Look back to 1970 with famous display ahead of Leeds visit
From the official Chelsea FC website:
Few Chelsea fixtures spark nostalgia quite like an FA Cup tie against Leeds United, and fans visiting Stamford Bridge can wallow in a glorious moment in the Blues’ history.
This week’s fifth-round meeting between the two clubs is the first in the competition since the legendary 1970 clash – and clash is very much the appropriate word.
A notoriously physical encounter in the final began at Wembley and became even more brutal in a replay at Old Trafford.
Don Revie’s undoubtedly skilful Leeds side were also famous for intimidating sides in the tackle, but Dave Sexton’s flamboyant Blues would not be bullied and Chelsea lifted the trophy for the very first time.
In the Chelsea Museum at Stamford Bridge, we have 1970 FA Cup artefacts galore – and they can be viewed on Wednesday’s matchday and on non-matchdays too.
Here’s a flavour of the story to be told…
Webby’s redemption shirt
Defender David Webb was given a torrid time at full-back by Leeds winger Eddie Gray in the Wembley match but having switched to centre-half, he was the right man in the right place to bundle the ball into the net with his cheekbone in extra time of the replay.
The shirt worn that Manchester night by the scorer of the first-ever FA Cup-winning goal for Chelsea takes pride of place among the exhibits.
Big John’s jersey
Like Webb, John Dempsey’s primary job was to prevent goals rather than score them and the other half of the centre-back pairing at Old Trafford helped limit Leeds to just one goal on the night.
Demps was an ever-present during the 1970 cup run and scored in the fifth round. The No.5 shirt he wore the day Chelsea finally won the cup is at the Bridge for anyone to see. Look out also for shirts from other players from the games versus Leeds, including…
Ossie’s shirt and shorts
It is a famous fact that Peter Osgood is the most recent player to score in every round his team played on the way to winning the FA Cup.
Whisper it quietly but the King of Stamford Bridge did not find the net in the initial match against Leeds, but he more than made up for that with an iconic diving header to equalise at Old Trafford.
It is something of an urban myth that the Horse of the Year show had been on the pitch just before the Wembley game but it is true the surface was unfit for a final. Is the mud still on Ossie’s kit from that April afternoon? There is one way to find out…
The honours handed over
Captain Ron Harris had the duty of lifting the trophy into the floodlight sky, after the 240 minutes contested against Leeds at last conjured up a winner.
A replica of the FA Cup from 1970 gleams proudly in the museum’s trophy room today, as do replicas of the other seven FA Cups that followed it to the Bridge over the years.
Chopper Harris’s winner’s medal is also on display, as are the medals given to three more of the team – goalkeeping great Peter Bonetti, Ian Hutchinson whose extraordinary long throw led to Webb’s winner and was Osgood’s partner in attack, and Peter Houseman, who like Hutchinson scored in the Wembley game.
The printed page
For the first time in FA Cup history since the final was played at Wembley, two versions of the match programme were needed in 1970, and the publishers managed to produce a second edition in time for the groundbreaking replay, helped by a two-and-a-half-week gap between the first game and the rematch (Chelsea won all three league games in between incidentally).
Thousands of Blues fans made the trip north for the Wednesday night replay, and our museum even has one of the road signs that shepherded them there, as well as copies of the match programmes, enabling you to see for yourself the souvenir so many brought back home.
The next day the supporters were reading all about the triumph in the newspapers, and that opportunity remains today with our collection of the printed match reports, typed from those 54 years ago.
Book now to look back – including for Legends Tour with Chopper
The best way to make the most of a trip to the Chelsea Museum is to combine it with one of our stadium tours, available every day between 9.30am and 4pm, with the exception of certain matchdays.
On this week’s matchday for Chelsea versus Leeds, the last tour is at 1pm so fans can go behind the scenes only hours before the players arrive.
Everyone taking a tour has access to the museum where you can see the shirts, the medals, the trophies and so much more from throughout Chelsea Football Club’s history.
Breaking news!
If you would like to here first hand about 1970 and more, Ron Harris is conducting a Legends Tour of Stamford Bridge with another former Blues, Gary Chivers, this coming Sunday (3 March) at 3.30pm.
‘Chelsea Supporters Group’ can also be found on X and Facebook
