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234 pages

English

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Zola, Cooke, Dixon, Terry and Bentley. The names trip off the tongue like manna from heaven to Blues fans. But why did these stars become the players that Chelsea fans adored, their embodiment on the pitch, the men that they would pay to see again and again? In "Chelsea's Cult Heroes", football writer Leo Moynihan examines the careers of 20 of Stamford Bridge's biggest icons, discovers why they became such legends and how fans grew to love them, despite their idiosyncracies, behaviour and antics!The journey begins with 22 stone goalkeeper 'Fatty Foulke', who, legend has it, delighted crowds by dangling opposing forwards' heads in the mud. Along the way we relive the 1955 Championship winning glory with Roy Bentley and Eric Parsons, swagger down the Kings Road with Osgood, Cooke and Hudson, laugh along with heroes of the 80s such as Pat Nevin and cower from he-men Micky Droy and Joey Jones. While in recent times the modern genius of the twinkling feet of Gianfranco Zola and sheer will and determination of current skipper John Terry ensure that these pages brim full with footballing gods.The book also charts the emotional history of Chelsea from the moment it was conceived by multi-millionaire, Gus Mears to attract the cognescenti of West London through its turnstiles, through the glamour of the sixties and the dark days of the hooligan era, to the multi-national, trophy-winning superclub that it is today. This book examines the club's roots and reveals how far, or not, the present club has drifted from them. Containing many exclusive interviews, including one of the last ever with legend Peter Osgood, and with a foreword by the late Tony Banks, this book is a must for all true Blues fans.

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Gran Londres

Greater London

Grand Londres

London

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	26 octobre 2005
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781909178274
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

This edition first published by Pitch Publishing 2012
Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
© Leo Moynihan 2012
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
ISBN 978-1-909178-27-4
Ebook Conversion by www.ebookpartnership.com
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Dennis Wise
Introduction
1. William Foulke
2. George Hilsden
3. Hughie Gallacher
4. Roy Bentley
5. Eric Parsons
6. Jimmy Greaves
7. Bobby Tambling
8. Ron Harris
9. Peter Osgood
10. Charlie Cooke
11. Alan Hudson
12. Ray Wilkins
13. Mickey Droy
14. Joey Jones
15. Pat Nevin
16. Kerry Dixon
17. Dennis Wise
18. Ruud Gullit
19. Gianfranco Zola
20. Didier Drogba
21. John Terry
Acknowledgements
I WOULD LIKE to thank the original publisher of the hardback edition, Simon Lowe, for his support in the writing of this book. Simon showed a great deal of patience, humour and support and for that I am very grateful. Those days sitting over coffee and pondering on a suitable 20 players seem a long way away.
Thanks, also, to Paul Camillin of Pitch Publishing for re-publishing the book in paperback.
So many people have been so enthusiastic in their help with this project and I would like to thank them all. Albert Sewell for his incredible archive of photos and memories, David McCleave for his more than enthusiastic research, Steve Cook for the same reasons and to Tony Banks for his fantastic foreword.
Matt Allen, Justyn Barnes, Neil Barnett, Clive Batty for not ignoring my sea of e-mails, Rob Blake, Dougie Bruce, Scott Cheshire, Gerry Cox, Pete and Katie Collins, Louise Cook, Charlie Cooke, Dan Davies, Kerry Dixon, Gary Double (great work mate), Micky Droy, Mike and Jill Field, John Garrett, Ron Harris, Allon Hoskin, Alan Hudson, Joey Jones, Tim Lovejoy, Ben Lyttleton, Louis Massarella, Hugh McIlvanney, Marc Milmo, Pat Nevin, Peter Osgood, Sam Pilger, Mark Riches, Hugh Sleight, Steve Taylor, Bobby Tambling, Rob Wightman and Geoff Young for the cover shot of yours truly. Thanks everyone.
I’d like to mention my Mum. She isn’t the biggest football fan - in fact she couldn’t care less, but she has always encouraged me to write. It’s not quite Arthur Miller, mum, but thanks anyway.
I’d like to dedicate this book to my dad, John Moynihan. A renowned writer of football he was also a Chelsea fan and loved Stamford Bridge.
Foreword
by Dennis Wise
In 1990, I left Wimbledon – the crazy gang – for Chelsea FC. On paper you could argue that I left a ramshackle club in one part of south-west London for a massive, glamorous club in another. Yes, Chelsea back then were bigger than Wimbledon (who wasn’t?) but they were nowhere near the giants of today and so what struck me as soon as I arrived was, despite the difference in size between Plough Lane and Stamford Bridge, the relationship the players had with their fans was equally as close.
At Wimbledon I was used to having pints with the fans after games and knowing some by name. That became the norm too at Chelsea and that bond with the fans is still strong, despite the club’s success since I left in 2001. The Shed, the Members Enclosure or "the benches"; these were filled with the most passionate supporters in the country and I am so pleased that those fans are today being rewarded with the sort of glory that their loyalty and dedication deserves.
Fans make a club and to make the punters happy was a huge motivation to me. My appreciation of the Chelsea fans was tremendous and to be appreciated back by them was as important as any medal or international recognition.
Fans have their heroes. It’s what makes kids come to watch the game in the first place and looking through Leo Moynihan’s book, I am honoured to be among names such as Jimmy Greaves, Peter Osgood and my old pal, Gianfranco Zola.
Chelsea are a special club and have had some fantastic personalities playing for them but the one constant is those fans and this book is about them and their desires as much as it is the players Moynihan writes about. To play for, captain and ultimately win trophies for this club and the fans was the highlight of my career and I am proud to be part of its history.
Enjoy the book.
Dennis Wise August 2012
Introduction
The crowd are as much a part of the atmosphere as the air, the rain, the sun and the mist... Bernard Joy
This is going to sound strange, but I hope that those who read this book will close it a little disappointed. Angry, even.
Before my publisher has a stroke, let me explain. This book offers Chelsea fans the opportunity to debate, discuss and, alright, argue about the 20 greatest cult heroes in the club’s history. Each chapter of our chosen 20 looks at that player’s career in Chelsea blue and what turned them into crowd favourites, delves behind the simple playing career sum-ups and stats with which football fans have been deluged for the last two decades or so to reveal why each of these men became living legends; and examines how from legends they progressed to become part of folklore. With demi-gods like these tales of their feats of derring-do become exacerbated in pub and bar conversations and as they are passed down from fathers to sons. How they tore opponents apart, cocked a snook at authority and thrilled the Bridge’s crowd.
But here’s the thing, when it comes to heroes and favourites the crowd is everything and within that throng, opinions differ and one man’s hero is another man’s donkey.
When flicking through these pages there will be some who sneer at the absence of a star who was or is everything to them. They will scoff as a player who so warmed those cold days in the stands or on the terraces is conspicuous by their absence. We could only pick 20, but still the essence of the book lies in opinion and debate, and that is, after all, what us fans thrive on.
Tommy Lawton, England centre-forward and every post-war boy’s hero, is not included. Peter "The Cat" Bonetti, that most agile of entertainers is not here either. The feisty Scot David Speedie is missing, whilst Gianluca Vialli, the shiny-headed Italian, doesn’t make it and the current day midfield maestro, Frank Lampard, is overlooked in favour of the home-grown John Terry. There are plenty of others missing from these pages, of course, but I hope once the reader has got over any glaring omissions they will agree that the 20 that have made the cut represent everything that is both great and odd about this intoxicating football club.
So what does it take to be a cult hero? These are the players that appeal to the core of your everyday football fan. They must have that something special about them. Zola, yes. Greaves, obviously. But that doesn’t have to be special in terms of their ability as a footballer, the chapters on Micky Droy and Joey Jones are testament to that. What players like Jones and Droy did have though was a link with the fans; they touched something deep inside and represent, in bodily form, the way the fans of the time felt about their club. The raw essence that drives the fan on to come and watch the game is deeply affected by men like these 20, who, each in their own way, appeal to our sense of adventure, loyalty, fun, bold genius and in some cases absolute madness.
Chelsea Football Club is - like its current manager - special. Ever since William "Fatty" Foulke signed on the dotted line and paraded himself down the Fulham Road in his dandy attire, the club has had an affinity with garish and wonderful individuals. There are other similarities which cross the ages, not least the fact that Foulke was the first player ever to be bought precisely because he was a cult hero. Signed by the club to convince the Football League to allow them to enter the Second Division without the club ever having fielded a team, Foulke also guaranteed bumper crowds wherever he went with his antics and sheer bulk. Since then the team may have faltered during certain periods, offering glimpses of success only for them then to be snatched away at the last minute, but players have always pulled on that Blue shirt with one thing on their mind, to go out and entertain a crowd hell-bent on enjoying, well, entertainment.
Wonderful goalscorers like Hughie Gallacher, Jimmy Greaves and Peter Osgood. These men represented what the club, pre-Abramovich, was all about. Troubled, but brilliant. They would fan the flames of the young fan’s pulsating heart until the fires of their desire raged out of control.
Then there was Pat Nevin, a man who stood out from the crowd and who managed, with wonderful trickery, to charm the hearts of an apparently hardened crowd; equally Kerry Dixon’s Roy of the Rovers persona or Dennis Wise’s cheeky wink coaxed fans to adulate them to the level of hero. And then there’s Gianfranco Zola. At least here there is no debate. Zola is a god as far as every Chelsea fan is concerned, for just being at the Bridge and doing what he did.
These are all players who fans have taken great pleasure in paying good money to watch and then left the ground chomping at the bit to come back the next time and then the next until they were hooked. These are the men who generations of boys have pretended to be whilst playing football in the park, who adorned bedroom walls of adolescents (and a few grown men) and who sent that shiver up the collective spine which pulled crowds in week after week waiting with baited breath to hear whether their name w