A schools’ sprint champion who was the complete striker and a key player for the club during the Docherty era. Dropped to allow a young Peter Osgood to play regularly but was reinstated following a fans’ petition. His Stamford Bridge career came to end a year later however when he was sent home from the airport prior to the first leg of a Fairs Cup tie with Barcelona. After hanging…
The Loan Report: October 18-24
Chelsea’s loan ranks swelled by one more this past week, and an immediate impression was made. Conor Clifford signed an initial one-month youth loan at League One side Plymouth Argyle and just 24 hours after joining up with his new colleagues at Home Park, he put in a performance worthy of Man of the Match in a 2-1 home win over Huddersfield Town. Wearing the number 7 shirt and replacing…
Blues Tame Big Bad Wolves
They huffed and they puffed, but Carlo Ancelotti’s table-topping Chelsea eventually blew down a rather stout house built by a tough Wolverhampton Wanderers side on Saturday. That’ll do for the fairy tale references, but as far as starts to the season go, the Blues will be pretty happy with the way the script has gone. Goals in each half from Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou respectively ensured that Manchester City…
Wolves To The Slaughter
There’s no such thing as a forgone conclusion in football, so we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves, however tomorrows match appears on paper as one sided as you can get. With our 100% home record and 14 goals scored, with none yet conceded, and Wolves having only taken one point away from home, form would suggest that another three points is in the offing. Didier Drogba will…
Raise A Glass To Matthew
Has it really been fourteen years since the Carling Cup defeat to Bolton that carried so much significance for Chelsea Football Club? As dawn broke on 22nd October 1996, and as many supporters woke to read the newspaper and teletext reports of the previous nights match, far more striking headlines were being reported across the media. News of a helicopter crash were initially thought to be of little relevance to…
Where Are They Now? – Joe Allon
The Blues paid £250,000 for the Geordie hit man in August 1991 after finishing the previous season as top scorer in Division Four. The dressing room joker never made an impact at the club and was sold in December 1992 for £275,000. Since retiring he has worked on local radio in the North East and had a spell on the coaching staff at Leeds United. He is now a director…
Zhirkov Goal Marks Happy Return To Moscow
Chelsea returned to the Luzhniki Stadium, the venue for the infamous 2008 Champions League final, for the clash against Spartak Moscow. Carlo Ancelotti said at the beginning of the match that ‘today is going to be a different day’, and so it proved to be, as Chelsea put the records straight and came away with a 2-0 victory. Both teams went into the game unbeaten, with Chelsea leading the group…
Blues Aim For No Slips On Moscow Return
Twelve yards, a ball, a goalkeeper and a defender, John Terry vs. Edwin Van Der Sar, this for the European Champions League, the run up and then in slow motion the slip, and as if in slow motion, the ball cannons back off the post and United go on to steal the Champions League from Chelsea. Two years, three managers and another semi final heartbreak later, Chelsea return to the…
Travels With The Chels – Stuttgart
It’s an irony that the media perception in this country is of Joe Public hating the Germans, which is generally untrue. You still get the odd soul for whom the mantra; “Jerry bombed my Grandad’s house” has coloured their view for the majority of their lives. Then there’s those who gorge on right-wing press stories of bad mannered Germans’ holiday traits, but most people born after the 60’s, and whose…
The Loan and International Report: October 4-17
This week’s report is a bumper fortnightly look at not only the young Blues out on loan, but also at those who represented their countries at junior youth levels over the recent international break. We’ll kick off with the national team action, which was headlined by England’s Under-21 team qualifying for next summer’s European Championships in Denmark after coming through a tough two-legged tie against Romania. Michael Mancienne captained the…