Joined from non league Hillingdon Borough and became the first black player in club history when he made his league debut as a substitute against Crystal Palace in April 1982. Survived the gauntlet of racial abuse to help the club to the Second Division title in 1984, but within two years was sold to Reading for £50,000. Since retiring at the age of 24 through injury he has survived cancer…
Anelka Leads The Way
Chelsea continued their impressive run in the Champions League, winning all three points and extending the unbeaten run in the group stages of the Champions League to 22 matches, spanning over 7 years. After a goalless first-half, which lacked in quality and cutting edge, Chelsea came out roaring after the break with the impressive Anelka opening the scoring for the Blues, before a Drogba penalty and a brace by Ivanovic…
The Russians Are Coming
Tonight Sir Didier of Drogba makes his return to the Champions League, in an effort to help Chelsea secure qualification for the next round. With injuries mounting up, Ancelotti gave some indication of who may play by stating who won’t. “Malouda and Bosingwa are not available for tomorrow. Malouda has a problem on his ankle after a tackle in the last game,’ reported Ancelotti. ‘It’s not a big problem but…
Reserves: Wolves 4-0 Chelsea
Chelsea’s unbeaten start to the 2010/11 reserve campaign came to a crashing halt on Monday evening at AFC Telford’s New Bucks Head. A rampant first half from Wolves led the way to a 4-0 demolition of Steve Holland’s side, which featured more experience and talent than had been available so far this season. Despite expecting a young team, similar to the one used against West Brom in a remarkable 5-4…
The Loan Report: October 25-31
It’s been another up and down week for Chelsea’s young loanees, with some finding success, others taking a rare back seat, and one or two falling at the hands of questionable officiating. Just another seven days in football then. We’ll start at the top, and with the good news. Michael Mancienne came off the bench for Wolverhampton Wanderers a week after being forced to sit out against parent club Chelsea…
Not 100%, But Still Top Of The League
Ewood Park has never been an easy place to go, with Blackburn renowned for their physical approach, and more so since Sam ‘Bolton’ Allardyce became their manager. It was no surprise then that we were in for a tough match, what was a surprise was the style of football played by Blackburn, rough yes, but more football than fight. Chelsea lined up exactly as I’d predicted, with Ivanovic replacing Ferreira at…
Under-18s: Chelsea 2-2 Crystal Palace
A stunning strike from Todd Kane in the closing stages secured a share of the points for a youthful Chelsea Under-18 team on Saturday morning in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace at Cobham. Dermot Drummy found starting berths for five schoolboys in his starting eleven – including Arsenal trialist Lewis Kinsella – and introduced three more as second half substitutes. George Saville – the only second year scholar involved…
Let’s Get Ready To Rumble
Today our lads make their annual pilgrimage to the land of grim, ready for physical fight in the now common battle ground of Ewood Park. Chelsea welcome back Alex from injury, with the Brazilian likely to partner Terry in the centre of defence, which will likely see Ivanovic moved to right back. Neither Lampard nor Ramires are yet fit, with the former expected to return for the Liverpool match and…
Malouda The Man Of The Moment
Having watched Florent Malouda for the past four years, I have seen first hand his rise from a second half substitute to a first team regular. This is Flo’s story. Having arrived from Lyon in the summer of 2007, great things were expected of World Cup finalist Florent Malouda. However his first season didn’t exactly go to plan and was seen by many Chelsea fans as a ‘flop’, he struggled…
Now You’re Gonna Believe Us
We’ve been a bit quiet this week here at TheChels, behind the scenes though we’ve been slaving away in order to upgrade and improve our offering to you. We’ve been running for ten or so months now, and we’re all very happy with what we’ve achieved so far, however not ones to rest on our laurels we think we’ve made things a that little bit better. First up is TheChels.org…