True Blues — Chelsea FC
ΕΛ

Season: 1906–07

Football League Second Division

↑
  • Promoted

League

Chelsea’s second season delivered what the first had only chased: promotion.

Division
Football League Second Division (Tier 2)
Manager
John Tait Robertson (to 27 Nov 1906); William Lewis (interim, from 27 Nov 1906)
Top scorer (league)
George Hilsdon (27)
Top scorer (all comps)
George Hilsdon (27)
Avg. league attendance
17,746

Cups & Europe

FA Cup
First round
League Cup
—
Europe
—
Other
Western League Division One (Section A): 6th of 6

Notes

Chelsea’s second season delivered what the first had only chased: promotion. They finished 2nd of 20 in the Second Division with 57 points (26 wins, 5 draws, 7 defeats; 80–34) and went up to the First Division behind champions Nottingham Forest (60 points), with Leicester Fosse nine points back in third. The tone was set on the opening day, 1 September 1906. George Hilsdon, signed from West Ham, scored five on his debut in a 9–2 win over Glossop at Stamford Bridge — the biggest win of the season. He finished top scorer with 27 league goals, with Jimmy Windridge next on 18, and his form earned an England debut against Ireland in February 1907. Stamford Bridge was close to a fortress: 18 wins from 19 home league games, 55 goals scored and only 10 conceded. The one home defeat was 0–2 to Forest on 9 February 1907. The biggest crowd was 48,000 against Hull City on Good Friday, 29 March 1907; the heaviest defeat came at Bradford City, 3–6, ten days earlier. The man who built the side did not see the job through. Player-manager Jacky Robertson (John Tait Robertson) resigned on 27 November 1906 and soon became player-manager at Glossop. Secretary William Lewis took charge on an interim basis and completed the promotion; David Calderhead arrived in August 1907 for the top flight. The FA Cup ended at the first hurdle: 2–2 at Lincoln City on 12 January 1907 (Kirwan, Whitehouse), then 0–1 after extra time in the replay at Stamford Bridge four days later. Alongside the League, Chelsea also played their only season in the Western League (Division One, Section A), finishing 6th of 6 (P10 W2 D3 L5, 7–14). Average home league attendance was 17,746 on the match-by-match gates (other sources give 17,453 or 18,135); on any of those figures it was the highest in the Second Division. Two years after the club was founded, Chelsea were a First Division side.

Kits

Under review
Home
Away
Third—

Historical Football Kits dates the original Eton blue to September 1906 and a new home kit from 6 October 1906 (Nottingham Post report); a Chelsea programme for the Lincoln City game on 13 October 1906 already describes the colours as “blue and white”. Other accounts place the move to a darker royal blue as late as about 1912, so the exact shade worn from autumn 1906 is not settled — the swatch here still shows Eton blue. Maroon remained the change shirt. HFK also lists a one-off white change shirt “January 1907 v Worksop Town (FA Cup)”, but that tie was played on 11 January 1908; Chelsea’s only FA Cup opponent in 1906–07 was Lincoln City.

Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).

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History

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Sources

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