Boys in blue back from the brink
The summer of 1983 and the season that followed is seen by many Chelsea fans of a certain vintage as a glorious peak just as memorable as the trophy-rich times of the Roman Abramovich era.
Numerous new faces arrived at Stamford Bridge thanks to the wily recruitment of manager John Neal and assistant Ian McNeill, and years of misery, struggle and the very real threat of bankruptcy were soon forgotten.
Among the new recruits were winger Pat Nevin and future England international striker Kerry Dixon. The latter was to be the headline-grabbing hero, scoring 34 goals in the season as the Blues won the title on the back of a 17-game unbeaten run, which culminated in a final-day victory over Grimsby Town.
“It was an exciting, attack-minded team that scored a hell of a lot of goals and was lovely to watch,” Nevin told BBC Sport. “We gelled and it felt more special to the fans because Chelsea came from a real low point the previous season and had nearly gone down to the third tier.
“In 1985-86, there was a period where we were in the hunt to win the Division One title, but we didn’t have a big enough squad.”
