Roy Bentley

Bentley served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War and afterwards played for both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers before signing for Newcastle United in 1946. He was with the club for less than two years, but formed a key part of a forward line which also included Jackie Milburn, Len Shackleton and Charlie Wayman. He reached an FA Cup semi-final with the club in the 1946–47 season, but they were defeated 4–0 by eventual winners Charlton Athletic.[2]

In January 1948 Bentley signed for London side Chelsea for £11,000,[3] partially because he had been advised by his doctor that a move south would be a remedy for the lung problems from which he occasionally suffered. He arrived at Chelsea as a replacement for Tommy Lawton, who had also moved to Chelsea in search of a cure for lung trouble, and was initially compared unfavourably with his predecessor. His Chelsea career took off slowly as he struggled to adapt to an unfamiliar style of play. They lost 2–4 at home to Huddersfield Town on his debut and he scored just three goals in his first four months with the club.

From there, however, Bentley's fortunes changed. He was an early exponent of the deep-lying centre forward position, an unorthodox tactic which often unsettled opposing defenders. This, combined with a strong heading ability and a powerful shot, saw him score 23 goals in his first full season with Chelsea, making him the club's top scorer, for which he also earned his first England call-up. Though Chelsea's league form during his time there was often patchy, he played a key part in their first major FA Cup run for almost two decades in 1950. He scored two goals in a 3–0 fifth round win against Chesterfield while in the quarter-final against Manchester United his thunderous shot from 30 yards clinched a 2–0 win. Chelsea were eventually knocked out in the semi-finals by Arsenal, despite Bentley giving them a 2–0 lead. During his time at Chelsea, he was picked for the London XI in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

After another semi-final loss in 1952, again to Arsenal, Ted Drake arrived as Chelsea's new manager. Within three years, Bentley had captained Chelsea to their first League title, in 1954–55.[4] In addition to being captain, he scored 21 league goals during the season, including a hat-trick against Newcastle and two strikes in a 4–3 win against principal rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers. Bentley remained with Chelsea for only one more season and was one of the first to leave as the ageing championship-winning side was gradually broken up by Drake.

Bentley scored 150 goals in 367 appearances for Chelsea. At the time, this made him the club's leading goalscorer. He is presently joint-fifth in Chelsea's all-time goalscorers list behind Frank Lampard, Bobby Tambling, Kerry Dixon and Didier Drogba, and level with Peter Osgood.[4] He was Chelsea's top scorer in each of his eight full seasons at Stamford Bridge.

Bentley signed for Chelsea's West London neighbours Fulham in 1956. At Fulham Bentley was converted into a centre-half and they reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1958, where he was once again on the losing side. In 1960 he left Fulham but again stayed in West London, this time moving to Queens Park Rangers, where he saw out the remainder of his playing career.

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