CHELSEA Football Club fans paid tribute to Matthew Harding at the weekend, marking 20 years since he died in a helicopter crash in Middlewich.

Mr Harding, vice-chairman at the club, was travelling back to London after watching his side play Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup on October 22, 1996, when the helicopter crashed killing him, the other three passengers and the pilot.

Ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Manchester United on Sunday, new flags, banners and hoardings were displayed in the Matthew Harding Stand at Stamford Bridge.

Mr Harding’s children, season ticket holders at the club, were also present at the match, which was marked with a one-off retro programme cover in the style of the 1996/97 season format.

Mr Harding was a lifelong Blues supporter, and helped fund the reconstruction of the north stand at Stamford Bridge after joining the board. He is widely credited with accelerating Chelsea’s resurgence in the late 1990s.

Returning to London from Bolton in 1996, the helicopter spiralled to the ground at Norcroft Farm, off Nantwich Road in Stanthorne, just before 11pm, leaving a 50-yard trail in the field and then bursting into flames.

Five fire crews raced to the scene, along with paramedics, and a fire service spokesman described the site as "a scene of devastation" with wreckage strewn over a quarter of a mile – equivalent to the size of five football pitches.

Among a number of eyewitnesses was Graham Hough, the owner of Norcroft Farm, who returned home just after the crash and spoke to the Guardian at the time.

He said: "The smell of aviation fuel was horrendous. The place was filled with the emergency services. At first I thought there had been a road accident - which happens quite a lot here.

"I took the emergency services out to show them where things were - the fuel was all over the ground but it was pitch black and I couldn't really see anything else. I then helped the fire brigade cordon the field off.

"It is so lucky that it didn't crash on houses in Sutton Lane."

The following day, Times journalist Kate Alderson, 28, was travelling to the scene when she was killed in a crash in Croxton Lane. An inquest found she had been using her mobile phone at the time.