Gentleman John Neal

How appropriate that in the week when John Neal died at the age of eighty-two, Chelsea should win their next match five-nil. This was the exact same score when the team that John built demolished Derby County in the opening skirmish of the successful 1983-1984 Division Two Championship-winning campaign.

John Neal once confessed to getting "a tingling in the back" with what he described as a "tremendous set-up" and "tremendous support". Even though he was not a former player, nor presumably did he grow up a Chelsea follower, JN nevertheless clearly fell in love with Chelsea Football Club, and the feeling appears to have been largely mutual. John was a throwback to a sadly bygone era when managers did not bitch about each other, or prowl along the touchline [outside of the technical area] and berate match officials. They did not whinge about referees or square up to their opposite number. Instead, John was literally a "manager". If one takes the word manage, it means to cope. John had indeed to cope with limited resources and make astute signings. Fortunately, after Chelsea barely secured Second Division survival in the spring of 1983, Mr Neal did precisely that, as he recruited the likes of Dixon, Niedzwieckie, Nevin, and Spackman. Consequently, a new era was born at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea enjoyed a brief resurgence in the mid-eighties as the team proved a match for almost any other in English football.

Regrettably, John Neal became too ill to remain as first-team manager, and perhaps it was no coincidence that Chelsea gradually slipped back into mediocrity until the mid-1990s revival. John had supervised Chelsea's 2-0 giant-killing triumph against the mighty Liverpool in the fifth round of the 1982 FA Cup. He also was at the steering wheel when Chelsea famously bounced back in that remarkable second half at Hillsborough when the Blues scored four times, having trailed three-nil at the interval in a midweek League Cup encounter. These are but two of the highlights of Mr Neal's brief but exciting reign.

John was an attractive person whose teams were notable for their attractive football. At least he lived long enough to see Chelsea win the domestic double in 2010 and then land the Champions League two years later. Nobody, it seems, has a bad word to say about Mr Neal, and that in itself is a fitting epitaph.