Stamford Bridge, 1970. I was standing in the Shed one night during a cup reply. The floodlights failed. The crowd booed. Dave Sexton was standing with the stadium announcer. They were telling fans they were working on the problem but it didn’t look good. Suddenly a Chinaman appeared and chatted to Sexton. He beckoned for the announcer to hand his mic over to the Chinese fellow.
The Chinaman walked over towards the Shed. We could just make out his silhouette. Then we heard “Ok, boys in Shed, put hands in air”.
We looked around a bit bewildered in the dark but we thought ‘What the heck’ and raised our arms.
Then the Chinaman then turned his attention to the West Stand, “Put hands in air”, so they did. Then the North Stand, “Please raise arms”, they did so.
Finally the little Chinese chap asked crowd in the old East Stand to put their hands in the air. Now with all four sides of the ground raising their hands we heard in Broken English “Shake hands around”.
So we did.
Voila and Abracadabra – the ground lit up in a crescendo of brightness as the floodlights came back on. The players returned to the field so the rest of the game could be played.
Dave grabbed the mic, “How is that possible, what did you do?”.
The Chinese bloke said “It not me, it old Chinese proverb – Many hands make light work”.