Posted June 8, 200915 yr All these lists of Chelsea players past and present made me start thinking about just how many of them had their careers cut short by injury. Not just the players like Casiraghi & Di Matteo, who had one bad injury and were out for good, but also the players who had injuries which restricted their Chelsea careers to the point they had to leave the club. I came up with quite a few, so I made a list (you can tell it's the close season!) Eddie Niedzwiecki Ken Shellito Paul Elliott Emerson Thome David Hay Mario Stanic Robbie Di Matteo Eddie Newton Frank Blunstone Ian Hutchinson Steve Finnieston subs: - Dmitri Kharine; John Sparrow; Brian Bason; David Rocastle; David Cliss; Pierluigi Casaraghi; Mikael Forssell Apologies to all the players I omitted - not so much lack of respect as lack of memory - damn all that booze in the 70's and 80's!
June 8, 200915 yr Oh how I loved Forssell. Will never forget his incredible double against Oldham about 10 years ago...pure class. Good luck to the guy :D
June 8, 200915 yr I'd put a shout in for Jacob Kjeldberg - he was class. And he could play classical piano...
June 8, 200915 yr I'd put a shout in for Jacob Kjeldberg - he was class. And he could play classical piano... So we parked the piano whilst other teams parked the bus eh?
June 8, 200915 yr So we parked the piano whilst other teams parked the bus eh? Well we always were a classier team than most. I have a horrible feeling Carvalho will end up on this list in a few years.
June 8, 200915 yr All these lists of Chelsea players past and present made me start thinking about just how many of them had their careers cut short by injury. Not just the players like Casiraghi & Di Matteo, who had one bad injury and were out for good, but also the players who had injuries which restricted their Chelsea careers to the point they had to leave the club. I came up with quite a few, so I made a list (you can tell it's the close season!) Eddie Niedzwiecki Ken Shellito Paul Elliott Emerson Thome David Hay Mario Stanic Robbie Di Matteo Eddie Newton Frank Blunstone Ian Hutchinson Steve Finnieston subs: - Dmitri Kharine; John Sparrow; Brian Bason; David Rocastle; David Cliss; Pierluigi Casaraghi; Mikael Forssell Great selection there - some incredible misfortune has befallen Chelsea players down the years. I'm too young to have seen Shellito or Blunstone, but they both have a reputation as being top class. Who was David Cliss? And I don't remember Thome's injury. I thought we moved him on because Colin Hutchinson picked up this world class versatile Dutch defender from Barcelona on a free.
June 8, 200915 yr Author Great selection there - some incredible misfortune has befallen Chelsea players down the years. I'm too young to have seen Shellito or Blunstone, but they both have a reputation as being top class.Who was David Cliss? And I don't remember Thome's injury. I thought we moved him on because Colin Hutchinson picked up this world class versatile Dutch defender from Barcelona on a free. I missed out on seeing Shellito and Bluntone by just 2 or 3 years, but my family spoke so highly about them when I was a kid, that I feel I missed out on something special. Emerson Thome got a series of injuries at Chelsea which ruled him out of the squad, and he eventually ended up being transferred to Sunderland - great shame, as he was a class player. David Cliss? He was a very promising inside-forward in the late 50's, and was an England Youth international. Unfortunately he suffered a broken leg at the start of the 1960/61 season, and never regained his true form. He moved into non-league football at the age of 22, after making just 24 appearances for Chelsea. How do I know this? A good mate of mine was with Cliss in the youth team, and still speaks highly of him.
June 21, 200915 yr I saw David Cliss play once but dont remember much of that game or him - he was apparently regarded as a better prospect than Jimmy Greaves initially (by my older brother and his chums) but did not seem to progress. Ken Shellito was a great full back and had just got into the England team when he had a cartilidge injury. That left the way open for George Cohen who was good but not as classy as Ken. Shellito did come back but I dont think he was quite as good after the injury.
