There probably aren’t a host of Chelsea supporters who know the name of Colin Pates anymore. It might be a name worth making a note of if you’re something of a pub quiz buff, however. Pates was the first Chelsea captain to lift silverware at Wembley Stadium, which he did when the club won the Full Members’ Cup in the March of 1986. He will also be remembered fondly by supporters who were around at the time, given the fact that he was well-respected by those who went to Stamford Bridge every week to watch the club play. He would, as is often the case with Chelsea players, go on to play for Arsenal later in his career.
Colin Pates’s Honours as a Chelsea Player
| Season | League Titles | Domestic Cups | European/International Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985-1986 | – | Full Members’ Cup | – |
| 1983-1984 | Second Division | – | – |
Who is Colin Pates?
Colin George Pates was born in Wimbledon on the tenth of August 1961. He joined the Chelsea youth ranks as soon as his talent was spotted, making his way up through the ranks in order to become part of the first eleven. His debut for the Blues came when he was just 18-years-old, replacing the injured Micky Droy in a game that ended up finishing 7-3 to Chelsea; Leyton Orient were the unfortunate recipients of the drubbing. Perhaps Pates should have known from the topsy-turvy game that his future at Stamford Bridge was likely to be just as turbulent. During his first season, Pates made 17 appearances thanks to Droy’s regular absences.
Cementing His Place in the Chelsea Team
The fact that Pates made so many appearances during his first season when he was still so young was a good indication of how well-respected he was by Chelsea’s management team at the time. He could read the game very well and earned a reputation as being a ball-playing centre-back similar to the likes of Alan Hansen at Liverpool. It was because he was able to play so many positions that he was regularly turned to by the manager, Geoff Hurst, who used him as something of a stop-gap when necessary. The Blues were keen to win promotion back into the First Division, but were unsuccessful at the first time of asking.
He made 15 league appearances during the 1980-1981 season, all of which came across the back four, but he struggled to really nail down a position. That began to change when John Neal took over as manager at the end of the season, with Neal believing that a partnership between Droy and Pates at the centre of defence was Chelsea’s best way forward. The combination of the aerial presence and strong tackling offered by Droy and the cultural passing of Pates was ideal, with Pates being an ever-present in Neal’s first season in charge. It earned him the manager’s trust, so when John Bumstead was inured for an FA Cup tie against all-conquering Liverpool, it was Pates who the manager moved forward into the midfield berth.
It proved to be an inspired choice, with Pates rising to the occasion and helping Chelsea’s midfield to dominate that of the Merseysiders and seeing out a 2-0 win. Neal was so impressed that he kept him in the midfield for the rest of the season, with the move remaining the case even when there were injures at the back, seeing Neil put centre-forward Colin Lee back there rather than upset his new midfield. Pates returned the faith that the manager had shown in him, scoring his first goal for the club in a 1-1 draw with Blackburn in the final game of the 1981-1982 season and keeping his place in the team for the following campaign.
Becoming Chelsea Captain
An injury to Pates against Derby County in the September of 1982 left him sidelined for a month, but when he returned to the side he proved that he’d lost none of his magic. He scored his first goal at Stamford Bridge thanks to a 25-yard screamer against Charlton Athletic, repeating the trick just before Christmas against Bolton Wanderers. An impressive performance against Queens Park Rangers on the Boxing Day of 1982 gave the Blues a win against the league leaders that was something of a shock, but it helped the Blues to avoid relegation by just two points. There were big changes in the summer, which proved to be good news for Pates.
Chelsea signed the Scot Joe McLaughlin, with him and Pates proving such a formidable partnership that Chelsea legend Droy struggled to get back into the team. In fact, he made just one appearance all season, so Neal made the decision during the Christmas period to give the club captaincy to Pates. It was a move that reaped immediate results, with Pates leading Chelsea to the Second Division title at the end of the campaign. He missed a few games after the following Christmas, with his importance to the team being highlighted by the results that followed, including consecutive defeats to Coventry City and Ipswich Town.
Even with those injuries, Pates was able to make 48 appearances in all competitions in the 1984-1985 season. Perhaps his most impressive was at Goodison Park, where he scored a goal in a 4-3 win against the Everton team that would go on and win the First Division title that season. Many thought that he would be picked for the England team heading off the World Cup in Mexico, but it wasn’t to be. That was in spite of the fact that Chelsea had competed for the title for most of the 1985-1986 season, with Pates being one of the club’s most important players. Silverware was to follow, but Pates’ time at the club was drawing to a close.
Losing the Captaincy & Leaving Chelsea
In the March of 1986, Pates enjoyed one of the best weekends in his life when he scored a free-kick against Southampton on the Saturday and then became Chelsea’s first ever player to lift silverware at Wembley Stadium. That came in the Full Members’ Cup, which was a tournament designed to make up for the fact that English clubs had been banned from Europe in the wake of the Heysel Stadium Disaster. Chelsea defeated Manchester City 5-4 thanks to a hat-trick from David Speedie and a brace from Colin Lee. In the summer, managers John Hollins brought in centre-back Steve Wicks, resulting in Pates being put into the left-back slot.
When Wicks got injured, Pates was put back into the centre-back role, but injuries soon meant he was having to play in midfield. He was returned to the centre of defence for the final few games of the season, with Chelsea only just avoiding relegation. Ahead of the following season, he was stripped of the captain’s armband and that was given to McLaughlin in spite of the Scot being unsettled. Injuries marred his season, then in the October of 1988 came the announcement that the club’s new manager, Bobby Campbell, had chosen to sell Pates to Charlton Athletic for £400,000; a decision for which the Chelsea faithful never really forgave Cambell.
Life After Chelsea
Pates lasted just 15 months at Charlton, joining Arsenal in the January of 1990 for £500,000. At the time, of course, the Gunners were one of the best defensive sides in the country and he struggled to break through the Steve Bould, Tony Adams, David O’Leary and Andy Linighan centre-half team. Over two-and-a-half years at Highbury he made just 12 appearances for the Gunners, including one during the title-winning 1990-1991 campaign, but that wasn’t enough to earn him a medal. He was sent to Brighton & Hove Albion on loan, then became an important player for Arsenal during the 1991-1992 season as Adams and Bould suffered injuries.
In the August of 1993, Pates moved to Brighton on a free transfer. Sadly a knee injury meant that his playing career all but came to a close not long after, so he made the decision to move into coaching. He became the player-manager of Crawley Town, but left there in 1996. He played for Romford briefly prior to gaining coaching qualifications whilst managing Wingate & Finchley. In 2001 he started coaching football at Whitgift School in South Croydon, drawing to a close a career in top-level football that had taken in two of London’s biggest clubs as well as silverware and a moment at Chelsea for the record books.