The Scottish Connection - Part One
- debscoady
- 7 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In the first part of a deep delve into Chelsea's extensive and successful Scottish connections, Anna Welsh provides a snippet of her extensive research and knowledge.
Since the foundation of Chelsea in 1905, there has been a strong connection to Scotland.
Many talented Scottish managers and players have called Stamford Bridge home and left
their mark and legacy over the years.
In part one of this blog about the Scottish connection, I write about the period between the
founding of the club in 1905 and the end of World War Two.
1905 - 1914
The club’s first manager, John Tait Robertson hailed from Dumbarton in the west of Scotland.
The announcement of his appointment was made in March 1905, with the Scottish Referee
reporting “J.T. Robertson, The Everton-Southampton- Glasgow Rangers half-back, who has
played for Scotland versus England for seven consecutive seasons has been appointed
manager of the now Chelsea F.C. The “fair-haired laddie” should be a popular figure in
London football circles next season.” (Scottish Referee, 1905, p.2). Alongside being the first
Chelsea manager, Robertson also scored the club’s first ever goal.
Being the first manager of Chelsea was a challenging task, as Dominic Bliss writes in
Nutmeg Magazine “Take a moment to think about what that would entail: taking on a club
without any players or pre-existing supporters; it’s your job to help them achieve all of those
things, while trying to win some football matches as well.” (Bliss, 2017).
In November 1906, John handed in his resignation to the club to which, as the Dundee
Evening Telegraph reported “came as no surprise. It was evident matters between Directors
and officials were not going so smoothly as they should in the interests of the club.” (Dundee Evening Telegraph, 1906, p.4).
Robertson went on to manage Glossop in 1907 and then managed a Hungarian team, MTK
club in Budapest. He also later had a career as a sports writer but sadly passed away in
January 1935 at the age of 57. (The Scots Football Historians Group, c.2025 (a)).
On 28th January 1935, The Birmingham Gazette wrote “A large gathering of the “old brigade” of footballers paid tribute at the graveside at Glasgow on Saturday to the memory of “Jacky” Robertson, a former Scottish International and ex-Rangers player, and one of the finest left-halfs in the history of the game, who died on Thursday. (Birmingham Daily Gazette, 1935, p.12).
During that first season at Chelsea, there was many signings of Scottish born players. Some
of these were fairly short-lived but they all contributed to the club in some way.
You can read the full blog post here:
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