pipoldchap

With regard to the commentators - did I hear David Pleat say as Del Piero was about to take the penalty "and hopefully del piero will put this past the giant Peter Cech" or something like that. I think we like to hear English commentators being biased in our favour like they are with Liverpool and Man Utd.

can't understand why nobody has mentioned Steve Clarke - very steady unfussy player who we miss even more now methinks

My first game - February 1958 against Preston NE, dont remember much about the game as I was 8, except we lost 0-2. It was just after the Munich air disaster and we had to stand for 2 minutes silence as we got into the ground. Tom Finney waltzed past most of the Chelsea defence including keeper Reg Matthews before putting it wide. Jimmy Greaves was playing and was of course my hero then. It had been raining quite a bit before and there is a famous picture of Willy Cunningham the Preston full back performing a slide tackle and water spraying everywhere. It was a couple of years before I was old enough to go regularly on my own and we got relegated in 1961-62. I remember walking down the Kings Road after a game and a couple of pensioners asked how we had got on - "we won 4-1" - it was when I saw the surprise in their faces and the shock of their voices "DID THEY?" that I thought I might have picked the wrong team to support. The following season in the second division was one of my favourite times, seeing my team win regularly was such a change. From the mid 60's to the early 70's were great times but always the nearly team in the league. Now I live in Cumbria and I go to just one game a season with my son, still get wound up when they lose, happiest now when they beat Liverpool.

Just heard that one of the specialist subjects tonight is Chelse Football Club - test yourself