True Blues — Chelsea FC
ΕΛ

Season: 1960–61

Football League First Division

League

Chaos with a record books footnote — and Jimmy Greaves writing most of it.

Division
Football League First Division (Tier 1)
Manager
Ted Drake
Top scorer (league)
Jimmy Greaves (41)
Top scorer (all comps)
Jimmy Greaves (43)
Avg. league attendance
30,156

Cups & Europe

FA Cup
Third round
League Cup
Fourth round
Europe
—

Notes

Chaos with a record books footnote — and Jimmy Greaves writing most of it. Ted Drake’s side finished 12th of 22 with 37 points from 15 wins, 7 draws and 20 defeats, scoring 98 and conceding 100: still the club’s First Division season for goals scored until the Premier League years, and a club record for goals against. Home form was lively (10–5–6, 61–48); away they managed 5–2–14 (37–52). Tottenham ran away with the Double on 66 points; Chelsea shared 37 with Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Cardiff and stayed up on goal average. Greaves scored 41 league goals and 43 in all competitions (two more in the new Football League Cup) — figures that still stand as Chelsea’s single-season league and all-competitions records. He notched six hat-tricks, including five at home to West Brom on 3 December in a 7–1 win and four in the final-day 4–3 against Nottingham Forest. Ron Tindall added 16 in the league, Bobby Tambling 9, Peter Brabrook and Charlie Livesey 8 each, Frank Blunstone 5. Greaves played the whole campaign (40 league appearances) and only left for AC Milan in the summer of 1961 — £80,000 on 2 June — after the season had closed. In the FA Cup Chelsea went out at the first hurdle: Fourth Division Crewe Alexandra won 2–1 at the Bridge in the third round on 7 January, a result that hurt Drake’s standing. In the inaugural Football League Cup they tore through Millwall 7–1 away, Workington 4–2 at home and Doncaster Rovers 7–0 away before a 0–1 exit at Portsmouth in the fourth round. There was no European football. Biggest league nights by scoreline included 7–1 West Brom, 6–1 at Newcastle, 6–1 Cardiff and 6–3 Manchester City; heaviest reverses were 0–6 at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and 1–6 at Wolves five days later, with Burnley also winning 6–2 at the Bridge. Tommy Docherty arrived from Arsenal as a player on 10 February — he would not become manager until the following autumn. Home league gates averaged 30,156 (high 57,103 vs Tottenham on 3 April; low 19,568 vs West Brom on 3 December). The shirt carried a crest for the first time this season.

Kits

Under review
Home
Away
Third—

In 1960 a crest appeared on the shirt for the first time; a white change shirt with red bands was tried in 1961 before all-red returned, and yellow-and-blue debuted in 1963-64.

Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).

On this day (related years)

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History

Eras, trophies, and great matches in the History section.

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Sources

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