It was December 1969; I was one of the 49,344 people in Old Trafford, with its ambitious cantilevered stands, to attend my first football match. I was here to watch Man United the European Cup Holders, vs Chelsea, with my dad and brother, both committed reds...

I can't remember if I had taken the leap before this match (I think I had) to go against the family ‘religion', to defy the messiah of Manchester that was George Best, and to support Chelsea, but certainly after Chelsea had the temerity to attack Utd, to be underdogs yet not to be kowtowed, well...

My first memory of football; apart from playing it in the back yard with my older brother, as the ‘goalkeeper' (i.e. I got the ball kicked at me a lot, and I was required to dive down onto the flagstones to grasp it in my hands and therefore prevent the leather ‘casey from smacking into me) was the 1966 World Cup. I remember this, not because ‘we won', but because I supported Russia, (who lost to Germany 2-1 in the semi-finals). Why did I support Russia? Well I could be different, and it seemed pointless to my tender brain to support the same team as everyone else. Anyway, I wasn't disappointed with the outcome, after all Geoff Hurst was from my hometown, and so I felt a little pride in that wonderful hat-trick.

I can't remember much else about football really until 1969, apart from wearing a Bobby Charlton badge (even then I considered him to be a strange fellow to be wearing on a badge) which was certainly met with approval by over half the people I met in Manchester.

And so, back to standing on the terraces, not often do London clubs go North and achieve what Chelsea did at Old Trafford even then, Bobby Charlton got riled (really!), almost petulant, Best was subsumed by Harris, Hutchinson amazed everyone with long throws like corners. Osgood ran them ragged but it was Ian Hutchinson who scored twice and Charlie Cooke, scared the life out of the Utd defence. Hutchinson scored the first with an assist from Hollins and the second from a Stepney parried shot off Cooke. Hudson even had a goal disallowed for off side.

I had two new hero's  after this day, Osgood and Hutchinson. Osgood of course is a Chelsea legend now (he was then) and Hutchinson has been somewhat overlooked.

Hutchinson was born in Derby and started his career with non-league Burton Albion before signing for Cambridge United. In July 1968 he joined Chelsea for the modest sum of £5000. Chelsea coach Ron Suart had journeyed to Cambridge to watch a goalkeeper, but instead recommended Hutchinson to manager Dave Sexton.

Hutchinson was a tall, brave and selfless striker with an impressive heading ability and an uncanny knack for taking long throw-ins. He proved to be the perfect foil for the more technically gifted Peter Osgood. During the 1969-70 season they scored 53 goals between them. That season turned out to be Hutchinson's most successful, as he scored an impressive 16 goals in 26 league appearances. He retired in July 1976 aged 27, having been unable to conquer his injury woes. He made 144 appearances for Chelsea and scored 58 goals.

Teams:

P Bonetti, D Webb, E McCreadie, J Hollins, J Dempsey, R Harris, C Cooke, A Hudson, P Osgood, I Hutchinson, P Houseman

A Stepney, P Edwards, A Dunne, F Burns, I Ure, D Sadler, G Best, B Kidd, R Charlton, N Stiles, J Aston