There is a long list of players who have played for both Chelsea and Arsenal but, despite the fact that he was born in Highbury, Micky Droy isn’t really one of them, though he did train with the north Londoners as a youth player. He did play for a number of other London sides, with Crystal Place, Brentford and Luton Town probably being the most famous of them, yet it was unquestionably Chelsea where he made his name. He played nearly 300 league games for the Blues, which is quite impressive when you consider that this was during a particularly turbulent time for the club. An uncompromising defender, Droy is perhaps not the sexiest of former players from the club’s history but one of the most interesting.
Micky Droy’s Honours as a Chelsea Player
| Season | League Titles | Domestic Cups | European/International Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983-1984 | Second Division* | – | – |
| 1970-1971 | – | – | Cup Winners’ Cup |
*Although Chelsea won the Second Division that season, Micky Droy didn’t actually play any league games for them during the campaign.
Who is Micky Droy?
Michael Robert Droy was born on the seventh of May 1951 in the Highbury area of London. He grew up to be a tall lad, which made playing in defence about the most sensible thing that he could do. Although he never played for Arsenal as a senior player, he did join the club’s youth system but didn’t make the grade at Highbury. Instead, he moved to non-league Hoddesdon Town in Hertfordshire in order to get more experience and develop his game. That caught the attention of Slough Town, he took him there for a period. It was at Slough Town that he learned the ins and outs of being a no-nonsense defender that impressed Chelsea.
Signing for Chelsea
As a teenager, Micky Droy had been trying to make it as a professional footballer but had not had much luck. He had been messed around by various Football League clubs, so when Chelsea came calling he was initially quite sceptical. Aside from anything else, he was enjoying playing football with the friends that he’d made at Slough Town and was earning a decent wage working for a tiling company during the week. Droy was the likeable sort, so when his boss at the tiling company offered to give him his job there back if things didn’t work out at Chelsea, it seemed like it was something of a win-win situation that he found himself in.
He became a firm favourite of Chelsea supporters, not least because he appeared to give his all every time he played. He might not have been the most talented player that the club had ever had on its books, but his work-rate and endeavour meant that Stamford Bridge loved him. It took them a while to see him play, though. He made just five appearances in his first season at the club, however one of those was the 1-0 win over Manchester City in the semi-final of the Cup Winners’ Cup at Stamford Bridge. Droy featured in even fewer games in his second season, with a single league appearance. Things started to look up for him in the 1972-1973 campaign, though, when Droy played 30 times and even managed to get on the scoresheet for the first time since arriving at Stamford Bridge.
Becoming Captain
One of the qualities that Droy had that supporters most admired him for was his leadership. From the moment he got on the pitch he was quick to marshal the backline and his fellow players were happy to listen. At the end of the 1974-1975 season, in which Droy made 26 appearances, Chelsea were relegated down to the Second Division. It was the start of a turbulent period for the Blues when they seemed to bob up and down between the top two tiers of English football, albeit flirting with relegation out of the Second Division down to the Third at one point. This was, though, not linked to Droy becoming a regular starter.
He only played eight times in the 1976-1977 campaign, but he still helped Chelsea gain promotion back into the First Division. Once they were back there he played 35 times, which is part of the reason why the Blues were able to stay in the top-flight quite comfortably. In 1978 he was named as Chelsea’s Player of the Year, with some speculating that he might have earned himself an England call-up. In the words of The Times, he was ‘six feet four inches of hard-core centre back, who had an unsentimental way with a headed clearance’. The biggest problem that faced Droy was that Chelsea were on the decline.
Having spent two seasons back in the top-flight, the club was relegated back into the Second Division at the end of the 1978-1979 season, but this time it would stick. When Ron Harris left the club in 1980, the leadership qualities that Droy had shown throughout his time at Chelsea made him the most obvious candidate to succeed him as the club’s captain. He was given the armband in 1980, with the Blues still in the Second Division and showing no real signs of making it out of it. Droy’s leadership continued, but he was fighting against a sinking ship. Having played 28 games in the 1979-1980 season, he followed that up with 30 appearances the season after, 23 in the 1981-1982 campaign and 31 a year after that.
Leaving Chelsea
One of the best performances that Droy put in, at least in the eyes of some supporters, came in the FA Cup in 1982. The Blues were drawn to play Liverpool, who were the European Champions at the time and would go on to win the First Division title at the end of the season. Few people gave the Second Division side a chance, but an excellent performance from Droy set the tone, with the man who would succeed him as captain, Colin Pates, also playing well. It led to a 2-0 win for Chelsea, largely thanks to the fact that Droy managed to keep Kenny Dalglish quiet, which went down as an almighty upset at the time.
In 1984, Droy was asked to go to Luton Town on loan in order to cover for a defensive crisis that the Hatters were suffering. It was largely thanks to the fact that Paul Elliott had broken his leg, with Droy’s debut coming at Old Trafford in a game that the club lost 2-0. A week later and Droy himself got inured, suffering from a hamstring problem in a home match against West Ham. Luton made the choice to sign Steve Foster and Droy’s days with the Hatters were over before they’d really even begun. He wasn’t aided by the fact that John Neal was looking to re-build Chelsea and part of his remit was to get rid of the old guard.
Life After Chelsea
Droy played two games for Chelsea during the 1984-1985 season, which was when the Blues were back in the top-flight. At the end of the campaign, however, he joined Crystal Palace on a free transfer, no longer being required by the club that he had served for 15 years. He played 49 times for the Eagles in the league, scoring seven goals. After that, it was Brentford that wanted to make use of his services, knowing that a hard-tackling defender who knew how to organise was exactly what the Bees needed. By that point, though, he was feeling his age and played just 19 games during the 1986-1987 season, scoring three times.
Once his time with Brentford was up, it was fairly clear that Droy wasn’t going to be able to handle Football League games any more. The man himself wasn’t quite ready to give up, however, and a spell with non-league Dulwich Hamlet saw him continue playing. He also spent three years with Kingstonian, finally retiring from the sport in 1991. In the September of 1994 he was made the Assistant Manager of Kingstonian, then a month after that he took on the manager’s role outright. He left at the end of the season, however, and for a time played for a Sunday League club in Chelmsford before retiring to Florida.