Legends
Roy Bentley
- Name
- Roy Bentley
- Years at Chelsea
- 1948–1956
- Position
- Forward
- Honours
- First Division champions: 1954–55 (captain)
- FA Charity Shield: 1955
- 150 goals in 367 games
- Club top scorer in each of his eight seasons
Roy Bentley arrived from Newcastle in January 1948 for £11,000. For his time he was a different kind of centre-forward: he dropped deep, took the ball and dragged centre-halves out of position. Today we might call him a false nine.
In eight seasons he played 367 games and scored 150 goals. He was Chelsea’s top scorer in every one of those eight seasons. When he left he was the club’s all-time leading scorer; today he is joint fifth, level with Peter Osgood. He won 12 England caps.
The peak came in 1954–55. Bentley captained Ted Drake’s side to the first league title in the club’s history and was its top scorer with 21 league goals. The Charity Shield followed a few months later.
For fifty years he was the only Chelsea captain to have lifted the league title, until 2005. In 1956 he moved down the road to Fulham.
Fans raised on the stories of 1955 remember him as the man who showed Chelsea could be champions. Without that team, everything that came later would have seemed even more unlikely.
Sources
- Chelsea FC — All-time record goalscorers (150 goals, top scorer every season)
- Chelsea FC — From the Museum: the champions of 1955 (captain of the 1955 side, 21 league goals)
- Wikipedia — List of Chelsea F.C. players (367 apps / 150 goals)
- Wikipedia — Roy Bentley (1948 move from Newcastle, England career, Fulham)
- Wikimedia Commons — Chelsea squad in 1955.jpg (photo: Rossem, Wim van / Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl)
