John Boyle 1975; Coach 1977

John Boyle was born 25th December, 1946 in Motherwell, Scotland. "Boylers" was my childhood hero, my bedroom walls were adorned with posters of him. I even had the privalige of meeting him many years ago, and he was a gentleman, signing alot of my memorabilia.

His career started when he signed for Chelsea Football Club, as a 15-year-old whilst on holiday in the city. Boylers was one of the lesser-known, but nevertheless important, members of the successful Chelsea side of the period, usually playing in the midfield ball-winner role.

He was recommended to Chelsea by his uncle, who happened to be a second cousin of Manager Tommy Docherty. A month later he arrived on a train from Scotland - and there was Docherty at the station to meet him and to take him to his digs. Boylers" says, "It was incredible: I was in London, playing football every day, and at the end of the week I was given money. It was like being in heaven."
A tough-tackling fetch and carry midfielder, he captained the youth team for a year before finding himself thrown into first-team action just days before his 18th birthday. And not just any old game, but a League Cup semi-final away to Aston Villa.
"It was a terrible pitch, covered in snow, mud and sand," he says, "but it was wonderful to be playing. Then with five minutes to go, I got the ball about 30 yards out and whacked it into the corner of the net for the winning goal. Incredible."
He ultimately picked up a winners medal in that competition the same year after also playing in Chelsea's two-legged final victory over Leicester City. Having played in the 1967 FA Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley and been a first-team regular under Docherty, he became more of a marginal figure when Dave Sexton took over as Chelsea boss a few months later.
"Dave appreciated my energy and willingness, but I don't think he really fancied me as a player. Basically, I became an odd-job man, filling in here and there, and in football it doesn't help to get that reputation." Typically, though he makes a joke out of a situation which would surely have tempted less loyal players to slap in a transfer request.
Perhaps, too Boylers' enthusiastic membership of the Chelsea unofficial drinking club didn't impress his new boss. "I remember one day when myself, Charlie Cooke, Peter Osgood and Alan Birchenall were all slightly injured, and to stop us from swinging the lead, we had to report for treatment every few hours. Anyway, we went to Barbarella's - the restaurant just outside Stamford Bridge - for lunch and somebody said, 'Why not have a bottle of wine with your meal?' So we had a bottle - which inevitably, led to another one." he reflects. "Meanwhile, Dave Sexton had already been in, had his lunch and left. When a third bottle of wine arrived, Birch actually went back for treatment; then a few minutes later he came running back and told us that Harry Medhurst was doing his nut. But, we had another bottle of wine on, so we didn't want to leave." He pauses for effect. "Fourteen bottles of wine later, there's Charlie waving a pen around, trying to sign a cheque. He needn't have bothered - the bank sent it back later because it was illegible!" "Unfortunately, one of the newspapers got hold of the story and Dave left us all out for the next match."

Being left out of the team was something Boylers had to become accustomed to in 1970, when he failed to appear at all in the Blues' FA Cup-winning run - with the result that his wholehearted contribution to the Chelsea cause over nine seasons is often overlooked entirely. He also suffered another disappointment in 1970, when he missed out on a chance to line up against Pele's club, Santos, when the Blues played the Brazilians in a summer friendly in Jamaica.
"Yes, that was disappointing," he agrees, "and I remember really hoping at the time that Dave would bring me on, just so I could say that I played against Pele. But I met him after the game in a club with the rest of the Santos players and a few years later I met him again when I was coach with the Rowdies and we played his New York Cosmos team."
The following year, however, was happier, as Boylers fought his way back into the Chelsea team and gave a series of sterling performances at either right or left back. The high spot of the season, of course, came in Athens when Chelsea won the European Cup Winners Cup, defeating Real Madrid in a replay.
As ever, Boylers was right at the heart of the post-match celebrations, leading his team-mates on a trail of ouzo-guzzling and plate throwing which is no doubt still remembered in many of the old tabernas beneath the Acropolis.
There were more high jinks the following year when the squad recorded that old Chelsea favourite 'Blue is the Colour' to mark their appearance in the 1972 League Cup Final against Stoke City at Wembley.
"It made the top ten, so we got a call to go on Top of the Pops. When we got there, a guy told us to sing along to the music - but we made an awful racket, just terrible. So Eddie McCreadie said to him: 'Look, do you want a good song? Well, what we need is four bottles of vodka and a couple of crates of lager - then come back later on.' S0 we went back on stage quite a bit later, and suddenly it was like having 16 Frank Sinatras!"
Maybe Boylers sang a bum note, though, because he didn't make the team for the final and was soon leaving the Bridge - just a year short of completing a 10-year stint at Chelsea that would have put him in line for a well-earned testimonial.
After a loan spell at Brighton - where manager Brian Clough advised him to always buy two halves instead of a pint "or people will think you you're a drinker" - John moved on to Leyton Orient, a move which at the time broke my heart as a kid.

In 1975, he tried his luck in America, with the newly formed Rowdies. He was instantly made captain. He would lead them onto the Soccer Bowl '75 Championship. He played in a total of 24 games that year, scoring 4 goals and coming up with 4 assists. He throughly enjoyed his time in the NASL, and was looking forward to returning for the 1976 season. But, due to poor financial contact talks, it never happened.

Returning to England, he briefly managed Dartford, but did return to the Rowdies as interim coach when Eddie Firmani resigned in 1977. He would finish the year with a 7-9 record, taking them to the playoffs.
Then he found himself falling out of love with the game. He says that these days he'd rather watch cricket than football. It's a sad thing to hear, especially when he was the only one of the 1970's Chelsea team to gain a coaching badge while at the Bridge, but he doesn't seem to have any regrets. "I had a wondeful, wonderful time," he says, "and I haven't got any complaints."

In 2001, John was working as an overnight security guard at the Office of Science and Technology in central London.

Boylers with his scrapbook of memories.
Thank you for my great memories and a happy childhood.