True Blues — Chelsea FC
ΕΛ

Season: 1980–81

Football League Second Division

League

A mid-table Second Division campaign after the near-miss of the year before: Chelsea finished 12th of 22 with 40 points — 14 wins, 12 draws and 16 defeats (46–41).

Division
Football League Second Division (Tier 2)
Manager
Geoff Hurst (until 23 April) Bobby Gould (caretaker)
Top scorer (league)
Colin Lee (15)
Top scorer (all comps)
Colin Lee (16)
Avg. league attendance
17,897

Cups & Europe

FA Cup
Third round
League Cup
Second round
Europe
—

Notes

A mid-table Second Division campaign after the near-miss of the year before: Chelsea finished 12th of 22 with 40 points — 14 wins, 12 draws and 16 defeats (46–41). Home form was modest at 8–6–7 (27–15); away 6–6–9 (19–26). West Ham (66), Notts County (53) and Swansea (50) went up; the Blues sat safely clear of the drop. Geoff Hurst’s side briefly looked like challengers — six straight league wins from late September into November, capped by a 6–0 thrashing of Newcastle at the Bridge on 25 October that left them as high as second. Then the goals dried up. From mid-December they scored only seven times in the last 23 league matches, and a wretched spring cost Hurst his job. Bounder and the club managers list place his dismissal on 23 April; assistant Bobby Gould took caretaker charge for the last two games (0–3 at Swansea, 0–2 at home to Notts County) before John Neal arrived at the end of May. Tommy Langley had been sold to QPR in mid-August; Alan Mayes arrived from Swindon in December and scored four in a short burst. Colin Lee led the scoring with 15 league goals and 16 in all competitions (his FA Cup strike at Southampton). Clive Walker added 11 in the league; Mike Fillery 6; Mayes 4; Gary Chivers 2; singles for John Bumstead, Peter Rhoades-Brown, Micky Droy, Ian Britton, Phil Driver, Chris Hutchings and Gary Johnson, plus one own goal. Droy’s League Cup goal made him the only other multiple cup scorer. The League Cup ended at the second round against Cardiff City — 0–1 at Ninian Park and 1–1 at the Bridge (Droy), 1–2 on aggregate. The FA Cup went no further than the third round: 1–3 at First Division Southampton on 3 January (Lee). Biggest league win was the 6–0 home rout of Newcastle; heaviest reverse 0–4 at West Ham on 14 February. Home league gates averaged 17,897 — high 32,669 against West Ham on 6 September, low 11,569 against Cardiff on 4 April. Umbro’s all-blue home kit continued in the site’s existing 1978–1981 row, with the yellow-and-green change look listed by Historical Kits for that span; Le Coq Sportif’s new look begins on the next HFK rows from 1981–82.

Kits

Home
Away
Third—

The away kit swapped blue for green, a yellow-and-green look that lasted until 1981.

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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