Product Description

They were football's glamour team. With their long hair and sideburns they dazzled Chelsea all the way to FA Cup and European glory on the pitch, and swaggered up and down the King's Road off it. Peter Osgood, Alan Hudson, Ron "Chopper" Harris...this is the tale of the legendary Chelsea team of the late sixties and early seventies and their incredible champagne lifestyle. Based on first-hand accounts from the players themselves, this is the story of silky skills and serious partying from a fondly remembered bygone age of football.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #315691 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From the Author
"Playing in this magnificent Chelsea team was unbelievably exciting. The sixties were in full swing and that was reflected in our style of play – both on and off the pitch! Kings of the King’s Road is a brilliant re-creation of those incredible times."
Alan Hudson, Chelsea, 1969-74

About the Author
Clive Batty writes for Chelsea’s matchday programme, as well as contributing to the club’s official magazine of which he is a former editor. He also writes articles for various football magazines as well as travel features for the Daily Mail.

Customer Reviews

Weep blue tears
Yes, I wept when I had finished this book; tears for my long-passed youth, tears for the stars like Ossie and Hutch no longer with us but most of all tears for the very human way which this brilliantly shining team spluttered out into disintegration through disagreements, misunderstandings and the odd bit of bad luck. If you are about 40+ this will particularly strike a chord. And the description of a game between the Chelsea and QPR teams of the time - Ossie, Chopper and co vs Francis and the Emperor of West London, Stanley Bowles. THAT is what time machines are for.

...and then what happened?
Having only been a Chelsea fan for about ten years (when I first started to really get into football), I am quite a spoiled fan as there has been alot of recent success. When other fans sang about our apparent lack of history, I knew they were talking rubbish, but I wanted to know more nonetheless. This book centres around a great time for the club, documenting successes like the fa and cup winners cup. What suprised me -pleasantly- is that it does not only focus on the matches and the results, but what life was like for those great players living in the 60's and 70's There are lots of great stories from and about the players of the time, filled with humour, charm and honesty (including a hilarious recount of Ossie and a certain horse). I found this a fascinating read and evnjoyed every page. Obviously, being a Chelsea fan would render me quite biased, but I struggled to put this down, as I kept asking "and then what happened?"