WALKER RESCUES CHELSEA
EXCLUSIVE THE shirt Clive Walker wore as Chelsea escaped the ignominy of relegation to football’s third tier 39 years ago will soon be mounted in the club’s museum.
If it had not been for Walker’s spectacular goal in a relegation or bust battle at Bolton, then Stamford Bridge probably would have been demolished along with any ambitions of winning any silverware.
The 1982-83 season could not offer a greater contrast to today and Chelsea’s coronation as Club World Cup champions (below) on the back of their Champions League triumph.
Towards the end of a faltering campaign which saw home attendances of less than 10,000, Chelsea found themselves on the precipice, staring into the abyss of the old Third Division.
But Walker, a flamboyant winger and crowd favourite, came up with a stunning volley that won the game 1-0 and helped rescue Chelsea.
“After the game finished two or three of us went over to our fans to thank them and threw our shirts over the fence behind that goal at Burnden Park and into the crowd,” Walker recalled.
“Years later when I was on Chelsea TV a gentleman came on the line and said he had the shirt I had thrown to the supporters. The club later became aware of this and they have recently purchased it for the Chelsea museum. It is about to go on the wall and they want me to sign a piece of paper over its authenticity.”
It is believed Chelsea paid around £4,000 to reclaim it so it can represent an important turning point in the club’s history.
Walker added: “It wasn’t until many years later that I was really made aware of the impact my goal and that victory had on the club.
“There was a group of us including David Speedie and Kerry Dixon at a Stamford Bridge event being asked random questions by supporters.
“Someone asked me about that goal at Bolton. Ken Bates, who had bought the club for a £1 a year earlier and who was still the owner, was in the audience. He stood up and told everyone that they wouldn’t have known how important that goal was.
“He told them that if Chelsea had been relegated Stamford Bridge would almost certainly have been flattened in readiness to be built on while he tried to resurrect the football club maybe somewhere else.
“So it appeared that if we had been relegated then it could well have been the end of Chelsea Football Club.”