 Enid Chimp, "the most successful tea lady in the history of Association Football", was born in February 1947 in the Indian district of Darjeeling while her father Lt. Col. Horatio Chimp was stationed there with the British Army in the final months of the British Raj era.
Returning to England soon after she was educated at Twinings Boarding School for Girls before taking up her first employment at the Brooke Bond Tea Company as personal assistant to the Managing Director, who happened to be an avid football fan.
She was occasionally required to accompany her boss to matches when providing hospitality for prospective clients and this is where she developed a love of the "beautiful game" herself.
Resolving to change her career path, she wrote to all 92 professional clubs in the country in the hope of securing an administrative role in a football club office. However, the only reply she received was from Hartlepool United, then managed by a young Brian Clough, who offered her the role of Tea Lady. She immediately accepted the offer and moved to the North East coast in December 1965 to join the Monkey Hangers.
The combination of Clough, his faithful assistant Peter Taylor and Mrs Chimp was an instant hit. After revitalising Hartlepool's fortunes the trio departed for Derby County in 1967. Their first few seasons at the club saw a period of transition but success soon followed with a first ever League Championship win in 1972 followed by a journey to the semi-finals of the European Cup the following season. However, the outspoken Clough eventually fell out with the Derby chairman and resigned along with Taylor leaving Mrs Chimp in place at the Baseball Ground. She went on to form a solid working partnership with Clough's successor Dave Mackay and Derby went on to win the league championship again in 1975.
By that point Brian Clough had spent brief unsuccessful spells at Brighton and Leeds United before eventually accepting a job at struggling Nottingham Forest. Clough wasted little time in reassembling his old backroom team bringing in Peter Taylor again and luring Mrs Chimp across the East Midlands from Derby. The effect was almost immediate as Forest went from the lower reaches of the Second Division to promotion to the top flight the following season. Then in their first season back in the top division they were crowned league champions and won the League Cup as well. The next season it got even better as they went on to become champions of Europe, a title they successfully defended the year after by beating Kevin Keegan's Hamburg in the 1980 final.
After years of unparalleled success Mrs Chimp needed a break from football so she took time out from the game in 1981 to focus on her other great love - popular music. She successfully applied for the vacant role of Tea Lady to the pop group Bucks Fizz and in spare moments helped to co-write (without being credited) their famous song "Making your mind up". With Mrs Chimp's backing the group went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in April of that year.
Feeling fully refreshed from her brief sojourn Mrs Chimp returned to football with Liverpool where she became an integral part of the famous Anfield "boot room" for the remainder of the 1980's, during which time the club won six league championships, two European Cups and a host of other trophies.
At the beginning of the 1990's Mrs Chimp fancied another change of scenery and accepted an offer from Silvio Berlusconi, the charismatic owner of AC Milan, to become official Liquid Refreshment Consultant to the Italian giants. During her time in this role the club won four Serie A titles and appeared in three UEFA Champions League finals.
Eventually she became homesick and returned to England at the special request of Alex Ferguson who made her the new Director of Tea at Manchester United at the beginning of the 1998-99 season. Needless to say they went on to win the Treble that year followed by further titles in the following seasons.
Her talents were now well recognised by the most influential coaches in the game and Arsene Wenger successfully persuaded Mrs Chimp to make the move from Old Trafford to Highbury at the beginning of the 2003-04 season, a campaign which will always be known as that of the "Invincibles" after Arsenal went through the entire league programme unbeaten thanks to a combination of intricate passing football and the restorative power of a refreshing half-time brew.
Around that time the balance of power shifted in English football with the arrival of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who wasted no time in splashing the cash to assemble a championship winning side at Chelsea. Mrs Chimp was made an offer she couldn't refuse and joined the "Russian Revolution" in West London, overseeing the creation of a new custom-built Centre of Tea Excellence in the Surrey countryside. However, despite seeing her cuppas power Chelsea to back-to-back Premiership titles Mrs Chimp fell out of favour with Abramovich who felt that her tea was not "sexy" enough. When she refused to put ice or lemon in her beverages they had a blazing row in front of the first team squad and she immediately left the club "by mutual consent".
Opportunist Swedish playboy Sven Goran Eriksson phoned her the very next day to offer her a free role at his new club Manchester City and she enjoyed a brief but happy time at Eastlands at the beginning of the 2007-08 season which saw the club beat rivals Man United and put together an impressive string of results.
It was at that point that she took a call from Jock Ratties. The rest, as they say, is history... |
