Lofty.

February 18th 1939, Arsenal vs Chelsea, Beating Maradona to it by almost half a century, Ted Drake punches the ball past Chelses keeper Vic Woodley to score the only goal of the game.

Peter Bonetti, Chelsea's greatest goalkeeper, came through the ranks to make a total of 729 appearances for the club (second only to Chopper) spread over 20 years interrupted by a single season in the States before being brought back by Eddie Mac to help gain promotion, pictured here on September 17th 1979 before his testimonial match against Man U:

But was it so meaningless? We'd already qualified as group winners, so I can't argue that the game had no relevance as far as the Champions League goes. But in the context of the season as a whole, more immediately the run up to the Christmas/Holiday period. Winning is a habit, and so is losing. Having just lost our unbeaten record at the weekend, it was surely important to get back on to a winning track as soon as possible. It certainly wouldn't have been a disaster had we not won tonight's match, but neither would it have helped with morale. And so the meaning to tonight's match was the restoration of the winning mentality, the feelgood factor, going some way towards repairing any dents in the team's self-belief that may have occurred as a result of losing at St James. To return to the subject, I fully agree with Bobbywoodhogan in that those few minutes on the pitch will have been massively significant to the player himself. He's now made his full Chelsea debut, he's had a taste of the big time, and if he's any kind of player - which we have every reason to believe he is, then having had a taste, he'll be wanting more and more. Given that the huge expectations at a club like ours make it difficult for youngsters to breakthrough, and equally difficult or the manager to find the right time to play the youngsters, then we really do have to be patient. For those bewailing the lack of youth team prospects making it into the first time, bear in mind that the Chelsea Academy isn't the finished article: it's a relatively new venture that's only just beginning to bear fruit. We may or may not see Ruben Loftus-Cheek playing for the first team again this season, with ties against Watford and Derby in the offing, I certainly wouldn't write off the possibility of the player making further first team appearances. Who knows, we may even see him on the pitch on Saturday. I hope he makes it, as I'm sure we all do. The longer it is since the Academy was first established, the higher is the quality of the players it produces, and with this increase in quality so does so do the odds of a player (or players) from the Academy making a real breakthrough, not to be loaned to Vitesse, or settling for a career either in the lower leagues or at a not quite so ambitious Premier League club, but as a Chelsea player. It'll come, of that I'm confident.

For the short time he was on the pitch, for a youngster making his Champions League debut, Rosie* did ok,. In fact, he did more than ok. The offside chance towards the end would have added a touch of magic to the occasion, had he managed to put it awway... but he knew he was offside (don't argue!) and I'm as sure as I can be that he will have other opportunities to show what he can do on the bigger stage. *Rosie Cheeks

March 23rd 1986: Chelsea players Doug Rougvie and Pat Nevin celebrate after Chelsea's 5-4 victory over Manchester City in the 1986 Football League Full Members' Cup Final at Wembley Stadium - the last match I went to for quite some time, for reasons as stated above.

My mistake, Blanchflower didn't take over until December 1978. The manager for the above match was Ken Shelllito.

April 22nd, 1978: Chelsea striker Bill Garner fires in a shot during Chelsea's match v Wolverhampton Wanderers at Stamford Bridge. A goal from Tommy Langley gave Chelsea the lead in the 13th minute, only for Wolves to snatch a late equaliser three minutes from time. Starting XI: Peter Bonetti, Kenny Swain, Gary Locke, Stevie Wicks, Mickey Droy, Graham Wilkins, Ian Britton, Ray Wilkins, Bill Garner, Steve Finnieston, Tommy Langley Manager: Danny Blanchflower

The previous shot of David Speedie in action kept disappearing, hence the thumbnail - by the time I'd found the full sized image it was too late to edit the post. Same thing happened with the one of Mickey Thomas against Huddersfield on the previous page, so while they were available, I re-uploaded both images to PhotoBucket, which should hopefully be a little more stable than the original host: Mickey Thomas in action during the Second Diviision match between Chelsea vs Huddersfield February 4th 1984 12th April 1986: Forest away, David Speedie in action at the City Ground, Nottingham

12th April 1986: Forest away, David Speedie in action at the City Ground, Nottingham. I went to Forest a few times, but managed to miss this one having broken my leg the previous month on the way home from the Full Members Cup Final. The match ended in a goal-less draw.

You mean this one? Yes I think you're right, and that's Bobby Tambling on the end. My fault, I really should check more thoroughly before copy/pasting. So the lineup should be as follows: Standing: Marvin Hinton, Ian Hutchinson, Dave Webb, Tommy Hughes, Peter Bonetti, John Dempsey, Eddie McCreadie, John Hollins. Seated: Alan Birchinall, Charlie Cooke, Alan Hudson, Johnny Boyle, Chopper Harris, Peter Houseman, Ossie, Tommy Baldwin, Bobby Tambling

Mickey Thomas in action during the Second Diviision match between Chelsea vs Huddersfield February 4th 1984 Final Score: Chelsea 3-1 Huddersfield. with goals from Kerry Dixon (2) and David Speedie. Chelsea team: Eddie Niedzwiecki, Colin Pates, Joey Jones, Tony McAndrew, Colin Lee, Nigel Spackman, Mickey Thomas, Joe McLaughlin, Pat Nevin, David Speedie, Kerry Dixon Manager:John Neal

Now this is a beautiful song. I know very little about the singer, the only time I've ever heard the song was on and old, old Stax compilationon vinyl called "The Guys With Soul", this is one of those songs that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up

A not quite so snowbound Stamford Bridge, vs Charlton 1956 Chelsea v Wolves 1933 The fans were out in force for Chelsea's first postwar home game vs Bolton 1946 A couple of shots from Chelsea's vs Arsenal 1947, FA Cup Third Round Jimmy Greaves warming up in 1957 Chelsea v Everton 1959: A pitch invader is dealt with by the players

Stamford Bridge covered in snow, winter 1981:

Again? I always was and always will be. But thanks for noticing!