Leslie "Les" Stubbs (18 December 1929 – 1 February 2011) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. Playing mainly as an inside forward, Stubbs started out with his local side, Great Wakering Rovers before signing for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. He made his debut for Southend in 1948 and scored 45 goals in 88 games over the next four seasons. In November 1952, he joined

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

for £10,000 having been persuaded by Blues manager

Ted Drake Edward Joseph Drake (16 August 1912 – 30 May 1995) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he first played for Southampton but made his name playing for Arsenal in the 1930s, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, as wel ...

that he was capable of playing in the top tier. His career with Chelsea started slowly and Stubbs played just five games in his first season, without scoring. However, he scored nine goals in thirty league games in 1953–54 and in the next helped Chelsea win their first League title. He scored five goals that season, including a crucial stoppage time equaliser against Chelsea's main rivals

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

at Molineux, paving the way for teammate

Roy Bentley Roy Thomas Frank Bentley (17 May 1924 – 20 April 2018) was an English football player and manager. A former forward, Bentley played 367 games for Chelsea and captained the club to their first League Championship in the 1954–55 season. H ...

's winner a minute later. He then helped Chelsea win the Charity Shield. Stubbs' later years at Chelsea saw his playing opportunities reduced by the emergence of talented youngsters such as

Jimmy Greaves James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Greaves is regarded as one of England’s best ever players. He is England's fifth-highest international goalscorer ...

Peter Brabrook Peter Brabrook (8 November 1937 – 10 December 2016) was an English footballer who made nearly 500 appearances in the Football League playing for Chelsea, West Ham United and Orient, and was capped three times for the England national team. ...

and Ron Tindall. He made only sixteen appearances in his final two seasons, though he did play for the representative London XI side which competed in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Stubbs ended his Chelsea career with 123 appearances and 35 goals to his name. He left in 1958 to re-join Southend for a further two years, scoring 3 goals in 23 games. He later turned out for Bedford Town before re-joining Great Wakering Rovers, where he remains the most successful product of that club. When Chelsea won the FA Premier League title in 2004–05, Stubbs and his surviving teammates from the 1954–55 title-winning side, such as

, Stan Willemse, Frank Blunstone and Jim Lewis were invited to the trophy presentation.

References

External links

Southend vs Bristol Rovers 1952 newsreel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stubbs, Les 1929 births 2011 deaths Chelsea F.C. players English footballers People from Rochford District Southend United F.C. players Bedford Town F.C. players Great Wakering Rovers F.C. players London XI players English Football League players Association football inside forwards