August ’79 saw trouble in Northern Ireland hit the headlines once again as the IRA targeted Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Charles’ favourite uncle who was killed in a bomb attack on a boat in the Republic of Ireland, he along with other fatalities and casualties. The British Army themselves suffered many losses at Warrenpoint as roadside bombs exploded, causing much loss of life and countless injuries. Michael Jackson released an album titled ‘Off The Wall’ which went on to sell millions whilst The Boomtown Rats declared that they didn’t like Monday’s. I’d been following Chelsea for so long that I declared to myself that our players didn’t like Saturday’s or Wednesday’s much either, such was our poor form. Ian Dury restored some faith as he gave me ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’, three of them. The Police summed things up nicely when they repeatedly sang ‘I can’t, I can’t, I can’t stand losing’ while a certain Gerry Rafferty restored even more faith when he claimed we’d ‘Get It Right Next Time’. ‘Here Comes the Summer’ said The Undertones. ‘Here Comes the Season’ said I.
The season finally arrived on Saturday 18th August as we hosted the Mackems from the North East, Sunderland. I got to The Bridge really early and couldn’t wait for the season to finally begin, the usual ‘this could be the big one’ feeling running through my veins. I got my programme and read it a few times, looking up every now and again to see the stadium gradually filling up a little. At 23,500 we were all inside and watched as our heroes in blue kicked off our brand-new campaign to the sound of The Shed singing and cheering each and every move as we aimed to begin our season with a win. We drew 0-0 and the journey home to North London that night was a disappointing one.
Gary Johnson’s 7th minute goal proved to be the winner over at the home of those cheeky, cockney chappies West Ham, always welcoming us Blues with a cheery smile and a friendly hug. Yeah, right.
A journey up to the North East saw us snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory as Mike Fillery scored in the 17th minute only for Peter Withe to secure the points with two goals in the second half.
A 1-2 home defeat to Plymouth Argyle saw us crash out of the League Cup after a 2-2 draw at their place, a gate of just 14,112 witnessing our capitulation in all its glory after going 0-2 down before Micky Droy restored some ‘pride’ to the scoreline. Not to be outdone, Birmingham City also won by the same scoreline just 4 days later.
Gary Johnson’s 83rd minute winner at the Abbey Stadium, Cambridge saw the expected trouble off the pitch and in the surrounding areas as we struggled for any sort of consistency or fluidity in most games although Eamon Bannon and Lee Frost (make a note of that name) absolutely tore through the defence of our visitors to The Bridge as we saw off the mighty Los Angeles Aztecs in the middle of October in an evening feast of football in front of 10,575 spectators.
Just 3 days later, Lee Frost (see, I told you) and Mike Fillery secured a most-welcome away win in South Wales as we beat Cardiff City in front of 16,328.
October saw an album released by Madness, the ska band that grew up around my streets in Camden, North London. Titled ‘One Step Beyond’, how could I possibly know what a major part the title song would later become, how it would play its part in my following of my club? Madness, absolute Madness.
We then come to Saturday 10th November and a tricky little away fixture at Brisbane Road, home to East London’s finest, no not West Ham, but Orient as 13,005 spectators saw a game that could only be described as either ‘crazy’ or ‘mad’ or both. It would surely be a tight, tense London derby as east meets west, so often the case in these nervy, edgy games in the capital.
Rubbish.
This one had all the excitement of a Beijing street market as the Orient erupted that afternoon, fireworks being displayed on the pitch rather than in the sky. If you’d have opened a prawn cracker that day it probably would’ve said something like ‘It will be raining goals today, be lucky’. Ian Britton went for a starter in the 11th minute before Lee Frost (see, him again) went for number 27 and Mike Fillery a 34 respectively. Billy Jennings (shouldn’t he be playing for West Ham?) scored as the teams came out for the second half but Lee Frost (yep) was having none of it as he scored again after 51 minutes. Clive ‘Flasher’ Walker (don’t ask) popped up with a goal after 66 and 68 minutes respectively before West Ham, sorry Orient, scored again with a Billy Jennings goal with 12 minutes remaining. Finished? No chance. Lee Frost (what, again?) stroked home an 80th minute penalty to put us 2-7 up before Bobby Fisher cried ‘Check’ in the 86th minute to close the gap to only 3-7, Chelsea declaring ‘Checkmate’. Turns out it was Fisher rather than Fischer but the points were already on the board for us.
As I boarded a Central Line train from Leyton, I just knew that we’d turned a corner and that we’d build a little momentum now. Victories over West Ham, Charlton, Notts County, Preston, Swansea, Leicester, Newcastle (4-0) and Watford followed as we entered the final run-in towards the end of the season.
Could we put a run together that would see us climb the table and secure promotion? Could manager Geoff Hurst (shouldn’t he be managing West Ham?) top even winning the World Cup for England by getting Chelsea promoted? Would the commentator be heard to say ‘Some Chelsea fans are on the pitch, they think it’s all over. It is now!’
Of course not, we’re Chelsea and things are never quite that straightforward.
We subsequently finished 4th, missing out on promotion by goal-difference. If I remember correctly, West Ham needed to win at Sunderland to ensure our return to the top table of English football and that was never going to happen, right?
So we finished 4th with Leicester, Birmingham and Sunderland all gaining promotion instead of us, however we did achieve one thing that was better than that: we played our part in the highest scoring game that season, that 3-7 Orient Express of a game.
There were no Chelsea fans on the pitch. They thought it was all over. It was. For now…….