The remarkable story of two Chelsea players reunited on Dartmoor

I attended a very special reunion last week, two former first division footballers who live a short distance apart but were completely unaware that they share a county.

‘I didn’t know you lived in Devon,’ they both said. Colin Lee and Mickey Fillery were sat in a stunning Dartmoor based garden, talking about the beautiful game in London back in the 1980s. The two former Chelsea players were completely unaware that they lived some 25 miles apart.

‘The last time I saw Colin, I think he was manager of Wolves, that would’ve been at the end of the 90s, I’ve been down here for 12 years.’

Colin takes up the story. ‘We lost contact a long time ago and I often wondered what happened to him. Bizarrely I had to employ a crane company to get a hot tub into my back garden.’ Like you do! ‘The company was from Plymouth, and they were asked to do a similar job at Mick’s house. Football came up in conversation and so did my name and they passed on my telephone number.’

So, when did you last see each other at Chelsea?

Mickey thought for a moment. ‘I think I left Chelsea in 1983 and that would’ve been the last time.’ 

Mike Fillery appeared for Chelsea 181 times scoring 41 goals in a six-year career before joining Queens Park Rangers under Terry Venables as manager. He was a highly talented midfielder who also saw spells at Portsmouth, Oldham Athletic, Millwall and Torquay.

Did you both play on the plastic pitch of QPR?

Both rolled their eyes. ‘Tell me about it, it was the worst ever,’ said Colin. Playing on the plastic QPR grass was murder. The ball bounced so high as the pitch was solid. Both of us suffered ‘astro burns’. I came off on one occasion absolutely cut to bits and I remember seeing big Micky Droy with his sides torn to bits and the physio used to use iodine in those days!’

We all winced at the thought of that. Mickey added. ‘The idea behind that was to produce a pitch tough enough to open it up for the local kids to come on and use the facilities. But they used to stick more and more sand on it, so it got harder and harder, really difficult to play on.’  

According to the official records Mike Fillery was Chelsea Player of the Year in 1982 and also won the Chelsea Official Supporter's Club award in the same year. He was transferred to Queens Park Rangers in August 1983 for £200,000. Devon born Colin was playing at Torquay when in October 1977, after 14 goals in 35 games he left Plainmoor to join Tottenham Hotspur for £60,000. He certainly made an immediate impact by scoring 4 goals on his debut in a 9–0 win over Bristol Rovers in the Football League Second Division, helping Spurs win promotion at the end of that season.

In January of 1980, he moved back down to the Second Division and signed for Chelsea for a fee of £200,000, having scored 18 times in 62 games for Spurs. Staying at Stamford Bridge for over seven years, he scored 36 goals in 185 league games. He helped them win promotion to the First Division as Second Division champions in 1984. 

Sat in Mickey’s beautiful garden, surrounded by wildlife, stunning pedigree cats and two rescue donkeys, I had to ask him if he missed the world of football and London?

‘Of course I do, my playing career came to an end through injury at the age of 31. You are then dumped, and you have to make a new life for yourself. With me I went into the building trade but today with the wages in modern football you only need to play for a couple of years, and you are made. When 15-year-olds are signed for a couple of million, that’s when the game takes on a whole different meaning. My biggest wage was £350 a week.’

Colin added. ‘I got £600 a week.’ There was some banter after that which I cannot repeat. ‘Mick was a very talented player. Why Chelsea did not keep him was a complete mystery but that is the way game goes.’

Did you mind being treated like a second-hand car, being bought and sold.

‘You hit the nail on the head,’ said Mickey. ‘It is something that you have to accept. You are a commodity… a piece of meat. It’s a horrible game and someone is always there to stab you in the back.’

Colin echoed that statement. ‘The saddest day in my life was leaving Chelsea. I had a year left on my contract, but I was having trouble with injuries and issues with my hamstrings. But I wanted to get into coaching, I was planning ahead. I went on an exhibition game in Norway with Glen Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles and Steve Perryman who asked me if I wanted to join his Brentford side as player coach. I wanted to stay at Chelsea to develop my coaching career, that was not on the table so off to Brentford I went. I got the qualifications and put together a really exciting youth team which I believe is still the most successful youth side they have ever had. That is something to be proud of and I am very grateful to Brentford that allowed me to do that.’

It was a pleasure to listen to these two players who experienced topflight football and the names they can throw about is truly amazing.

Why Dartmoor Mickey?

‘I rented this place for a holiday. The lady who owned it then decided to sell and we bought it. I sold up in London and made the jump. We have fitted in to the local community, I even got involved in the local Chagford football club at one time and we did really well. But it was the first football club that had farmers on the team, I used to get players crying off because of excuses like … ‘it’s lambing season’. You don’t get that at Millwall.