In May 1971 Chelsea won the Cup Winners' Cup in Athens, following their FA Cup triumph twelve months earlier. The club, awash with glamour, was ambitious on and off the field. The squad included stars like Peter Osgood, Alan Hudson, David Webb, Peter Bonetti, Charlie Cooke, John Hollins, Ian Hutchinson, Peter Houseman, Eddie McCreadie, Keith Weller, Ron Harris, John Boyle, John Dempsey, John Phillips, Tommy Baldwin and Paddy Mulligan. Dave Sexton was a highly-respected manager, a forward-thinking coach. Everything looked rosy.
Four seasons later they were relegated, Osgood, Hudson and Webb had left and Sexton summarily sacked with the club in a financial morass. Why the decline? What went so badly awry, so quickly?This book utilises extensive research to examine what went wrong on and off the field, the big personalities, the matches, the key cup defeats, the squabbles and rows, the money problems and the big decisions around the planned stadium redevelopment.
'This is a forensic chronicle that will add wonderfully to our understanding of this period of Chelsea history'. Rick Glanvill, official Chelsea historian.
'Tim Rolls' excellent and highly detailed account of that painful yet strangely gripping period in our history when the club went from star-studded holders of a European title to controversy-riven second-tier outfit on the brink of bankruptcy in just four seasons.' Giles Smith - author, journalist and Chelsea website columnist.
Tim Rolls first watched Chelsea in September 1967 and has watched them regularly with the same group of friends since 1976 from The Shed, the benches and the West Stand. A home and away season ticket holder, since 1997 Tim has sat in the Matthew Harding Upper Stand. He writes for cfcuk fanzine, proudly holds a Chelsea Pitch Owners share and was for four years Chair of Chelsea Supporters Trust. Retired, he lives in South-West London. This is his second book. His first, 'Diamonds, Dynamos and Devils' on Tommy Docherty's Chelsea, is available from the cfcuk stall on matchdays, or on Amazon.
