No Envy Even if I Have to Sell Off My Medal

By Ken Dyer, Evening Standard
22 April 2005

It's a pity Chelsea captain John Terry will not be holding the Premiership trophy aloft at Stamford Bridge tomorrow. There would have been a nice symmetry about it somehow, coming after a win over nearest rivals Fulham and 50 years ago to the day since the club were last crowned kings of English football.

Half a century isn't a long time in the great scheme of things but when you talk to people like Jim Lewis, it seems like aeons ago.

Whenever Chelsea do wrap up the title, their celebrations will need to be a little restrained. After all, the European Cup is still up for grabs.

The players might have a few glasses of champagne or perhaps a dinner somewhere nice if training schedules allow.

When Lewis and the rest of the Chelsea team won the First Division title in 1955, though, it was even more low profile. Lewis and Frank Blunstone just had a cup of tea and went home, Stan Willemse caught the train back to his home town of Brighton and went straight to the greyhound track to see his dog run.

Lewis, now 77, was an amateur at Stamford Bridge that momentous year, scoring six goals in 17 matches. In his time at Chelsea under manager-Ted Drake, he netted 40 league goals in 95 games and, during his career mostly with crack amateur club Walthamstow Avenue, he scored a staggering 423 goals in 522 matches.

He never turned professional despite being asked to by Drake. In 1955 he was earning 15 per week plus commission plus a company car as a salesman for Thermos.

"Roy Bentley would have been on 18-20 as a full-time professional for Chelsea and the bonuses were 2 for a win and 1 for a draw," said Lewis.

"Not many of the players had a car then so I decided to stay an amateur. I worked my way up to national sales manager with Thermos and travelled the world as an amateur, playing in three Olympics so I reckon I made the right decision."

Lewis now lives comfortably with his wife and daughter in Essex but is seriously considering selling his League winners' medal.

"Some of the others have done it," he said. "I've got the memories anyway and nothing will take them away." He is not envious of the modern player with all the riches at his disposal but admitted: "It's just the time. You can't do anything about that although, if I'm honest, I would have liked to have been around with the money in the game these days."

Lewis has nothing but praise for what Jose Mourinho and his players have done this season.

"Mourinho and Drake, two totally different men," he said. "Ted was a gentle man but he was volatile, which is probably the only similarity with Mourinho. As a manager he was totally wrapped up in the game. He headed every ball, made every tackle, every shot. One day he leaped up to head an imaginary ball and cracked his head on the dugout.

"Mourinho has done brilliantly in welding all those players into a championship-winning team, even keeping those players happy who are on the sidelines. He's a difficult man to really understand. From the outside he can look arrogant but from what I know, the truth is very different from that and he can be great fun in the dressing room. Perhaps the public image is a facade."

Lewis last went to Stamford Bridge a couple of seasons ago and is not scheduled to be there if and when they win the title. "There is talk of a Centenary Dinner in September," he said. "That would be nice."

The professional players were rewarded with a suit following their 1955 success but as an amateur, Lewis was not even allowed that perk.