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Had speedy left-winger Peter Rhoades-Brown been able to cross a ball as
impressively as he was able to beat a defender he would have been an
awesome prospect. A superb athlete with outstanding natural pace, he
could outrun defenders at will but so often, just like Postman Pat
caught in a snowdrift, he was simply unable to deliver. The Hampton-born
product of Chelsea's youth scheme made his debut four days before his
19th birthday as a substitute in a 2-0 defeat at Wrexham in December
1979 and appeared three more times, twice from the bench, later that
season as the Blues slipped from a position of near-certain promotion to
eventually miss out on goal difference. Undeterred, Rhoades-Brown made
an immediate mark on the following campaign when he struck Chelsea's
first goal of the season with a low 30-yarder in a 2-2 draw with Wrexham
at Stamford Bridge.
Manager Geoff Hurst soon introduced another
youngster, Phil Driver, to operate on the opposite flank and the two
newcomers were responsible for a steady flow of crosses which allowed
target-man Colin Lee to score 14 goals in as many games as the
irresistible Blues went clear at the top. If that run of form for both
the club and Rhoades-Brown had seemingly come from nowhere, so did the
subsequent downfall as the service from the wings dried up alarmingly
and, incredibly, Chelsea failed to find the net in 19 of their last 22
League matches that season. Unfortunately for Peter, he was not selected
for two of the three games in which the Blues did manage to score and
he was less certain of his place in the team throughout the second half
of the campaign although a total of 34 appearances in his first full
season was not to be scoffed at. Geoff Hurst was replaced in the summer
of 1981 by John Neal and the new manager, preferring initially to play
with just one winger, overlooked Peter for the first month of the
1981/82 season before surprisingly recalling him in midfield.
The move
wasn't a success but the manager kept Rhoades-Brown in the team,
returning him to the wing where he looked more comfortable. He was, in
truth, an erratic performer in an erratic team which toppled a classy,
Keegan-led Southampton side in the League Cup before, in true Chelsea
style, losing 6-0 at Rotherham just three days later. Generally a poor
finisher, his one League strike that year came in the re-match with the
Yorkshiremen, an equally humiliating 4-1 defeat. However, his finest
moment in a Chelsea shirt came when he opened the scoring in an FA Cup
5th round win over reigning European champions Liverpool (see photo above celebrating his moment of glory with Colin Lee).
27 appearances in 1981/82 were followed by 25 a year later. A superb
cross to set up David Speedie's winner at QPR was a reminder of what he
was capable of but his running and crossing continued to regularly
frustrate and led his manager to advise him in training to 'run down the
left wing with the ball at your feet but don't forget to turn right at
the corner flag'!
The Blues escaped relegation to Division Three by the
skin of their teeth that season and made wholesale changes in the summer
of 1983. A new-look side, without Rhoades-Brown, made a stunning start
to the new season and eventually won the title in May but by then Peter
was an Oxford United player. A brief run in the side in the autumn of
1983 had began with a stylish goal in a 4-0 win over Newcastle (Keegan
rarely enjoyed his trips to the Bridge in the Eighties) but ended six
games later with a 1-0 defeat by Manchester City. The player he had
replaced, Paul Canoville, returned for the next match and scored a
hat-trick. A month later, on the same day that Micky Thomas was signed
to bring consistency and quality to Chelsea's left-side, Peter
Rhoades-Brown left for the Manor Ground for a fee of £75,000. (Kelvin Barker)
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