Six Degrees of Chelsea Separation!
Some of our younger brethren will not know that the title is a thinly disguised pun on a song called Lost In France, a big hit for Bonnie Tyler.
Bonnie Tyler also had a massive worldwide hit with a song called It’s a Heartache, a song covered by amongst others, Rod Stewart, Juice Newton, David Johansen of the New York Dolls and Gene Pitney. Tyler’s version is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
So what has this to do with Chelsea I hear you ask? Well, patience, all will be revealed (eventually!).
Lost In France and It’s a Heartache, were both co-written by Steve Wolfe (who also wrote Beg, Steal or Borrow, a massive hit, and the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972, performed by The New Seekers). Steve Wolfe (a pen name), was also manager, songwriter, and producer for Bonnie Tyler. Now, Steve is an old aquaintance of mine (I remember many New year’s eve parties at his flat in Sloane Square. Terrific!), and a Chelsea supporter (of course). But it doesn’t end there.
Steve’s son is Laurence Batty, a goalkeeper who played for Woking, Fulham, Farense, Brentford, Chesham, St Albans, Maidenhead and Molesey. I remember one sunny afernoon going to Craven Cottage with Steve to watch Laurence – Lol to his mates, long before that ever became an acronym -play for Fulham against Chelsea in a reserve match. Steve was obviously there to see his son, but was not averse to slagging him off and cheering for Chelsea!
Lol is also a staunch Chelsea fan and he will always be remembered by his sterling performance for Woking, (who included Clive Walker that day) against Coventry City of the Premiership, FA Cup 3rd Rd 1997. You can see him in action in the 1st half here
(Woking forced a replay which they lost 2-1).
Ater the game Lol was interviewed on Match of the Day , and he mentions going to Stamford Bridge the next day to watch Chelsea v Liverpool.
Well I was at that match, sitting next to Lol, and he was introduced by Spy to the crowd, stood up, waved and received a massive round of applause.
When Lol left Woking, he joined Fulham FC as assistant goalkeeper coach, working under the wing of Chelsea legend Peter Bonetti, when Kevin Keegan was manager of Fulham. When Jean Tigana became manager, Laurence went full time assisting Peter Bonetti with the first team, and coaching all the other goalkeepers at the club from the Academy U8s upwards.
Laurence left Fulham to join the Chelsea FC Academy, before the Abramovich revolution, as their goalkeeper coach, where he stayed for seven seasons, working alongside Eddie Newton, Brendan Rogers and Paul Clement, while nurturing many young goalkeepers. During his time with Chelsea he met and observed closely Jose Mourinho‘s training sessions and methods (Lol speaks fluent Portuguese). Laurence has styled his coaching, methods and philosophy for Bed Head FC on what he learnt at the Chelsea FC Academy. You can read his full bio here http://bedheadfc.com/laurence-batty/, fascinating.
Lol, however, was involved in a “Tales from the Shed”!
On 28th September 1986 Chelsea were due to play Man U at Old Trafford. Lol had secured a few tickets for the executive stand from a contact at Man Utd. Off we set that morning in a gold Mercedes that Lol had borrowed from his dad, and donning a chauffeur’s cap as we got to the ground, Lol drove us straight in and I was getting a few stares as Lol opened the door for me and I strode in, nose in the air, with a Chelsea scarf around my neck!
That was the match that Tony Godden saved two penalties for Chelsea from Jesper Olsen and Gordon Strachan, and Chelsea as usual won 1-0.
After the match we went into the players bar and had a few beers, I recall Strachan being cheerful and friendly, but Norman Whiteside was practically crying into his beer! David Speedie who had left Chelsea by then put in an appearance, and was deep in conversation with Peter Reid who seemed cheerful enough. For the full version you will have to listen to “Tales from he Shed”.
Anyway, Laurence Batty and his dad, two top geezers and a part of Chelsea’s fascinating hisory.
All this, because you titled the blog ” Lost in France” Chidge! Be careful what you say!