April 2018 will forever be remembered as a sad month in Chelsea’s history. Following the passing of club legend Ray Wilkins earlier in the month, another legend in blue, Roy Bentley has passed away.
Bentley captained Chelsea’s first Championship winning side in 1955. He spent 8 years at Chelsea and was top scorer in 7 consecutive seasons. He went on to score 150 goals in 367 appearances making him joint-fifth highest scorer for the club.
Like Wilkins he also had connections to Fulham and Queens Park Rangers. His career started with his local club Bristol Rovers at the age of 14. Financial difficulties at Rovers led to him moving across to local rivals City.
The Second World War and a spell in the Navy from 1942 curtailed his career, although he still managed to play football on his tours of duty, most notably in Canada. Back in peacetime he switched to Newcastle United. However, he was never able to settle in the north and was signed by Chelsea in January 1948 for a fee of £11,000.
Bentley became club captain in 1951. The outgoing captain Johnny Harris joined Bentley in going on strike at the start of the 1951-52 campaign. They believed the power was with the clubs, something that they wanted to address. A players wage at the time was £12-a-week. At the time he said,
‘The clubs have footballers over a barrel, they’ve got the money, and we’re the tools.’
Source: Official Chelsea Website
The arrival of Ted Drake as manager in the 1952-53 season saw manager and captain work together in close harmony. The results were there for all to see two season’s on when Chelsea lifted their first ever 1st Division Championship trophy.
50 years later and Bentley was at Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea were crowned Premier League Champions for the first time. Despite those spells at other clubs, Bentley’s heart was always at Chelsea. In his later life he was a regular visitor to the Bridge. He spoke of his love for the fans.
‘I always found Chelsea fans a great bunch,’ he later said. ‘Running out onto the old Stamford Bridge pitch and seeing the applause spread round the whole ground, all the way up to The Shed at the back, really did make you glow. When we were doing well and the ground was packed with more than 70,000 fans, it was something else.’
Source: Official Chelsea Website
On Twitter, We Are The Shed set about raising funds for a couple of banners to be made in honour of Roy. They were asking for donations totalling £800. John Terry replied via Instagram.
John Terry messaged us on Instagram & offered to donate the full amount for our Roy Bentley display. The man is an absolute legend & a gentleman, mentioning how he wanted to give back to the #CFC faithful
We've deleted our old tweet to avoid further donations#RIPRoyBentley pic.twitter.com/GMsTLkk6lm
— WE ARE THE SHED ⭐⭐ (@WeAre_TheShed) April 20, 2018
From one captain to another, JT also showing where his heart belongs. Here Vital Chelsea we’d like to pass on our condolences to Roy’s family and friends. RIP Roy.