True Blues — Chelsea FC
ΕΛ

Season: 1970–71

Football League First Division

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  • Cup Winners' Cup

League

Chelsea finished 6th of 22 with 51 points — 18 wins, 15 draws and 9 defeats (52–42) — Dave Sexton’s third season and the campaign that brought the club’s first European trophy.

Division
Football League First Division (Tier 1)
Manager
Dave Sexton
Top scorer (league)
Keith Weller (13)
Top scorer (all comps)
Keith Weller (14)
Avg. league attendance
39,546

Cups & Europe

FA Cup
Fourth round
League Cup
Fourth round
Europe
Cup Winners' Cup: Winners
Other
Charity/Community Shield: Runners-up

Notes

Chelsea finished 6th of 22 with 51 points — 18 wins, 15 draws and 9 defeats (52–42) — Dave Sexton’s third season and the campaign that brought the club’s first European trophy. Home they were 12–6–3 (34–21); away 6–9–6 (18–21). The league never quite caught fire after a Charity Shield reverse and a mid-table rhythm, but Europe carried the year. Keith Weller, signed from Millwall the previous May, led the scoring with 13 league goals and 14 in all competitions. John Hollins added 6 and 9; Ian Hutchinson 5 and 10; Peter Osgood 5 and 12; Derek Smethurst 4 and 5; David Webb 4 and 6. Osgood missed a mid-season stretch after an FA suspension and returned for the Club Brugge second leg; Hutchinson’s season effectively ended with a knee injury at Southampton in late February. John Phillips arrived from Aston Villa in August as cover for Peter Bonetti. The FA Cup exited in the fourth round: Crystal Palace 2–2 away and 2–0 in the Stamford Bridge replay, then a 0–3 home defeat to Manchester City. The League Cup also reached the fourth round — Sheffield Wednesday 1–1 and 2–1 in the replay, Middlesbrough 3–2 at home, then a 1–2 exit at Manchester United. Europe was the story. As FA Cup holders Chelsea entered the Cup Winners’ Cup: Aris Salonika 1–1 away and 5–1 at home; CSKA Sofia 1–0 away and 1–0 at home; Club Brugge 0–2 away then a famous 4–0 after extra time at the Bridge (Houseman, Osgood two, Baldwin) after trailing 2–0 on aggregate at ninety minutes; Manchester City 1–0 at home (Smethurst) and 1–0 away (Healey own goal). The final in Athens, at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus on 19 May, finished 1–1 after extra time — Osgood’s volley cancelled by Zoco in the last minute — before a replay two nights later. Dempsey and Osgood put Chelsea 2–0 up; Fleitas pulled one back; Chelsea held on 2–1 for the club’s first European honour. The season opened with the Charity Shield at Stamford Bridge on 8 August: Everton won 2–1 (Hutchinson for Chelsea). Biggest league wins included the 4–1 home defeat of West Bromwich Albion and the 4–3 comeback at Blackpool; heaviest reverse the 0–3 at Everton. Home league gates averaged 39,546 (high 61,277 vs Tottenham on 14 November; low 14,356 vs Burnley on 26 April). The all-blue kit — royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks — remained the settled look through the 1964–1972 stretch.

Kits

Home
Away
Third

Tommy Docherty's all-blue with white socks became the identity from 1964-65; away alternated yellow-and-blue and all-white, and a blue-black Inter-style kit was worn in the 1966 FA Cup semi-final.

Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).

On this day (related years)

All On this day →

History

Eras, trophies, and great matches in the History section.

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Sources

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