The 1940s, 1950s and a Famous First Place

At the end of the World War Two, Stamford Bridge had survived the bombing and just six months after Victory in Europe was declared, the 40 year-old stadium hosted what remains one of its most momentous occasions - Dynamo Day.

London was desperate to see top level football once more and there were few bigger draws than the mystery of a team travelling over from the war-time allies Russia. Moscow Dynamo opened a tour of Britain against Chelsea and it seemed the whole city came to watch.

The turnstiles were closed with a recorded 74,496 having passed through but the shut gates proved no obstacle to the football-starved masses. Just how many gained illegal entry will never be know - although estimates put the total crowd at 100,000.

Such were the scenes around the pitch that the 3-3 result seems incidental but scoring our third was a new centre-forward by the name Tommy Lawton. Fast of foot, powerful shot and a legend at heading for goal, Lawton was England's number nine, keeping Chelsea firmly in the spotlight.

In his first full season he boke a club record with 26 goals in 34 games, yet we finished 15th. By the summer, cracks between player and club had appeared. After an all-too-brief two years, he was gone.

Two months after Lawton's transfer, We spent just over half the British record Ł20,000 we had received on a new striker. Again Newcastle was raided, this time for Roy Bentley.

Once again devastating in the air, Bentley was more mobile than his predecessor- and more long-lasting. In each of his eight full seasons at the Bridge he was our top scorer.

Chelsea set-off on the FA Cup trail. In 1950 and 1952, Arsenal were played in the semi-final. Both ties went to replays and both we lost.

Between those two seasons, relegation was avoided by a mere 0.044 og a goal. Chelsea was a club ripe for change.

Manager Billy Birrell retired after the second disappointment against Arsenal so in May 1952, We appointed Ted Drake as our new Manager.

Drake had been a top class centre-forward for both Arsenal and England and had championship medals to his name. His managerial reputation had been growing at Reading.

He would sweep away the last vestiges of a more amateur age from Chelsea, declaring "Too many people come to Stamford Bridge to see a football match instead of cheering Chelsea. For years now the players must have been thoroughly sick of all the music-hall publicity. Let's have people eating, sleeping and drinking Chelsea."

Drake removed the Chelsea Pensioner from the club's badge and banished 'The Pensioners' nickname that had been bestowed soon after our formation.

He abandoned the managrr;s office, donned a tracksuit and involved himself in training.He expanded a youth and scouting programme began under Birell, a move that was to pay dividends for future managers.

Progresswas slow at first but Drake was using his knowledge of the lower divisons to sign a different sort of Chelsea player - value-for-money performers who like the club, were hungry for their first silverware.

Around players he had inherited - Bentley, Ken Armstrong, long-serving captain John Harris, Stan Willemse and Eric Parsons - Drake built our first complete team.

John McNicholl, Les Stubs, Stan Wicks and Peter Sillett all arrived from the lower leagues. Crewe's Frank Blunstone was am 18 year-old star in-the-making who was a tarfet for many big clubs. Drake even brought in amateur club players - Derek Saunders, Jim Lewis and Seamus O'Connell.