Season: 1948–49
Football League First Division
League
Billy Birrell’s third peacetime season lifted Chelsea to 13th of 22 — 38 points from 12 wins, 14 draws and 16 defeats (69–68), level on points with Bolton Wanderers, Burnley and Blackpool but clear of them on goal average as Portsmouth ran away with the title.
- Division
- Football League First Division (Tier 1)
- Manager
- Billy Birrell
- Top scorer (league)
- Roy Bentley (20)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Roy Bentley (22)
- Avg. league attendance
- 46,357
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Fifth round
- League Cup
- —
- Europe
- —
- Other
- London Challenge Cup: Runners-up (beat Crystal Palace 3–2, 11 Oct 1948; beat Arsenal 4–1, 25 Oct 1948; beat Charlton Athletic 5–1, 8 Nov 1948; drew West Ham United 1–1 in the final, 11 Apr 1949; lost replay 1–2, 9 May 1949)
Notes
Billy Birrell’s third peacetime season lifted Chelsea to 13th of 22 — 38 points from 12 wins, 14 draws and 16 defeats (69–68), level on points with Bolton Wanderers, Burnley and Blackpool but clear of them on goal average as Portsmouth ran away with the title. Home form was solid (10–6–5, 43–27); away they managed only two wins. Roy Bentley, in his first full season after joining from Newcastle the previous January, led the scoring with 20 league goals and 22 in all competitions. Tommy Walker left for Hearts at the end of December; Frank Mitchell arrived from Birmingham for £15,000 in January. The October highlight was a 3–3 home draw with Blackpool in front of 77,696 — the second-largest league attendance ever recorded at Stamford Bridge (behind only the 82,905 against Arsenal in 1935). Chelsea led early, fell 1–3, then scored twice in the final ten minutes to share the points. Home league gates averaged 46,357 across the season (that Blackpool high; low 25,864 vs Manchester City). The FA Cup took them past Third Division South Bristol City 3–1 at Ashton Gate and Everton 2–0 at the Bridge, then ended in the fifth round at The Hawthorns: West Bromwich Albion won 3–0. In the London Challenge Cup Chelsea reached the final — beating Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Charlton Athletic — before drawing 1–1 with West Ham United and losing the replay 1–2. The matchday programme cover (and the late 3–3) is in [16 October 1948: the Blackpool programme](/en/blog/en-history-1948-blackpool-programme.en).
Kits
Home stayed on the classic royal-blue rugby-collar look through the mid-1950s (HFK has finer panels including Sept–Oct 1934 hooped-sock experiments, Nov 1934–1944, wartime 1944–46, and 1946–48 / 1948–49 / 1949–55). Away remained red with a white collar from the 1933–34 switch; the 1955 champions wore this era’s home look.
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).
On this day (related years)
No entries found for this season’s years.
History
Eras, trophies, and great matches in the History section.
Explore history →Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._seasons
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948%E2%80%9349_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948%E2%80%9349_Football_League
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/1948.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/1948.htm
- http://free-elements.com/England/Goals/CheL/CheL1948.html
- http://www.mychelseafc.com/chelsea_news/previous_cup_results/1948.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Bentley
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Birrell
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Walker_(footballer,_born_1915)
- https://www.englishfootballleaguetables.co.uk/stats/Report/gate/a1948-49.html
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html