The early 1950’s proved to be a fairly good period in the history of Chelsea football. Billy Birrell guided Chelsea to a poor 20th place finish at the end of the 1950 – 1951 league seasons and the Blues managed to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Blues improved their game the following season and finished it off in 19th place a slight improvement in comparison to the previous year. The pleasure that came out of the 1951- 52 campaign was their performances in the FA cup as they cruised into the semi finals, however unable to reach the final.
Billy Birrell left the managerial post in 1952 and Ted Drake took charge at the club during the 1952 – 1953 league season. They could only manage another 19th position finish in the league; however they finished off the following season in eighth place.
Chelsea struck goal during the 1954- 1955 season as they enjoyed their finest campaign of the 20th century.  Ted Drake led the club to winning the 1955 league title in a convincing manner. They could not repeat this great success the following years as they finished the 1955- 56 season off in 16th place, the 1956 -57 campaign in 13th position, the 1957 – 58 season in 11th position, the 1958 – 59 campaign in 14th position and the 1959 – 60 season in 18th place. Bobby Tambling made his debut for the club in 1958, he was a powerful left winger who replaced Jimmy Greaves as the main goal scorer at Chelsea and came through the ranks at Chelsea.