REBIRTH OF THE BLUES: THE RISE OF CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB IN THE MID-1980s by Neil Fitzsimon
Rebirth of the Blues is the third instalment in Neil Fitzsimon’s acclaimed trilogy on Chelsea FC.
The book considers one of the most exciting eras in the club’s history – 1977 to 1985. It was a period when Chelsea narrowly escaped relegation into the Third Division in 1983, before being resurrected under the management of John Neal when the likes of Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin and others catapulted the club to new glories.
The next year, Chelsea took the Second Division by storm with their new brand of quicksilver flowing football to make a triumphant return to the top flight as champions. But Rebirth of the Blues is more than just a chronicle of football history. It’s a gripping memoir of a Chelsea fan growing up in the late 1970s to mid-80s and his experiences of living through the political unrest of Thatcherite Britain when excess and greed were seen as ideals to be admired.
Fitzsimon recalls his tentative first steps with girlfriends, the changing face of the music scene and what it was like to be single and one of the lads.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. April 2023. Paperback: 256 pages)
Buy the book here: Rebirth of The Blues
Jimmy Greaves remains the greatest goalscorer in English football history, with a record of 357 top-flight goals that may never be surpassed.
By the early months of 2012, it was clear that the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas as head coach at Chelsea wasn’t delivering the required success. Instead, the club was spiralling towards its worst season of the Roman Abramovich era.
Clive Allen is one of the finest goalscorers of his generation but arguably his biggest battle has been to prove himself the best in his own family.
‘I want to play there. I want to be a Gunner,’ writes Olivier Giroud on his decision to join Arsenal from Montpellier in 2012 in his autobiography, Always Believe – words that epitomise not only why the Frenchman became a firm favourite in North London but also his determination and commitment to the shirt – in this case Arsenal, but before that Grenoble, Istres, Tours, Montpellier and later Chelsea, AC Milan and, of course, France. Yet, Giroud is perhaps one of the most undervalued, underrated and underplayed of modern footballers. I say that admittedly as an Arsenal fan for whom Giroud is amongst my favourite ever players, but it is also based on the fact that he sits in the top 10 of Premier League goalscorers for Arsenal, for headed Premier League goals and goal-scoring subs. He is a player who can be relied up on, who has delivered when it matters and always does a job for his team. Having not really followed his story off the pitch away from England, I was not too familiar with his background or journey so was hugely excited to read this autobiography.
Past: Arsenal have had some mighty fine players in the Premier League era and some mighty memorable personalities too – a number of which have made their mark in the publishing world. Legends like Sol Campbell, Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp have put pen to paper, although, perhaps Arsenal’s greatest Premier League player, Thierry Henry, has never done so, with just Philippe Auclair’s biography, 
Past: In the first ever Premier League season, Aston Villa finished second – it proved to be their highest-ever finish in the new top flight as subsequent seasons, and particularly more recent years, have been more down than up. Yet, Villa Park has been graced by some genuine quality and a few iconic cult heroes in the three decades of the Premier League. Surprisingly, though, few of these have had their stories put down on paper. Indeed, the likes of Villa stalwarts such as Mark Bosnich, Ian Taylor and Dean Saunders remain absent from the bookshelves, as do unexpected heroes like John Carew, Savo Milosevic and Juan Pablo Angel. In fact, only a couple of Villa players have autobiographies to their name, including nineties legend Paul McGrath, whilst more recent icon, Stiliyan Petrov, published his autobiography in 2005, prior to his move from Celtic to the West Midlands. So it’s sadly slim pickings, so I’m going to suggest three past players who publishers should consider for future autobiographies: Gareth Barry, who remains top of Villa’s most EPL appearances chart; Lee Hendrie, who rose up the ranks at his local club; and Dion Dublin, who needs no introduction.
Past: As we head into the 2021/22 season, Brentford are the only team never to have previously played in the Premier League since its inception in 1992, having bounced around the old Second and Third Division, League One and League Two and spent the last seven seasons in the Championship, coming close to promotion in 2019/20, before securing their spot in the top flight last season. There are, unsurprisingly, therefore few books charting Brentford players past, although Greville Waterman has penned a couple of tomes on the club and its players, while The Official Brentford Book of Griffin Park was released in 2019, to mark their move from the stadium the Bees have called home for over 100 years. There’s rich pickings then for any wannabe authors out there or publishers who want to fill the Brentford gaps on the bookshelves.
Past: When the Premier League kicked off in earnest, Brighton and Hove Albion were struggling in Division 2, before a period in Division 3. Their fortunes seemed to turn with the new millennium, but as near back as 2011, they were still competing in League One. A few years in the Championship culminated in 2017 in their first promotion to the Premier League, and since then they haven’t looked back. The Premier League era has seen some stalwarts at the South Coast side, but none of these, including second on Brighton’s goalscoring charts, Glenn Murray, and joint sixth, Bobby Zamora, as well as talisman Bruno, have turned their journeys into books so far. The club’s leading goalscorer, Tommy Cook, who was also notable for being a first-class cricketer for Sussex way back in the 1920s and 1930s, was memorialised earlier this year in Tommy Cook: The Double Life of Superstar Sportsman, but for a more recent tome, albeit prior to the Premier League era, the autobiography of Brian Horton, who both played and managed at Brighton stands out.
Past: Like Brentford and Brighton before them, Burnley were well out of the Premier League reckoning when it all kicked off in 1992. Bouncing around Division 1 and 2 throughout the nineties, the new millennium saw them consolidate in Division 1, latterly the Championship, before making the final step up the pyramid to the Premiership via the play-off in 2009. It was but the briefest of stays and was repeated in 2013/14 when the Clarets were once more promoted only to be relegated after their first season back at the top. However, since winning the Championship in 2016, Burnley have become a mainstay of England’s top league. Dave Thomas has been at the forefront of charting Burnley’s recent past, including Champions: How Burnley won promotion 2015/2016 and a biography of Bob Lord of Burnley, described as football’s most controversial chairman. So when it comes to the players, it’s another Dave Thomas offering that is worth a look – Paul Weller’s Not Such a Bad Life.
Past: As Crystal Palace head into the new season, it’s all change at the top, with Roy Hodgson stepping away and Patrick Vieira taking up the reins for his first term in charge in the Premier League, and they’ll be big shoes to fill after the former England man made Palace a firm Premier League outfit. Whilst the Eagles were part of the Premier League from the get-go, they hold the dubious honour of being one of the three teams to be relegated in that inaugural season (quiz-goers out there, two points if you were able to name Middlesbrough and Notts Forest as the other two teams to fall), and despite briefly yo-yoing back to the top flight, the majority of the nineties and noughties were spent in Division 1/Championship. In 2013, however, Crystal Palace once again returned to England’s top division and have stayed there ever since. When it comes to autobiographies, Vince Hilaire’s autobiography published in 2018 offers a pre-Premier League take, whilst Mark Bright’s My Story similarly just misses out on the new era but both are ones to look out for. For something a bit different though, and to get another side of the Premier League story, Simon Jordan’s Be Careful What You Wish For was a finalist for both the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and shortlisted for the British Sports Book Award for best autobiography. And surely Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison’s memoir can’t be too far off.
Past: Since being founded in 1878, Everton have a rich footballing history, including being part of the Football League from its inception in 1888 and champions first in 1891 and a further eight times, the most recent in 1987. Despite not having such successes in the Premier League, the Toffees have been mainstays throughout the league’s 29-year history. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there are a few Everton books knocking around, including Jim Keoghan’s look at nine players to have worn the number 9 shirt in Everton: Number Nine, Tony Evans’ Two Tribes and a forthcoming book to look out for The Forgotten Champions by Paul McParlan. When it comes to autobiographies, one man who’s missing from the list is Toffees legend, Duncan Ferguson, although Alan Pattullo’s 2015 book In Search of Duncan Ferguson is available. Whilst Peter Reid and Pat Nevin have both brought out entertaining autobiographies in recent years, Cheer Up Peter Reid and The Accidental Footballer respectively, they just miss out on the Premier League era, so the honour goes to goalkeeper and cult hero Neville Southall. Aside from an earlier autobiography, grippingly titled The Binman Chronicles, Southall brought out a second book last year called Mind Games, which explores the important subject of mental health.
Past: As the Premier League era kicked off, Leeds United were a mainstay for the first decade, regularly securing European football, but in 2004 the club were relegated to the Championship and worse was to follow just three short seasons later, when a second relegation landed them in League One. Back-to-back play-offs followed before Leeds moved back up to the Championship in 2010, where lower-half finishes were the order of the day, that is until new chairman Andrea Radrizzani pulled off perhaps the most unexpected and spectacular signing, bringing one Marcelo Bielsa to Yorkshire. In the Argentine’s first season, Leeds just missed out on promotion, but despite a COVID-ravaged second season, his team finished the job, earning promotion back to the top flight for the first time in sixteen seasons. Last season saw their impressive form continue and this current crop follow in the footsteps of some Leeds legends of yore. Somewhat surprisingly, players like Nigel Martyn, Lucas Radebe, Ian Harte, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Tony Yeboah are without autobiographies, whilst former players James Milner and David Batty are two of the few to have published books. However, there are few more important books than Gary Speed: Unspoken, which was published by the late-midfielder’s family, following his tragic death.
Past: The greatest underdog story of recent history was completed by the Foxes in 2016, when at odds of 5000-1, Claudio Ranieri led the likes of Wes Morgan, N’Golo Kane, Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy to the Premier League title, for the first time in the club’s history. Leicester City firmly placed themselves on the footballing map and have continued to compete, as demonstrated last season, winning the FA Cup for the first time, and kicking the new season off with a trophy in last weekend’s Community Shield. Whilst Harry Harris’s The Immortals charts that incredible season, Rob Tanner’s updated 5000/1 is due out next month. Jamie Vardy’s story from non-league to Premier League winner has already been penned in his 2016 autobiography, and there is even a film about his life in the works. With a lot of the 2016 heroes still playing, further books will surely follow when they come to hang up their boots, but in terms of other autobiographies already available, Emile Heskey published his first book in 2019, whilst Muzzy Izzet’s eight-year spell at the club from 1996 to 2004 covered a tumultuous period which saw the team relegated from the Premier League, before bouncing straight back and then being relegated straight after.
Depending on your age and interests, Pat Nevin is either an ex-Scottish International footballer and Chelsea legend, a DJ much influenced by the indie music scene or a respected media journalist and writer. One man, many facets and with a story to tell. Much like the release of Arsene Wenger’s autobiography, My Life in Red and White, Pat Nevin’s book was also keenly anticipated by many in the sporting world and beyond. And like the ex-Arsenal manager’s offering, Pat Nevin’s The Accidental Footballer is a book that has a sophistication, insight, depth and humour that is not always associated with the genre of football writing.
For those young ‘uns brought up on the misleading title ‘Champions’ League’, it might come as a surprise to learn that the European Cup Winners’ Cup actually was a cup competition between European teams who had won their own domestic cup finals, not just another chance for the top clubs to keep on playing each other and guarantee income streams.
The most memorable of the early finals was Tottenham’s 5-1 thumping in 1963 of Atletico Madrid, winners the previous year. Two of the goals for Spurs were scored by the peerless Jimmy Greaves whose injury in the World Cup group stages probably cost him his place in the Final. No substitutes in those days, so a suited Greaves had to watch England’s historic win from the bench as a supporter. Spurs were the first British winners in Europe, and it was a fitting reward, and swansong, for a team who had done the domestic ‘double’ in 1961 – the first time by any club in 64 years.
The last match with strong links to the World Cup Final was, understandably enough, the Final in May 1966 where Liverpool lost 2-1 after extra time to Borussia Dortmund, a kind of England v West Germany rehearsal. Kind of. Roger Hunt would go on two months later to turn the tables on the three Dortmund players selected for their nation in the Final; Tilkowski, Emmerich and Held. Hunt is famous for doing absolutely nothing in the World Cup Final except turn away to celebrate Hurst’s ‘was it over the line’ goal.
