The Chelsea FanCast looks back, season by season, to 50 Years of Chelsea history from 1970 to the present day.
Stamford Chidge is joined by Jonathan Kydd and Clayton Beerman to look back at the 1974-75 season.
The 1974-75 season proved to be an ‘annus horibilis’ for Chelsea with the club getting relegated for the first time since 1962.
Set against the backdrop of the opening of the new East Stand which had near bankrupted the club, the shiny new stand looked something like a white elephant as the performances on the pitch did not match the ambition of it.
An inauspicious start losing 2-0 at home to newly promoted Carlisle United set the tone with no home wins until October. It was no real surprise then that Dave Sexton, Chelsea’s most successful manager at that time, was sacked and replaced first by Ron Suart and eventually by Eddie McCreadie.
It all boiled down to the ‘Battle of White Hart Lane’ when Chelsea faced rivals and fellow relegation candidates Spurs. Chelsea lost 2-0 with a 17 year old Ray Wilkins installed as Captain in a match remembered for the Kung-Fu fighting by rival supporters. With two draws in our last two games, had Chelsea drawn against Spurs they would have avoided relegation.
In truth Chelsea, with only 8 points from the last 14 games and having conceded 72 goals, the worst in the Division, could have no complaints.
From here, things could only get better, but how long would it take?
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