Les Stubbs

Les Stubbs
Les Stubbs (1955)
Personnel
Surname	Leslie Levi Stubbs
birthday	December 18, 1929
place of birth	Great Wakering ,  England
date of death	February 1, 2011
Place of death	Great Wakering ,  England
position	Half-striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
until 1948	Great Wakering Rovers
1948-1952	Southend United	83 (40)
1952-1958	Chelsea FC	112 (34)
1958-1960	Southend United	22 ( 03)
1960-1961	Bedford Town
1961-1983	Great Wakering Rovers
1 Only league games are given.

Leslie Levi "Les" Stubbs (born December 18, 1929 in Great Wakering , † February 1, 2011 ibid) was an English football player . The half-forward won the English championship with Chelsea in 1955 .

Athletic career

Stubbs was a noticeably talented footballer for the domestic Great Wakering Rovers in his teenage years before joining neighboring third division club Southend United in May 1948 . There the young striker was immediately very successful and he scored 40 goals in 83 league games. In this way he drew attention to more prominent clubs and it was ultimately with Ted Drake the coach of Chelsea FC who signed Stubbs for a transfer fee of 10,000 pounds in November 1952.

In the "Blues", Stubbs only got a sporadic turn at first. In the further course of the 1952/53 season, he completed five games and with a narrow relegation he was not granted a goal of his own. Drake, however, continued to strengthen his back and when Chelsea pushed into the top half of the table the following year, Stubbs conquered a regular place and contributed nine goals. This was his overture for the 1954/55 season in which he won the English championship with Chelsea. Stubbs was seen as flexible in the offensive series, created spaces for center forward Roy Bentley and the somewhat lagging Johnny McNichol and harmonized with wingers Eric Parsons and Frank Blunstone . His strengths included less technical skills than a good physical condition and a high level of commitment. Stubbs was particularly noticeable in crucial away games, with scoring goals in the 3-1 win against Sheffield United and in the 3-3 win against Sunderland AFC . The highlight was in December 1954 the duel against reigning champions Wolverhampton Wanderers , when Stubbs loaded England captain Billy Wright at the score of 2: 3 and made it equal, before Bentley then scored the 4: 3 shortly before the end. Regardless of this, he suddenly found himself facing competition from Seamus O'Connell , who - although only registered as an amateur player - temporarily ousted him from the formation, which ultimately meant he played "only" 27 of the 42 league games. Even when O'Connell said goodbye to professional sport, Stubbs was unable to regain his previous regular position and in the following years he increasingly had to face young competitors such as David Cliss , Ron Tindall , Peter Brabrook and Jimmy Greaves . After a total of 122 league appearances for Chelsea, Stubbs returned to Southend United in November 1958.

He spent a little more than a season with the Shrimpers before turning his back on professional football in the direction of Bedford Town . He later went back to his homeland in Great Wakering, where he played for the Rovers until he was 53 years old. He died on February 1, 2011 at the age of 81.

Title / Awards

• English Championship (1): 1955
• Charity Shield (1): 1955

Web links

• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
• Profile on barryhugmansfootballers.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Leslie Levi Stubbs (stamford-bridge.com)
2. ↑ Les Stubbs: Tenacious forward who helped Chelsea to their first League title in 1955 (The Independent)