea’s second season in the top flight showed nothing if not consistency on the pitch; the campaign concluded with one more point than the previous attempt, three more goals for and one fewer against. We finished 11th, having hovered a perilous three points above the relegation places as late as April.

A shock 3-1 win on Tyneside over champions elect Newcastle United (see picture, right) provided the final spur to avoid the drop.

Off the pitch, it has to be said, progress was rather faster. The club founders’ early suggestion that the Stamford Bridge stadium would “stagger humanity” was proving no empty boast. The Archibald Leitch-designed oval stadium had been conceived as a 100,000 capacity, state-of-the-art, all-sport venue.

Since 1906 the stadium had been selected for staging international football and rugby by the respective authorities, and athletics and cricket would occupy the ground during the summer months (in fact Chelsea’s team regularly challenged Spurs to a match before the football season started).

Inter-League matches between Scotland and England were staged at the Bridge (our squad always had its fair share of friends from north of the border), so too were Amateur Cup Finals and Charity Shields – Manchester United winning the first there 4-0.

“Football, Cricket, Lacrosse, Lawn Tennis, Hockey, Polo, Bowls, Bicycle and Tricycle Riding, Running, Jumping… Military Tournaments, Agricultural, Horse, Dog, Flower and other shows” Chelsea’s modest statement of ambition for events to be staged at Stamford Bridge

Gus Mears’ principle of diverse use for the stadium was – in light of our recent experience – far sighted as well as critical to funding the development of the playing staff of his main concern, the football club.

David Calderhead, in common with his predecessor Robertson, found money was available. If the arrival of Fred Rouse, Chelsea’s first four-figure signing, had turned heads, then the purchase of brilliant wing-half Ben Warren, of Derby and England, in 1908 was a genuine statement of purpose. Unfortunately, as has often been the case with our most eagerly anticipated buys, ill luck saw off his potential. Serious illness curtailed his career and the investment failed.

Still, George Hilsdon continued to rattle them in, scoring 25, nearly half his side’s 56 League goals. And there were heartening victories over Bury (4-1), Manchester United (1-0), Middlesbrough (4-1 and 3-0), Newcastle (3-1), Bristol City (3-1) and Leicester (1-0).

Unfortunately, the overall quality of the side was not sufficient to create an impact at the highest level to match the owner’s vision.

If things did not change, Chelsea’s magnificent modern home would be staging prestigious international sporting events under the Second Division banner.

In 1908/9...
Facts & figures: Youthful Chelsea boasted three England internationals: Hilsdon, Warren and Windridge
FA Cup: Reached the second round, losing to Blackburn Rovers
All the rage: Orientalism, and kimonos for ladies

Season by Season: 1907/8

Chelsea‘s first successful promotion campaign had been built on the tightest defence in the Second Division. And there was little doubt, amid the hullabaloo surrounding the glamorous young club’s debut season in the top flight, that the same personnel would need to handle England’s finest with equal competence if the west Londoners were to thrive.

Manager and occasional player Jackie Robertson, who’d built the team but stood down before his side earned their elevation, had been succeeded by Lincoln City boss David Calderhead. Calderhead (pictured right) is rightly regarded as a Chelsea legend, if only because he remains our longest serving manager, surviving 26 years in one of the hottest seats in football.

"Chelsea had only three of their regular team playing. For all that they gave a capital display, the football of the visitors during the first half being extremely good. [Norrie] Fairgray, who was transferred from Lincoln City, proved a splendid partner to at outside-left to [Jimmy] Windridge. These two men, with [Billy] Bridgeman in the centre, played together wonderfully well." The Daily Mirror report of Brentford 2 Chelsea 4, September 1906

But Robertson’s acrimonious resignation was symptomatic of a widespread lapse in standards at easygoing Stamford Bridge. There were frequent absentees from training, and several fines for drunkenness. Club captain David Copeland was even suspended for abusing club officials while under the influence. The directors acted, taking over some organisational duties from Robertson. Calderhead, it was hoped, would exert more authority.

Still one star was errant. George ‘Gatling Gun’ Hilsdon, the sensational young striker, had begun to enjoy the extended drinking sessions that would eventually mar his career. At this stage, though, he was still able to set new standards of goalscoring, notching 30, including a stunning double hat-trick against Worksop in the Cup.

Others weighed in with high quality performances, including fellow forward Jimmy Windridge and goalie Jack Whitley, and the Bridge’s gates averaged more than 30,000. However, one win in the first eight matches did not augur well, and 62 goals were conceded. Still, 13th place in Division One would have been an achievement for a less ambitious club.

Whatever, the music hall songwriters of the day were finding a rich new source of material in SW6 with which to tickle the public fancy. In fact, following the shock death of trainer Jimmy Miller, variety star George Robey organised a benefit at which his All-Star XI played. So well did he perform that the comedian was actually signed up as a player on the Stamford Bridge staff.

Chelsea and entertainment were now intimately - and eternally - linked.

In 1907/8...
Fact & figures: More than 625,000 people watched football at the Bridge this season
FA Cup: Second round, losing to Manchester United
All the rage: Music hall comedian George Robey, of course

Season by Season: 1906/7

In early November 1906, the award of half a guinea (52.5p) for creating the best seven word sentence from the acronym C-H-E-L-S-E-A was printed in Chelsea’s matchday Chronicle: “Chelseaites Hope Every League Struggle Earns Advancement”.

Two hundred others had penned suggestions; crowds flocked to games home and away; the press enjoyed lampooning and hailing in equal measure; some more notable players were lured to Division Two to replace big names like goalie Willie Foulke and 18-goal striker George Pearson. In its second season, Chelsea FC was weaving its way into football’s tapestry.

Perhaps this was the period when the lasting image of Chelsea was struck, forged in the Imperial, excitable, warless days soon after the death of old Queen Vic. The board was a hedonistic mixture of wealthy building contractors and local publicans; what they all shared was a love of the high-living and sport.

The team fulfilled their fixtures around the country by train and the novel electric tram (no team coach then) to record crowds, fascinated by the newcomers. In the public psyche, the club was forever associated with its desirable but implausible West London location.

“Chelsea, you’re the team to show ’em (when you’re in the proper vein)” First line of a poem sent in to the Chelsea Chronicle by supporter F Douglas

Chelsea was an enigma.

One of the head-turning attractions was the 20-year-old Londoner George Hilsdon, perhaps the club’s first ‘discovery’. A centre-forward who was watched languishing in West Ham’s reserves, he had become manager Jackie Robertson most important summer signing. Fast, mobile, muscular and with bullets in either boot, he had destroyed poor Glossop – who’d left with a point the season before – on the opening day of 1906/7.

‘Gatling Gun’, as he was soon dubbed, rattled in five during our auspicious 9-2 win and within weeks scored in the English League’s first international, against Ireland. The glamorous George scored 28 of 80 League goals in the campaign and became an instant hero. A weathervane in his likeness (pictured above) still spins on top of the east stand at Stamford Bridge.

The self-evident ambition, on and off the pitch, of this star-studded club also earned plaudits even if the erratic away form didn’t. But with Stamford Bridge becoming a citadel (one defeat, no draws over the campaign), the Londoners were always favourites for one of the two promotion slots, and a Christmas run of four away games without defeat set up a comfortable conclusion: nine points clear of rivals Leicester Fosse; three behind champions Nottingham Forest.

In its second season Chelsea FC was promoted to the top flight, and the big time.

In 1906/7...
Facts and figures: The 9-2 defeat of Glossop remains Chelsea’s best ever League win
Cup run: Reached the first round, losing to Lincoln City in a replay after a draw
All the rage: Jules Verne was the JK Rowling of the day

Season by Season: 1905/6

On Saturday September 2nd 1905, just before three o’clock, a marching band, followed by a rabble of excited football fans draped in red and white stripes, wound its way through the Victorian streets of Stockport into County's Edgeley Park stadium. The largest ever crowd for the Cheshire club had come to catch the League debut of this glamorous new team from London, Chelsea FC.

Chelsea lost out, narrowly, 0-1. But some principles, established straight away, have resonated ever since. The team was attractive and ambitious, with many non-English players (albeit Scots and Irish); they played football with attacking flair; and they participated in a ‘first’ – larger-than-life keeper Willie Foulke had to adhere to a brand new rule dictating that goalies must stay rooted to the line when County were awarded a penalty.

Skipper Foulke – who saved the penalty – was a boisterous, 6’3”, 22st Shropshireman. One opposing forward felt facing him was “as though darkness had come over the goal.” He was marketed much like David Beckham is today, albeit on difference criteria: men marched around town when Chelsea were visiting with sandwich boards saying: 'Come and see the 23 stone goalkeeper!'

The England international was just one of many big names drawn in the summer to the new name in English football. Manager John Tait “Jacky” Robertson, himself a Scotsman, had managed to recruit, amongst others, the prolific Johnnie Kirwan, David Copeland and 5’7” inside-forward Jimmy Windridge, who notched our first hat-trick in the 5-1 home debut win over Hull on Sept 9th.

“What do you think of our Ground… Good enough for SECOND Division Football, is it not? And it is only a baby as yet. Wait until is it full grown, and then – well, we shall see what we shall Chel-sea.” Chelsea Chronicle, Sept 4th 1905

The novelty of the capital's first big professional Football League club drew massive crowds all around the country. On Good Friday 1906, for the crunch visit of title rivals Manchester United, an extraordinary attendance of 67,000 was recorded at the Bridge - more than three times the figure for the return fixture at Clayton.

With record-breaking numbers drawn to Stamford Bridge it was clear the club was too big for this level. Robertson's men decimated lesser opponents: Barnsley 6-0, Lincoln 7-0, Blackpool 6-0, Port Vale 7-0, Orient 6-0, Leeds 4-0.

But a poor spell of earning just three points from a possible ten (it was two for a win in those days) during the run-in meant that our expected promotion charge fizzled out behind runaway winners Bristol City and Manchester United, who claimed the other promotion slot.

The Fulham Chronicle ran articles to decide a nickname for the exciting debutants. Against ‘The Chinamen’, ‘The Buns’ and ‘The Cherubs’, we might be grateful that ‘The Pensioners’ came out on top, even though, as the Football Star observed, it was “rather suggestive of the lights of other days.”

Our motto in that first season was less in dispute. “Don’t worry!” was the regular rallying cry of millionaire owner Gus Mears (pictured left). It served just as well for most of the 100 to follow.

In 1905-6…
• League: Finished third in Division Two
• FA Cup: Reached third qualifying round v. Crystal Palace
• Fact: Our first ever signing – and goalscorer – was Robert ‘Bob’ McRoberts
• All the rage: double decker buses rumble along the King’s Road for the first time