THIS WEEKEND'S FIXTURE - -Chelsea Vs Wigan, Reading & Fulham…(not at the same time though!!!)

Ok first Wigan away. We have only played at the popular rugby town once and it was the first game of last season, which Hernan Crespo scored in the last minute. Hmm that was easy!!! As for the dirty boys from Berkshire, we have played them a total of 4 times at the Bridge  & in those 4 games they are yet to take away anything, having won 2 and drawn 2. Our last league win at home was way back in 1929 with Reg Weaver scoring the only goal in front of a 29,238 crowd. As for Fulham at the Bridge, we’ve played them a total of 27 times, winning 16,drawing 9 & losing just the 2.Our biggest win at home was a 7-0 thrashing way back in 1918 in an competition called “The London Combination”, we also had a 7-7 draw in “The London League South” in 1944. 

Recent Statistics: Recent stats against Wigan & Reading are in very short supply so the stats are against our neighbors Fulham. Since Fulham returned to the top flight we have played them a total of 11 times of which we have lost 1,drawn 3 & won 7.Our biggest home win in this sequence is a 3-1 victory back in Apr 05, with J Cole, Lampard & Gudjohnsen grabbing the goals in front of a title expecting crowd of 42,081.Our team that day was…Cech, Johnson, Carvalho, JT, Huth, Cole, Makalele, Lampard, Duff, Gudjohnsen & Drogba…Playing subs were…Jarosik, Robben, Tiago. The top scorers for Chelsea  & Fulham that season were Lampard with 13 from 38 & for Fulham Andy Cole with 12 from 31.    

Games from this week in years gone by:

Dec 26^th 68 Vs Ipswich Town  (A)  W 1-3 Goalscorer Webb 3…Att 24,083

Dec 27^th 52 Vs Stoke City (H)  D 0-0…Att 17,173

Dec 30^th 89 Vs Luton Town (A)  W  0-3 Goalscorers Dixon, K Wilson 2 Att 10,068                                                          

 

 

 

CHELSEA LEGEND. This weeks legend is none other than the man who brought us our first championship winning team.Ted Drake.Before becoming a manager Ted had a pretty useful career as a player having scored 139 goals in 184 games for Le Arse .Ted took over at the start of 52-53 season & promptly lost 0-2 to the mancs.But between is first loss then and his last loss in Oct 61 0-4 to Blackpool he did manage to get us our first League title,With a bunch of hard working players he set about getting that elusive piece of silverware inside 3 years.Ted who was appointed as our first ‘manager’,(the others previously holding down the job as secretary/manager) was innovative as a tracksuit manager who took it upon himself to train the players.After 2 season in which we finish a lowly 19^th & 8^th things were not looking to rosey for ‘ol Teddy boy’ he somehow managed to win the league with an all time low points total 52.After finally winning the league the next few season were hard for Drake & his ducklings as we finished 16^th 13^th 11^th 14^th 18^th & 12^th in his remaining years at the Bridge.His tenure came to an end in 1961 after a poor run of form of just 2 wins in 11 games he got the old heave ho and in came Tommy Docherty.But even after 323 games in charge which included just 156 wins Drake will always be known for getting us that first title and therefore should always be thought of as a…CHELSEA LEGEND.   

CHELSEA TRIVIA: Chelsea greats who hardly got a look in at international level: Bonetti 7 caps, Dixon 8 caps, Osgood 4 caps, Hudson 2 caps, Venables 2 caps, Tambling 3 caps,Bridges 4 caps, Blunstone 3 caps,Weller 4 caps & Cudicini( he’s qualified now) 0 caps.

QUIZ QUESTIONS:

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:

  1: The name of the 3 teams with abcde in their name are…Cambridge Utd, Wycombe Wanderers, Cowdenbeath

  2: The 5 scottish teams who start and end with the same letter are… Kilmarnock, Celtic,Dundee Utd, East Fife, East Stirlingshire.

 THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS

  1:Name the only team which starts with 5 consonants

  2: Which team in British football has the longest name?      

                                                                                      Next weeks lesson is Vs  Aston Villa                                                                                        

Until Next Time Then…….Cheerio!  Tel