John Dempsey: Chelsea Player January 1969 to March 1978

John Dempsey Against Stamford Bridge Seating

There is something mildly curious about London-based teams that doesn’t tend to happen with sides based elsewhere, which is that they often transfer players between one another. It isn’t unheard of, for example, for an Arsenal player to be signed by Chelsea or vice-versa. This isn’t a new thing; even as far back as the 1970s, players would move from one side in the capital to another. Even those that would be considered rivals were up to it, as evidenced by the fact that John Dempsey spent his formative years at Fulham before signing for the Blues in 1969.

Dempsey’s Life Before Chelsea

John Dempsey was born in Hamstead on the 15th of March 1946. A decent centre-back, he was soon snapped up by Fulham. The West London side signed him after knowing the fact that he grew up in Kilburn, being taken to see Chelsea play one weekend and then Fulham the next by his Irish father, Thomas. It was whilst he was playing Sunday league football that Fulham decided to sign him, in spite of the fact that he had been a centre-forward for Iverson in a match in Regent’s Park that a scout had been watching. He initially joined the club as a 15-year-old apprentice.

His debut in the First Division came in 1964 when the six foot, one inch player come on in attack. He even scored a 19-minute hat-trick in the League Cup against Northampton in 1965, but he was soon moved back to play solely as a central defender. It was playing in that position that he caught the eye of Chelsea manager Dave Sexton, who kept tabs on him. Thanks to the fact that he had Irish parents, he began playing for the Republic of Ireland in 1966, making 19 appearances over the following six years, which included him scoring one goal for his chosen national team.

Signing for the Blues

Having kept an eye on Dempsey’s development, Dave Sexton eventually gave the go-ahead to sign him for £70,000 in 1969. Over the eight years that followed, Dempsey would go on to play 207 matches for the Stamford Bridge side. He developed a reputation as a no-nonsense defender, working with David Webb, Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris and Eddie McCreadie in order to stop the opposition from scoring. Their teammate, Peter Osgood, labelled them the ‘four assassins at the back’, such was the extent to which they would work together in order to kill opposition chances.

Although unassuming, he remained popular in a Chelsea dressing room that featured a wide variety of personalities. He was also loved by the Stamford Bridge faithful, many of whom couldn’t help but notice that his long hair didn’t do much to cover up his bald spot. His first full season with the Blues culminated at Wembley in the FA Cup final. There, the London side faced Leeds United at Wembley Stadium, with the match ended 2-2 after extra-time. That led to a replay, which took place at Old Trafford and became one of the most notorious games in the competition’s history.

The only time that the replay took place somewhere other than Wembley Stadium between 1923 and 2000, a television audience of more than 28 million tuned in to see the two teams kick lumps out of one another. When David Elleray watched the match back in 1997, he said that if it had been played in the modern era then the sides would’ve been shown 20 yellow cards and six red cards between them. Leeds were known as a dirty side during that period, so it appeared as if Chelsea were determined to match them blow for blow, eventually winning 2-1 in extra-time.

A year later and Chelsea made it to the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, where they ended up facing Real Madrid. Having defeated Greek team Aris Thessaloniki, Bulgarian team CSKA September Flag and Club Brugge on their way to the semi-finals, the Blues had to make it past fellow English team Manchester City before facing the Spanish giants. The first game finished 1-1, but it was the second that Dempsey is still remembered for. It was in the 33rd minute that he volleyed home a clearance by Real’s goalkeeper, scoring the first in a 2-1 win for the Blues.

Life After Chelsea

In 1972, Dempsey made yet another appearance in a final for Chelsea, this time in the League Cup against Stoke City. They lost the game, with worse to come for the player when achilles and toe injuries kept him out of the side for a year. By the time he came back, the Blues had been relegated down to the Second Division and the player failed to make his way back into the team. He eventually departed Stamford Bridge in the March of 1978, signing for the North American Soccer League side Philadelphia Fury, where he met up with his former teammate Peter Osgood.

He beat Franz Beckenbauer to be named the Defender of the Year in the NASL for 1979. It wasn’t his first experience in North America, however. Three years earlier, Dempsey had been the player-manager for Serbian White Eagles, a team in the Canadian National Soccer League. He remained with the Fury until 198, taking on the manager’s role at Maidenhead United for a short period before being offered the player-manager role at Dundalk in 1983. He stayed there for a year, eventually hanging up his boots and retiring from the game.

In the latter years of his life, Dempsey worked as a carer for people with learning difficulties. He died on the sixth of November 2024, being remembered by Chelsea for his successes with the club.