The last time Chelsea lost 6-0

Chelsea’s 6-0 hammering at Manchester City would have made ugly viewing for Blues fans, especially those of a lesser vintage who haven’t seen anything so embarrassing since … the second half at Bournemouth 11 days ago.

Those, and there were many, who followed the club before they became among the wealthy elite of Europe, may however be recollecting another miserable day up north and they endured more suffering.

That day was October 31, 1981 and the club were in the old Second Division. They traveled to meet Rotherham  United at their Milmoor stadium in South Yorkshire, 42.4 miles away from today’s disaster.

Rather like today, the game started badly for Chelsea and they were 3-0 down inside 13 minutes.

After John Breckin had opened the scoring, the moustachioed Rodney Fern led the way with a hat-trick while erstwhile Tranmere Rovers legend Ronnie Moore netted twice in front of 10,145 spectators. Moore incidentally also managed both northern clubs.

The Chelsea line up that day was:

Petar Borota, Gary Chivers, Chris Hutchings, Colin Pates, Mickey Droy, Colin Lee, John Bumstead, Mike Fillery, Peter Rhoades-Brown, Colin Viljoen,  Clive Walker

Not all of them have faded into oblivion remembered, if at all, for that day.

Colin Lee was more famed for his role in another thrashing, the forward scored four goals at White Hart Lane in October 1977 as Spurs thumped Bristol Rovers 9-0.

Colin Viljoen is perhaps better remembered as the South African born midfielder who excelled in his 305 games for Ipswich before short spells for both clubs involved in today’s hammering at the Etihad.

Mickey Droy was the legendary enormous centre half frequently encouraged by the Shed End to ‘boot it in the stand’ as his most effective method of defending.

Serbian Petar Borota was exotic both for his roots, foreigners outside the home countries were rarer in those days, and because he was one of those quirky goalkeepers whose eccentricities sometimes led to the unexpected in the Chelsea goal, as you can see in the video of the match above.

Chelsea were perhaps going through their worst period.

Rod Fern (in white sleeves) nets for Rotherham in their 6-0 win over Chelsea in 1981
Photo: David Walsh twitter

The iconic Ray Wilkins had left for Manchester United two years before and without him to hold the team together, they finished 12th that year in the second tier. At the time it was their worst league finish in their history.

The worst, 18th, was to come the next season before they were once again promoted to the top flight in the 1983/84 season under John Neal’s stewardship.

Managed by former England captain Emlyn Hughes, Rotherham finished an excellent seventh that year, five places above Chelsea, but were relegated the following season. That seventh placed finish was only four below their best ever season where they finished third in the second tier, in the 1954/55 season.

Hughes was replaced by Ian Porterfield in December 1979, who won the 1981/82 Third Division Title with the millers. Porterfield later went on to join Chelsea as assistant manager in 1988 and then managed the Blues between 1991-1993.

They also lost 4-1 at home to Rotherham the same season, giving the Millers a 10-1 aggregate win. Having already beaten City this season, at least that won’t be equaled.

Millers at Wembley Gallery – Rotherham 2 : 1 Shrewsbury

Millers promoted after Wood double tames Shrews

Who is Rey Mysterio Yorkshire?

None of this will make today’s dismal showing any better for Chelsea fans, but at least they lost to a better side than they did 37 years ago in Yorkshire, a thought probably as effective a pain killer as out of date aspirin this evening for despairing Blues fans.

On the bright side, City ‘declared’ at six. Chelsea lost 7-0  at Nottingham Forest on April 20, 1991. The Forest side included names like Roy Keane, Stuart Pearce, Mark Crossley, Stuart Pearce, Garry Parker , Nigel Clough and Ian Woan.

The Chelsea side that day was: Dave Beasant, David Lee, Hall, Tony Dorigo, Frank Sinclair, Steve Clarke, Alan Dickens, Graham Stuart, Andy Townsend, Kerry Dixon, and Gordon Durie.