CHELSEA are the world’s costliest football franchise, bought for £4.25billion and have splurged a world-record £600million on new players this season alone.
Yet, in the 80s, the Blues were bust and unable to pay players' wages until bought for £1 by Ken Bates, who was rescued by Roman Abramovich in 2003, with a £140m sale.
In a BT Sport documentary and new book, Glenn Hoddle, manager from 1993-96, recalls how he was given a 50p piece and told to use the payphone hanging at the training ground to sell one of the club’s top players.
In an exclusive interview for the documentary and book, Hoddle recalls the appalling facilities he encountered at the Bridge.
Hoddle thought he had made the ‘big time’ — but found the Chelsea infrastructure inferior to Swindon, who he had just got promoted!
He explained: “I was confident in my ability as a manager: I can only improve them.
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“On the surface, it was looking as if it was going to be a step up. But the training ground was a disgrace. Swindon’s was better.
“Just incredible when I think back. Didn’t have an office. No gym. Didn’t even have a bath. The dressing rooms were so tight, no wonder they said, ‘We get a lot of flu during the winter’. It was an absolute disaster.
“I remember saying to the guys, ‘Tomorrow afternoon we’re going to do some good running’. One of the young coaches put his hands up and said, ‘Gaffer, we can’t train on a Wednesday, there’s hockey and cricket’.”
That was a reference to the Harlington training ground owned by Imperial College, who had first call on its facilities.
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It got worse. Hoddle continued: “I was trying to do a deal with Ron Atkinson over a player. And I’m talking on this phone with the bottom taken out.
“I had to put 50p in but it kept dropping. Ron asked, ‘What’s that beeping in the background?’ It was the pips! That was Chelsea FC. It was quite incredible.
“After their training, they’d probably go to McDonald’s on the way home. That was the philosophy.”
Hoddle brought from Monaco, where he played under Arsene Wenger, a whole new way — nutrition, training, tactical reforms.
Michael Duberry witnessed the big changes: “We’d just signed John Spencer from Rangers. We sat down at this American diner: Do I get the burger or the doner kebab? Can I have the doner kebab, chips and a can of coke? Spencer is looking [bemused]: ‘Are you lot for real?’ ‘Don’t knock it, Spenny, this is the highlight of our day.’ ”
Hoddle said: “What I had at Swindon was technically far better than the squad I’d take over. Tactically, I wanted to play three at the back and do what I did at Swindon — but the centre-backs weren’t as comfortable.
“I was never going to change my principles. I’d spent too much time with a bad neck as a midfield player and with England, watching the ball go over my head. So I wasn’t going to play survival football. There was a pride in how we played.”
It was not easy to bring fans and players with him at first, especially with the club near the bottom of the table. Hoddle got a call from Bates on holiday, cruising in the Caribbean, to receive unconditional backing.
Hoddle said: “We were trying our best but it wasn’t easy. I knew where I wanted to take it but it was going to take time.
“We came out of The Dell and we were second from bottom and I’m getting pelters from the Chelsea fans. They were really giving me a hard time.
“Ken Bates always went away for Christmas/New Year on a cruise. He put a phone call through to us and said, ‘Don’t worry — you’re our man. We’re backing you. Stay cool’.
“Sometimes when you get that sort of phone call, you think, ‘Oh dear’, dread’s coming round the corner. I needed to hear that.’ ”
Hoddle’s brand of football attracted some of the world’s best stars, including one-time World Footballer of the Year Ruud Gullit.
But to persuade the super Dutchman to bring his brand of ‘sexy football’ to the Bridge, he had to keep him away from the ramshackle training ground and a down-market building site for a stadium!
Hoddle said: “I know he had a bit of a dodgy knee and it would take some doing to get him to come over.
“We had a good chat but he wanted to see the training ground, so I steered him well away from there.
“I said there was building going on and he’d have to put one of those hard hats on.
“He asked to go to the stadium and I said, ‘We’re having a new stadium, first stands are going up, so you’d have to put a hard hat on’.
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“I said, ‘Tell you what we could do, go and have lunch down the King’s Road’. So we took him to an Italian restaurant!”
The Battle for Stamford Bridge by Harry Harris. Out Now on Amazon for £10.95.
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