Chelsea v Manchester United Saturday 21st March 1970

[@CFCalways]

I loved this Chelsea team , full of grit and determination .

[@kevinhiggins3080]

Fun to watch these old matches.

[@brianoreilly239]

I was at that game supporting United, George had a stinker, he must have had a hang over.

[@mrraoulandtheking11]

Lol the Manchester United championship winning team of 93 went on the piss after villa lost at Oldham and beat Blackburn the following night

[@jimsullivan6123]

Can't believe I found this. I was at that game!

[@redflag8970]

stamford bridge in those days looked great packed out

[@celticwarrior1365]

As I seem to remember, there were three teams in England around this time who used to get the better of the other. Leeds Utd who always seemed to beat Arsenal who always seemed to beat Liverpool who always seemed to beat Leeds. I may be wrong! It was above 40 years ago!

[@robertroberts2666]

RIP Peter Houseman and your young family!

[@peterh1353]

Houseman died in a road crash. His children didn't.

[@richardtaylor8165]

Law was barely fit the whole of the 69/70 season. Something like only 10 league games & 2 goals. Indeed he was listed at the end of that season, but no takers. Man U were in decline by this time.

[@peterh1353]

Chelsea were the Pensioners, but it would have suited Man Utd better!

[@clash1977100]

Hutchinson was brilliant That team should have done the double

[@lajole9501]

I use to watch Leeds back then but I was always a big fan of Ian Hutchinson who I think suffered in the shadow of Peter Osgood who always seemed to get the media attention. Like Mick Jones at Leeds,very underrated.

[@Seansaighdeoir]

Interesting match. Not the first time I've seen Best have an ordinary day although he was more involved in some of the play here second half. There are quite a few games here where he is largely anonymous and anyone finding him would wonder what the hype was about....

[@jerryoshea3116]

It's an fair observation &quite disappointing to see(maybe the memory&recall plays tricks with the mind m& imagination?) I wonder was he really hitting the bottle around this time. Booze,birds,gambling..Clubs etc!!.He had been at United for 7yrs by then!! .He played 40 League games that season&scored 18 goals

[@Seansaighdeoir]

Best is 24 here although he looks a good deal older! Really shouldn't have peaked for another 3 or 4 years or so but in reality his best years were behind him. Sure all the birds & booze wouldn't help but physically hadn't reached his peak. I've seen him score some wonderful goals and was capable of sublime skill in an era of the hard men of the game. But I think for those us growing up around that time he was also the first real subject of mass media type hype. Sublime player sublime skill but probably also ruined by the media raving of his performances which were not that consistent.

[@johnpacino007]

All players have off days. Including greats. There isn't the vast volume of recorded matches of Di Stéfano, Pelé, Best, Cruyff. Compared to Messi & Ronaldo. So it's asking a lot, that these players would just happen to be at their very best, when recorded. Nevertheless, there's a lot of great games Best played, that were recorded. '66 & '68 vs Benfica. '67 vs Scotland. '70 vs Spain. '71 vs West Ham, come to mind.

[@jimmyadams520]

Nice. "Halcyon days."

[@PrZemek44]

Can you imagine today's divas playing on this... kind of pitch? :) Yuck... And that was the reality just 15 years ago...

[@BrianVincent-gz2dq]

Most 65 and Utd through and through. Whilst Bobby was alwYs the greatest of the trilogy, Utd had a bettet dribbler than George IN THE same team! Raise a glass to the great Willie Morgan.

[@tigerarmyrule]

Law's passing was atrocious and United rarely bothered to try to get the ball to Best. I don't understand it.

[@JC57515]

tigerarmyrule it was about this time Matt Busby said Laws future was in midfield. some hope.

[@redflag8970]

poor side that had one hurrah in 71 72 season but rot had set in

[@peterh1353]

Old players getting older as you watch! Chelsea having a bit of youth and probably winning on that count alone. Willie Morgan was once Manchester United star pre-season buy and - according to Best - nobody in the side had even heard of him! To be fair he lasted a while. Still playing in 1981!

[@robicenco1]

United barely signed any players in the 1960s. Not surprising that after the team peaked, it crashed. Sheer negligence by the club really.

[@brianoreilly239]

I was at the game of course supporting United. It was obvious the team was in decline then as were the 60s Liverpool side. While United let the rot set in , no signings of any quality, average players like Sartori, James and Edwards coming through , Liverpool were already planning ahead with Keegan, Clemence , Heighway, Toshack and more quality players arriving at Anfield to guarantee future success. It was not really a surprise to some of us when we were relegated in ‘74. Whatever one’s opinion on The Doc he did eventually restore some pride to the club.

[@SirPeter6464]

@@brianoreilly239 The interesting thing is that my father was regional scout for Middlesbrough around that time. Naturally as soon as anyone of talent emerged we competed for them. Manchester United had a terrible system and never treated the young players on trial very well. Lucky to get their expenses paid. Also they didn't get Liam Brady because they wouldn't give his father a back hander and Arsenal would!

[@brianoreilly239]

I’m not surprised about how woeful the scouting system at United was then, it remained so until Fergie arrived in ‘86 ,he restructured it. According to Frank O’ Farrell the whole club was a shambles when arrived from Leicester in ‘71. Not sure your story about my fellow Dubliner Liam Brady. He did go to United for trials and also Arsenal . Two of his brothers had played lower league football in England and lived in the London area , if you’re a young lad leaving home at 15 and your older brother can look after you till you settle in well of course you’d most likely gravitate towards that option and that, I believe, is why he choose Arsenal.

[@SirPeter6464]

@@brianoreilly239 Having read his autobiography he admits to have already agreed to join Manchester United! Then suddenly changed his mind when he viewed Arsenal's marble halls. Free to believe who you want. 😳

[@brianoreilly239]

That Chelsea side never came remotely near winning the league, so when do you think that they should have won the double ? Peter Osgood later in life stated that Leeds team were the best in UK of that era. Leeds were so near winning the double on a few occasions ,fixture pile ups and injuries often prevented them doing so. FYI, I support Man Utd.

[@richardmathews3615]

Brian O'Reilly...That Chelsea squad came close to winning the League in 65, finishing 3rd, 4 points adrift..they were 3rd again in 1970, when they beat Leeds to win the FA Cup..

[@brianoreilly239]

The promoted Chelsea team in ‘65 was a slightly different one than the 70 team. They did finish 3rd behind Man Utd and Leeds and were knocked out of the FA Cup by Liverpool in the semis. For a promoted side ,they did give it a go but Man Utd has too much experience and class rating Chelsea 4-1 at OT in the run in. Chelsea were not seriously considered league challengers in 70 ,they were too inconsistent and the winners Everton were a class above the.

[@richardmathews3615]

@@brianoreilly239 Agreed on the point of the 69/70 season, &, yes, the team was 'tweaked' by Sexton when he took over from Docherty,..but that side from 64/65 led the table for most of the campaign, only falling at the latter stages, due to his mismanagement..they were certainly good enough..and to get it absolutely right, they weren't freshly promoted, they'd finished 5th in the previous year, after getting promoted, after 1 season in the old 2nd Division. Also, yes Man Utd were a great side back then, but I can also recall Chelsea doing the double over them in '68, including a 4-1 @ OT, just after they'd won the European Cup, so it's easy to be 'selective & positive' about results..

[@brianoreilly239]

We did the double over Chelsea in the 64/65 season ,4-1 at OT in the run in and winning 3-1 at The Bridge early in the season. A game in which Best is reputed to have first made his mark giving Shelito a torrid time. In 68, we emerged from the Easter programme with a five point lead and it looked like we’d retain the league ,but then a sudden collapse due to injuries ,fixture pile up and European Cup commitment. Chelsea certainly did win at OT that season in the run in but I think the shoreline was 3-2 and not 4-1.

[@richardmathews3615]

@@brianoreilly239 it was 3-2 @ SB, in front of 62,000, I was there..& 4-0 @ OT, earlier in the season.

[@grahamstevens3658]

Watching this you can see how far the game has come on skill wise. These are two top sides and the passing is poor and they both are constantly losing possession through mistakes poor control. Still fantastic to watch though…blood and thunder 👍

[@alanmctavish4802]

Tavy@ stamforde bridge in those days looked huge. And it looked as if it could at least hold 75 thousand instead of 55 thousand i think. Such a big ground and park. Teams really struggled to get a win at the bridge in the 1960s becouse chelsea had a great team. Bobby charlton always looked as if it was an insult to him if he had to go in for a hard tackle, and some how looked half comitted. This was when man utd were starting to crumble to bits. Tommy docherty when he came said "there was a few players acting up in training, like denis law who was on the treatment table every day and i said no i cant have this going on if were to get better, so i got rid of about 5 of them becouse they were past there best or just wernt good enough" no these players had lots of skill and were real men who didnt roll about for 10 minutes. Today they would find it so easy. Like best, law and charlton and others.

[@mizofan]

The better team won, of course

[@CB-xr1eg]

Huh? No chelsea won, but their 2nd goal should not have counted, it went out of play for sure. Same old chel - sea, always chea - ting!

[@cfcheadhunter]

I know we can all look back n reminisce about the good old days but they were the good old days. Shit pitch. Great team. Now we got a great pitch n a shit team. Money has ruined our working class game. Foreign investors, speculators. Plastic fans. Sky TV. Pundits. Sad to admit it but I do miss Jimmy Hill. Always preferred Brian Moore. Those were the days my friend. Up the Chels.