In all my decades of attending Stamford Bridge, players, managers and owners have come and gone whilst the only constant was Lord Richard Attenborough. Authentic Bobby Clarke Jersey . Honorary life vice-president, shareholder, club director, Stamford Bridge host to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen: If someone had have asked him, Attenborough would willingly have accepted the role of Chelsea FCs chief cook and bottle washer. The connection to the club for the highly acclaimed actor, film director and producer can be traced back over 75 years when as part of his preparations to play the role of a gangster in a movie Attenborough got to train with the players. He is famously quoted as saying throughout his life he had two love affairs - his wife of seven decades and Chelsea Football Club. His lasting legacy occurred in 1982. After decades of neglect, the then-club owners had embarked on overly ambitious plans to completely rejuvenate Stamford Bridge. This coming at a time of volatile oil prices, Middle East tensions and the globe in an economic freefall. All combined with extremely high interest rates construction costs spiralled out of control. Stamford Bridge began to resemble an abandoned construction site, more than it did a soccer venue. The club flirted with bankruptcy. Property developers spotted an opportunity it could not resist they began purchasing from distressed shareholders their holdings in the valuable land Stamford Bridge was situated on– this for a club which had been formed in a pub across the street in 1905. The only news coming out of Chelsea in those troubled days was discussion of demolishing the ground and turning it into a residential area for the super-wealthy. Stamford Bridge borders one of the most expensive postal codes on the planet, and the Royal Borough of Chelsea and Kensington. I recollect it vividly. The Mears Family who had formed the club in that pub back at the turn of the 20th century, began losing control. Brian Mears, the chairman and grandson of the club founder was ousted in a boardroom coup. Speculation was rife on what minority shareholder Richard Attenborough, would do with his shares. In the end, Attenborough got a promise from Ken Bates - who would buy the club in late 1982 for the princely sum of £1 plus all its debts – that he would not move the club out of the community that meant so much to the man who won an Oscar for that years Hollywood Blockbuster, Gandhi. Simply put if Attenborough had sold out to the property developers, a wholly different Oscar would not be running out at Stamford Bridge in the number 8 shirt today. Nor would Roman Abramovich be taking in matches form the luxury of the owners private box. For that matter Chelsea, if it had survived, would most likely be playing in the second or third tier of English football and not competing for yet more Premier League or Champions League titles. We certainly wouldnt be seeing the abundance of Chelsea jerseys in the football pubs and city streets worldwide. Its reason why Chelseas supporters have begun a petition to rename the East Stand at Stamford Bridge in the memory of a man who was friends, and on first name terms with Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers and Presidents. No one outside of players, the coaching and medical staffs are allowed into the fabled Stamford Bridge dressing room pre-game, not even Abramovich. Such is the stature of the man: Attenborough was welcomed with open arms. There was no better sight at Stamford Bridge than witnessing Attenborough taking his seat, next to his wife in the directors box, surrounded by his own ‘private security that came in the irresistible form of the Chelsea Pensioners. Those retired military serviceman - who reside in the Royal Hospital Chelsea and who come resplendent in bright red military jackets - you will often have often caught a glimpse of from Stamford Bridge TV broadcasts. Youd often see Attenborough driving his very distinctive Rolls Royce around the streets which surround Stamford Bridge. My own favourite personal memory came in 1998. Attenborough was in Montreal to film his movie Grey Owl, with the man who would go on to become James Bond, Pierce Brosnan in the lead role. Filming took place in a small Quebec town some 200 km outside Montreal. The name of that town was Chelsea, population 6,500. You couldnt make it up. Sunday, Mar. 29 was deemed an off day and Chelsea were playing Middlesbrough at Wembley, it was the League Cup Final. There were no digital satellite channels back in 1998. You wanted to watch any live football you had to go to one of very few sports bars which had old school bulky satellites which didnt always pick up the signals. Most often they would just provide grainy pictures and no commentary. Not this day. Taking up my usual spot with the other four Montreal-based Chelsea supporters 15 minutes before kickoff Attenborough walked in. Amiable and approachable Attenborough was like a kid who had just had a drop off from Santa Claus. He somewhat resembled him too. Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 2-0, their second coming from the man who in 2012 led them to Champions League Glory, Roberto Di Matteo. Attenborough was in no rush to leave. There was a lap of honour on the hallowed Wembley Stadium pitch to take in. On what would today have been Lord Attenboroughs 91st birthday, Chelsea announced earlier that in consultation with his family, they plan a lasting memorial for Stamford Bridge. Saturday afternoon Chelsea will trot out at Goodison Park wearing black arm bands in memory of a man everyone connected to Chelsea owes an immense debt of gratitude to. As English football has evolved into the multi-billion dollar global business it is today we can be sure we will not witness the likes of “Dickie” Attenborough ever again. Hes cut from a cloth not even Abramovich could afford. Listen to Everton v Chelsea – Live on the TSN Radio Network Saturday 12:30pm et / 9:30am pt Noel Butler can be reached at: Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter Authentic Brian Propp Jersey . - Buffalo Bills running back C. Authentic Anthony Stolarz Jersey .com) - The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms with running back Jackie Battle on a one-year contract Friday. http://www.cheapflyersjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-wayne-simmonds-jersey . -- Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Up three goals in the first period against the worst team in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Wild appeared to be rolling to an easy win. However, the Edmonton Oilers refused to roll over. The Oilers scored twice in the final 9 minutes of regulation to force overtime, then completed their comeback when Taylor Hall scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lift Edmonton to a 4-3 victory over the Wild on Tuesday night. "We got really complacent when we were up 3-0," the Wilds Zach Parise said. "Just (a) lack of energy on the bench even when we were up 3-0. You could just sense, even though we were up 3-0, we werent feeling good. We played with no intensity, no urgency." Minnesota now holds a three-point lead over Dallas for the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference, with Phoenix just a point behind the Stars. The Stars and Coyotes both won on Tuesday, making the Wilds loss sting a bit more. Zach Parise, Jared Spurgeon, and Jason Pominville scored in 4-minute, 16-second span of the first period to put the Wild up 3-0. But they missed other key opportunities to put the game away, including a 5-on-3 power play midway through the second period and another man advantage late in regulation that extended into overtime. "I thought that we were a little bit lucky to be up 3-0. You could tell that we werent on it right away," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "We addressed it, we talked about it, but we werent able to find it. Youre obviously playing with fire when youre doing that." Jeff Petry got the Oilers on the scoreboard about 90 seconds after the Wilds flurry, and David Perron and Jordan Eberle scored in the third period to tie it. Andrew Ference had two assists. Viktor Fasth finished with 28 saves through overtime to help Edmonton win for the third time in four games. "Im proud of them. It wouldve been real easy to pack it in, call it a night and get on to the next game, but our guys refused to do it," Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said. "They just kept scrapping and clawing and its tough against a team like that." In the shootout, Hall beat Darcy Kuemper with a forehand after each team scored in the first two rounds. Fasth stopped two straight shots before Hall slipped the game-winner between Kuempers pads. "Its been a while since Ive taken a shootout shot. I was kind of panicking a bit, but (EEberle) told me he thought five-hole would be there, and sure enough, fake shot, five-hole," Hall said. Philadelphia Flyers Jerseys China. "It was good to see that one go in." Mikael Granlund had a pair of assists for the Wild, who have lost three straight, including the last two in shootouts. Parise opened the scoring on the power play, taking a pass from Granlund and beating Fasth with his own rebound for his 22nd goal of the season with 9:53 left in the first. Minnesota doubled its lead when Spurgeons slap shot from the right point hit Oilers defenceman Justin Schultz in the leg and deflected past a screened Fasth with 6:14 to go. Pominville made it 3-0 with 4:37 left in the first when he scored his team-leading 24th of the year off a feed from Granlund, who had chased down a loose puck behind the net. Petry then fired a shot from the right corner that hit traffic in front of the net and skipped past Kuemper with 3:05 left in the period to get Edmonton on the board. The Wild controlled the pace for most of the second period, but they couldnt beat Fasth, who held them at bay during an extended 5-on-3 power play when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan Smyth were each called for hooking within 36 seconds. Parise said the Wilds struggles on the power play were frustrating, "but it goes way beyond that. If youre up 3-0, you cant give up three straight." Perron tipped in Ferences pass for his team-leading 24th goal with just under 9 minutes to play in the third to cut Minnesotas lead to 3-2. Eberle tied it with 4:53 to go in regulation, scoring off a long rebound given up by Kuemper. Ference fired the puck into the Minnesota zone from centre ice, but Kuemper could not control the carom. Eberle beat Ryan Suter to the puck in the high slot and slipped a wrist shot past Kuemper for his 21st goal of the year. Edmontons Matt Hendricks took a 2-minute minor with 8.7 seconds left in regulation when he inadvertently shot the puck into the crowd in his defensive zone. But the Oilers killed off the penalty, and Parise later hit the post as the Wild failed to put the game away. NOTES: Wild F Matt Cooke played in his 1,000th NHL game. He was honoured by the Wild in a pregame ceremony that featured taped greetings from former teammates and opponents on the Xcel Energy Center scoreboard. ... 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