A blog of two halves

Super Frank must channel the muscle of Doc if Blues are to survive

A fixture clash means that the growing number of Blues fans who follow the women as avidly as the men will be torn between which to watch.

4 January 2021
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Tommy Docherty with his Chelsea players and the League Cup at Stamford Bridge in 1965. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

While Frank Lampard has a chance to steady the ship when Morecambe visit in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup on Sunday lunchtime, Chelsea Women are back in action at Reading.

The fixture clash means that the growing number of Blues fans who follow the women as avidly as the men will be torn between which to watch.

Chelsea's men utterly failed to counter Man City's first-half threat at the Bridge last weekend, and fell 3-0 behind. But the fact that they contained the threat, and belatedly got a goal back, when the sides switched ends gives some small hope.

An FA Cup win against Morecambe is an unlikely springboard, but when you're standing on the diving tower without your trunks, you'll take anything.

It's been an eventful week. First Jimmy Greaves, great Chelsea striker, was finally honoured, then one of the Blues' managerial legends, Tommy Docherty, died.

The man who famously had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus (14 in four countries) generated a slew of glorious quotes. Take Sean Connery. 'Typical Scot; he may not be sure what he wants, but he'll fight to the death to get it.'

Or Rod Stewart. 'I would come back and live in England if the Doc were Prime Minister.'

Even George Best was inspired to call him 'an agreeable guy who disagreed with everything I did'.

He became Chelsea manager in 1962, gaining promotion, winning the League Cup and reaching the FA Cup final, before going on to manage minor clubs in the north.

If Lampard is to survive, he needs to flex a bit of the Doc's muscle and stop being so hideously nice.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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