FAB MR FOX
’Birch’ was a Chelsea star in the Swinging 60s & he still gets an Xmas hamper from them... but his true love is Leicester
TWO weeks before Christmas every year, Alan Birchenall receives a Christmas hamper from Chelsea – not bad considering he left the club in the summer of 1970.
It is just one reason why Chelsea will always hold a special place in his heart, but not enough to stop him rooting for Leicester City to beat them in Saturday’s FA Cup final.
Birchenall, 75, is ‘Mr Leicester’ after a 50-year association with the club which has seen him transcend from player, between 1971 and 1977, to club ambassador.
It has been half a century of fun all the way as he recalls the stories from his Stamford Bridge days in the Swinging 60s to the MBE for his charity work alongside superstar pal Engelbert Humperdinck.
“I get a hamper every single year. That’s class isn’t it? That just shows quality, that a club as big as Chelsea still think about me,” says the man known to everyone simply as ‘Birch’.
“But no disrespect, I’d love to come back up the motorway with the cup. There’s only one love for me and that’s Leicester City. I’ve seen us win the Premier League and hopefully, now, the FA Cup.”
Birchenall (above) recalls his Chelsea ‘introduction’ after joining for £100,000 in 1967. He said: “I remember my first training session for one special reason. Hard to believe now, but we were due to travel to Sunderland for a game but we had a session on the concrete forecourt at Stamford Bridge.
“Dave Sexton handed out the bibs. My big mate Peter Osgood told me what the format was but said to me, ‘Just be careful, Birch’. I thought it was a strange thing to say but thought no more of it. Anyway, Peter Bonetti got the ball and I put my hand up to receive it. As it’s coming down I wanted to make my first touch good having just joined the club for a lot of money and the next thing I knew I was on my back, thinking ‘What the f***’ was that?’
“As I came round, there was Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris looking down saying, ‘Welcome to Chelsea.’ He’d absolutely decapitated me. Ossie just said, ‘I told you to be careful!’.”
Birch missed Chelsea’s epic FA Cup final win against Leeds in 1970. “A razor-sharp stud had gashed my knee open against Wolves, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it.
“I’ve still got the scar to this day. I walked out at Wembley and it was the biggest disappointment of my life. I grew up dreaming of playing there. I went on the open top bus tour, but there was no medal. The Chelsea lads kept me involved but you just don’t feel part of it.”