Programme of the Week Burnley vs Chelsea 6th February 1956
The latest in the series of football programmes from my collection that relates to a game in the next few days.
Back to the Premier League this week. In Saturday’s late game on Sky, Burnley host Chelsea.
Burnley vs Chelsea 2019 / 2020
Both Burnley and Chelsea have made a good start to the 2019 / 2020 season. After nine games, Burnley sit 8th in the table following 3 wins, three draws and three defeats. They are second in a cluster of five teams on 12 points headed by Tottenham Hotspur. Sheffield United; AFC Bournemouth and West Ham United are below Burnley in this mini table.
Either side of the recent International Break, Burnley beat Everton 1-0 at Turf Moor. The winning goal was scored by Jeff Hendrick. Then they lost 1-2 at Leicester City. Chris Wood scored his fourth goal of the season, but a late equalising own goal was ruled out by VAR!
Chelsea, under new rookie manager Frank Lampard, have won five, drawn two and lost two of their opening nine games. Perhaps their season can be summed up by being the third highest scorers in the division and the fourth highest conceding.
Pre and post the International Break, Chelsea had a thumping 4-1 win at Southampton and a less comfortable 1-0 victory over Newcastle United at the Bridge. Chelsea’s goals have been shared around, but it does seem that Tammy Abraham is now maturing into a Premier League goal scorer.
Burnley vs Chelsea 1956
Burnley and Chelsea are both top division sides this season. Chelsea are the defending champions, having won their first Division One title in the 1954/55 season.
This match is number three in a series of five games that it took to decide the tie! The teams drew 1-1 at Burnley and then 1-1 in the replay at Stamford Bridge. This second replay is held at St. Andrews, home of the eventual losing finalists, Birmingham City.
There must have been a coin toss to decide venues, as replays three and four take place at Highbury and then White Hart Lane!
At this point in the season, Burnley are third in the table, three points behind Blackpool and five behind Manchester United; the eventual champions. Despite beating Newcastle United in the Charity Shield, Chelsea have not started their defence strongly. A bit like Burnley today, they sit amidst a group of teams all on 29 points.
Top of this mini group in 8th are Bolton Wanderers, followed by Luton Town, Chelsea, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Portsmouth. At the end of the season Burnley finish 7th but Chelsea fall way and end up 16th.
Burnley vs Chelsea 1956 – Match Programme
The programme is Birmingham City’s usual A5 size with the cover depicting three sides of the St Andrew’s ground. It is priced threepence.
It comprises 12 pages, with adverts taking up about 30% of the space. However, each side has player ‘pen pictures’ and there are images of Roy Bentley (Chelsea) and Tommy Cummings (Burnley).
Burnley are managed by the legendary Alan Brown, a highly regarded coach. Brown is closely associated with Burnley and Sunderland, and he took Sheffield Wednesday to 1966 FA Cup Final.
In the Burnley side are seven of the players who would comprise Burnley’s 1960 league winning side. However prolific centre forward Ray Pointer was yet to make his first team debut. At number 9 was Scotsman Peter McKay who scored 27 goals that season. McKay was inducted into the Dundee United Hall of Fame in 2009 in recognition of being their all-time leading goal scorer.
Chelsea are managed by the equally legendary Ted Drake. This is Drake’s fourth season in charge and as mentioned, he managed the team to their first championship the previous year.
In the Chelsea team are many title winners. The side is comprised largely of English players, a notable exception being goalkeeper Bill Robertson.
The Main Man
No doubt who the main man is! Roy Bentley.
Bentley joined Chelsea from Newcastle United for the 1948/49 season. He is top scorer for Chelsea that year and for the next eight seasons. In total he played 324 games for Chelsea and scored 130 goals. He sits 5th on the all-time Chelsea top goal scorers list.
Also, Roy Bentley played 12 times for England including in the 1950 World Cup tournament in Brazil. He had the dubious distinction of being a member of the England team humiliated 1-0 by the USA during the tournament.
So, the game finished 2-2 and a third replay was scheduled for Highbury. This match ended goalless, but the tie was eventually decided 2-0 in Chelsea’s favour at the fifth time of asking two days later, at White Hart Lane.
Amazingly, these five cup matches were played over 18 days between January 28th and February 15th. Unimaginable these days!
So good luck to both sides this weekend. A win for Burnley could see them enter the top six. But three points for Chelsea could elevate them to second spot.