A History of Chelsea: On the Pitch and Off the Drawing Board

From Ted Drake’s unexpected champions of 1955, to Thomas Tuchel’s surprise Champions League victors of 2021, the club has won ‘the lot’, unlike any of their London rivals. Now former Daily Mirror Chief Sports Writer Harry Harris and Paul Trevillion, the acclaimed artist behind Roy of the Rovers and ‘You Are The Ref’, have combined forces to produce a personal history of the club. Paul featured Chelsea players heavily in his illustrations for Fleet Street and wrote a column with battering ram centre-forward Ian Hutchinson in the early 1970s that regularly included legends such as Peter Osgood, Ron Harris and Alan Hudson.

Harry spent much of the 1980s and 1990s reporting on the club at close quarters following Ken Bates’ purchase of the Blues for £1 in 1982 and he had a front row seat for the unfolding boardroom battle between Matthew Harding and Bates a decade later that almost tore the club in two. Yet what emerged from that battle was a club transformed and attractive to ‘big money’. Bates would not have been able to sell the club to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003 without this rapid growth.

The success of the years that followed are featured heavily here as are the fondly remembered teams of earlier periods as well as Chelsea’s recent takeover and the incredible success of the women’s team.

Harry Harris has written about 20 books on Chelsea, including FOUR tomes on José Mourinho, THREE on Ruud Gullit, plus biographies of Franco Zola, Luca Vialli, Antonio Conte, and an autobiography of Kerry Dixon. He took part in a documentary about “Battle of the Bridge” behind the scenes conflict between Ken Bates and Matthew Harding which he turned into a best selling book. In fact Harry has written a record 90 football books in his distinguished career.

As a young journalist at the London Evening News Harry ghosted a column for Chelsea manager Danny Blanchflower and was close to many of the Chelsea players. Harry went on to become a double winner of the British Sports Journalist of the Year award and was presented with the British Variety Club of Great Britain Silver Heart for ‘Contribution to Sports Journalism’ and is the only journalist ever to win the Sports Story of the Year accolade twice. Harry has a total of 24 industry awards.

One of the most influential football columnists for three decades, Harry is one of the most acclaimed investigative journalists and news gatherers of his generation. He is currently Sports Development Director for SmartFrame Technologies.

Paul Trevillion has devised and drawn thousands of sporting features since the early 1950’s and, ovMovement’ for his unique bring the personality of a subject to life.

Eagle, Tiger and the Spurs supporters magazine, The Lilywhite, while still a school boy. In 1952, he met and sketched HRH the Duke of Edinburgh at an awards ceremony at Mansion House, which resulted in a letter from His Royal Highness in praise of the young artist being published in the national press, launching his career in sporting art. In 1955 he met Sir Winston Churchill who signed a smiling portrait painting of the great war leader, which is still today the only signed smiling portrait of Churchill in existence.

Paul then created the iconic refereeing feature ‘You Are The Ref’ which began in 1957 as ‘Hey Ref !’ in the Sunday People, and went on to appear in Shoot! magazine in the 1970’s and 1980’s and from 2006 in The Observer. In 1963 he revolutionised Roy of the Rovers with his ‘Comic Art Realism’ style and within weeks children were writing in for Roy Race’s autograph convinced he was real! Thanks to ‘Comic Art Realism’ – Roy Race, a footballer who never existed, lived FOREVER!

An acclaimed sports artist, author, inventor and motivator he has worked with the likes of Pelé, George Best, Paul Gascoigne, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Sugar Ray Robinson… to name just a few. His work has appeared in major London exhibitions and at the FIFA Museum and the National Football Museum. A lifelong Spurs fan, one of Paul’s first memories is being taken to see a cup tie between Spurs and Everton and in the process developing a childhood obsession with Dixie Dean.