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