Godden, who made 38 appearances for the club, enjoyed the undoubted high point of his time at Chelsea in a match at Old Trafford in September 1986, having joined towards the end of the previous season in the wake of a serious knee injury to regular keeper Eddie Niedzwiecki.

He initially arrived on loan to bring an experienced option to the squad and impressed sufficiently for the move to be made permanent.

During that live televised game at Manchester United, the Blues had taken an early lead through Kerry Dixon but were soon under sustained pressure. Approaching an hour played, a penalty was conceded but Jesper Olsen’s attempt was saved by Godden, who, after his team had unbelievably been penalised with another questionable spot-kick just two minutes later, then kept out Gordon Strachan’s shot with an even better flying save in front of the Stretford End.

In doing so, Godden joined just two previous Chelsea goalies as having saved two penalties in one match.

Those stops were added to a display of superb all-round goalkeeping in open play, including repelling a bullet header from aerial specialist Frank Stapleton with just two minutes to go, as Chelsea held on to win 1-0.

‘What a game Tony had,' wrote captain Colin Pates in the following matchday programme. ‘The way he was playing we just knew he couldn’t be beaten.'

The player himself rated it as one of his finest performances in a long career, the vast majority of which was spent at West Bromwich Albion where he set a record for consecutive appearances and was part of their side that finished third in the top flight in 1978/79.

Born in Kent, Godden had grown up a Chelsea fan with Peter Bonetti, who would later be his goalkeeping coach at Stamford Bridge, his idol.

He kept 12 clean sheets during his time playing for his boyhood club, including in a home win over title-chasing Arsenal towards the end of his time at Chelsea. A young goalkeeper, Roger Freestone, had just been signed and Godden moved back to the West Midlands to sign for Birmingham City.

Chelsea FC sends our deepest condolences to Tony’s family and friends at this difficult time.