Doc Stoned As Chelsea Battle To Goodison Draw

December 1963. Oh What A Night, as Frankie Valli once observed. In the pop world, Merseybeat was omnipresent, She Loves You topping the charts. In the world of football, Merseyside was top of the tree as well. At the start of the month Liverpool were top and champions Everton. though seventh, were only three points off their near neighbours. Chelsea, newly promoted, had struggled back in the topflight at first, winning just two of their first twelve games, but had just won three games in a row, and had also lost just two of nine away games so, though eleventh, were definitely looking upwards not downwards.

When Tommy Docherty’s side travelled to Goodison Park on December 7th, therefore, they approached what was clearly going to be a tough trip to the champions with some confidence. Harry Catterick’s side were missing a number of stars including Brian Labone, Jimmy Gabriel and the suspended Tony Kay, but still fielded a very strong eleven including Alex ‘Golden Vision’ Young and Roy Vernon. The Toffees were a physical side, though with Eddie McCreadie, Ron Harris and Frank ‘The Tank’ Upton, Docherty’s side did not lack muscle themselves. The Liverpool Echo observed that ‘previous meetings…have been fairly tough’. Everton had just erected barriers behind the goals because of missile throwing by spectators, including a dart thrown at spurs keeper Bill Brown, had been fined £100 for crowd disturbances and warned by the F.A.

Ken Shellito was out injured so an unchanged Chelsea lined-up :- Bonetti; Hinton, R. Harris, Mortimore, McCreadie; Upton, Venables; Murray, Tambling, Bridges, Blunstone.

In front of a surprisingly low reported crowd of 39,328 (according to Chelsea: The Complete Record) or 39,538 (according to the Sunday Express), the visitors started fairly brightly and had a couple of goal attempts but soon faded. Everton were more dominant and Peter Bonetti made some decent saves, but the first half was generally dull,  with few chances for either side, until Welsh international Roy Vernon netted four minutes before the interval. Bonetti was busy after the interval and was hurt after a collision with Dennis Stevens but luckily was able to continue. The match still failed to get the pulses racing, though Everton dominated and missed a few chances as they seemed to be heading towards their eighth home win of the season. Chelsea had created little but at least were still in the game.

There was a delay with fifteen minutes left when referee R.H. Windle was knocked out after a collision with Frank Blunstone and had to go off with a ricked back. Everton’s Irish international reserve Jimmy Hill became deputy linesman. Ironically, nearly a year later his rather more famous namesake took the same role at an Arsenal v Liverpool game.

The game then, belatedly, picked up intensity and purpose. Bonetti was forced into action on a number of occasions and saved superbly from Vernon, reaching behind him to pluck the ball out of the air’. The hosts had two strong penalty appeals turned down by the replacement referee before, with eight minutes left and totally against the run of play, a defensive-mix up left Bert Murray free. His cross was mis-kicked by George Heslop and Barry Bridges fired a possibly undeserved, but very welcome, equaliser with Chelsea’s only shot of the half. A very welcome point and a hard-fought draw in a ‘tedious’ game on a misty afternoon. The Merseyside Daily Post observed that ‘a draw seemingly exceeded both their (Chelsea’s) ambitions and expectations’.

The late goal, and the rejected penalty appeals, incensed Evertonians, who were accustomed to their team taking a lead then sitting on it. Docherty was hit on the side of the face by a stone at the end of the game when he went on the pitch to congratulate his players on a gritty performance. Understandably upset, he shouted angrily at the crowd and had to be restrained by trainer Harry Medhurst ‘from dashing into the crowd to deal with the offender’ according to the Daily Herald and was led down the tunnel by Medhurst.

Everton had already installed anti-missile barriers behind the goals but that did not help Chelsea’s manager. The Scot took the view that he did not want to take the matter further. His eye swollen, he told the Daily Mirror ‘I don’t want to make a fuss about this. I don’t see why a club should be made to suffer because of the actions of one idiot’. He mentioned the matter to a linesman and to Catterick. There was talk of closing Goodison Park, following the similar incidents earlier in the season, and the linesman submitted a report, but in the end, without a formal complaint from Docherty to the FA, nothing happened.

Chelsea’s defence were lauded for keeping Derek Temple, Young and Vernon quiet, with John Mortimore (Chelsea’s star player according to the Sunday People ratings), Eddie McCreadie and Marvin Hinton all praised. Hinton’s performance at full back, not his natural role, was impressive but it was Bonetti who drew the headlines with a superb display.

The press was highly unimpressed with the quality of the match, the Sunday People calling events until the referee went off ‘one long bore’ and calling the game a ‘shambles’. For the visitors, however, the result was an indicator that, even when under the cosh away against lauded opponents, Chelsea could fight when necessary and indicated that a bright future awaited Docherty and his young side. They finished the season in fifth place, an excellent performance in their first season back in the top flight. Everton finished third, the title won by their near neighbours.

Missile throwing had become more common in recent seasons, especially at particular clubs. Peter Bonetti, when interviewed in the Manchester United programme a couple of months earlier, had complained about small boys throwing stones at Northern away games. This was part of a slowly growing trend. British Rail were wary of Liverpool and Everton fans travelling to away games, cancelling special trains on several occasions in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both were banned from soccer specials the following February, travelling supporters being forced to take service trains costing two or three pounds extra when visiting London.

This is an expanded extract from 'Diamonds, Dynamos and Devils', Tim Rolls's book about the Tommy Docherty era at Chelsea, available on eBay and Amazon.