Your favourite defender

[High Street Ken]

I guess JT will be lauded as our greatest ever defender by a lot of people on here, particularly the younger fans. Over the years I've had a number of personal favourites:

David Hay: pure class, great radar for trouble and bloodcurdling runs through the middle.

Marvin Hinton: a Rolls Royce of a defender, never hurried, always calm.

Gary Locke: the original wing-back. Terrific pace and ability. Should've got a good few international caps.

Paul Elliott: I cried when that twat Saunders crocked him. Could've been a Chelsea and England great.

Steve Clark: need I say more?

Micky Droy: like Maggie Thatcher, he wasn't for turning, but who cared when you needed to build a bypass to get round him?!

Anyway, just a few of my faves. I'm sure everyone can name a lot more and many I've forgotten.

[MHL_blue]

JT

Desailly

Lebouef

Sinclair

Paul Elliot

Clarke

[loz]

My favourites from my era are

Paul Elliott

Steve Clarke

Erland Johnsen

Dan Petrescu

Albert Ferrer

Marcel Desailly

[bjd]

Was always a big fan of Joe McLaughlin. I met him when i was a kid and he was fantastic to me. The treatment he got from the fans at one stage was awful, but he overcame that. Wonder what he is up to now.

Other than Joe, cant really look much further than Steve Clarke.

JT too, is an obvious one but for me, like many others im sure he blotted his copybook a little this Summer.

Be interesting if anyone votes for Big Doug!

Edited November 20, 2009 by bjd

[bennyboy1976]

JT obviously

Graham Roberts (Robbo's gonna getcha)

Paul Elliot (as previously stated, he could have been an England and Chelsea great)

Ashley Cole (as i played full back i can fully understand how difficult it is in that position, overlapping and doing your defensive duties to the max)

Colin Pates (Good captain and was choked when he was sold to Charlton, but we needed the money).

Jason Cundy (Chelsea through and through, sold when we needed the dough again and played Shi* for the Spuds).

[Barn]

Elliot, Cundy, Sinclair are the three that stand out, apart from JT

But another that I really thought was a good player was Jacob Kiejlberg (if I've spelt that right I deserve a medal, or a few pints at lunch time!).

[Gem]

From 1996 - present (my era)

JT

John Harley

Dan Petrescu

Steve Clarke

Also, not from my era, but have met a couple of times and one of the Chelsea greats - Ron Harris.

[BlueBeard]

Ron Harris - not much got past Chopper and lived. Top defender and captain, and Sexton should have been shot for taking the captaincy away from him.

Eddie McCreadie - top class left-back, great wing-back, hard as nails

Marvin Hinton - HSK summed him up perfectly, Mr.Cool

John Dempsey - great centre-half, excellent in the air in attack and defence

David Webb - another Chelsea hard man defender, always gave at least 100%. Scored a hat-trick as a makeshift centre-forward against Ipswich, and kept a clean sheet after playing in goal for 90 minutes, against Ipswich. He wasn't too popular in Suffolk :D

Paddy Mulligan - good defender, even better wing-back, loved him charging forward down the right wing

Micky Droy - not the best defender in the world, nor the prettiest, but he more than made up for it with commitment

David Hay - classy defender, equally at home in the middle or the left, and even midfield when necessary

Gary Locke - very under-rated wing-back, one of my favourite players of the time

Steve Wicks - tough centre-half, great in the air, one of our top defenders during his first stint at the Bridge

John Sitton - only kidding!!! :D

Colin Pates - excellent defender, with nearly 350 appearances for the Blues

Joe McLaughlin - always liked him, but he tended to get overlooked by the rest of the signings made at the same time

Steve Clarke - no explanation needed

Tony Dorigo - top class left-back

Graeme Le Saux - top class left wing-back

Erland Johnsen - loved the guy!

Paul Elliott - he was probably the best English defensive prospect of his time. I'd still pay good money to watch Dean Saunders die

Frank Sinclair - always likely to give away silly free-kicks and penalties, but his heart was 100% Chelsea - to the point of scoring own goals for us after he'd left

Andy Myers - for the simple reason that he was reported to have smacked Roy Keane in the OT tunnel (painful!)

Albert Ferrer - great player, rated him very highly

Dan Petrescu - not technically a defender, but any excuse to list him as one of my favourites

Frank Lebouef - good defender, great shot on him, not bad for a froggie :D

Marcel Desailly - world class defender, simple as that

John Terry - no explanation needed

Ashley Cole - difficult person to like, but a world class left back

Ricardo Carvalho - hope he soon gets back to his best

I've probably missed a few out, my memory isn't what it once was. Apparently. I can't remember what it once was.

[Nibs]

My Faves in no particular order are:

Colin Pates

Joey Jones

Elliott & Cundy as a partnership.

LeBouef (when he first joined us and played the sweeper role)

JT

and............I know he left us on bad terms and is now pretty much hated, but I still cannot overlook the contribution made by one W Gallas.

He loved us at the time and what cannot be deleted from the history books is the number of clean sheets we held when Gallas and JT were the defensive pairing. Best I have ever seen. They complemented one another like no other pairing I have seen before or since. And he did a pretty good job at right back and left back.

[bennyboy1976]

He loved us at the time and what cannot be deleted from the history books is the number of clean sheets we held when Gallas and JT were the defensive pairing. Best I have ever seen. They complemented one another like no other pairing I have seen before or since. And he did a pretty good job at right back and left back.

Spot on with that mate. Billy and JT were exceptional together and their attributes complimented each other.

[bjd]

My Faves in no particular order are:

Colin Pates

Joey Jones

Elliott & Cundy as a partnership.

LeBouef (when he first joined us and played the sweeper role)

JT

and............I know he left us on bad terms and is now pretty much hated, but I still cannot overlook the contribution made by one W Gallas.

He loved us at the time and what cannot be deleted from the history books is the number of clean sheets we held when Gallas and JT were the defensive pairing. Best I have ever seen. They complemented one another like no other pairing I have seen before or since. And he did a pretty good job at right back and left back.

Yep Gallas, was one of the most complete defenders i have ever seen. Quick, strong, versatile and good with both feet. He also had a knack of popping up with goals too, often against big teams in big games.

Shame he is such a ... well you know where this is going...

[BLUENUT]

Too many to list, but glad we haven't forgotten about Dorigo and Ferrer who were both class acts, and rarely get a mention when talking about favourie 11's etc

[Alex]

JT

Desailly

Lebeouf

Petrescu

Never saw him play but have heard that Ron Harris was a legend also

Cannot stand frank sinclair though. He was aweful

[loz]

Too many to list, but glad we haven't forgotten about Dorigo and Ferrer who were both class acts, and rarely get a mention when talking about favourie 11's etc

I never took to DOrigo - loved the club until we weren't doing so great, then demanded a move and claimed every club in the world wanted him, then we picked up and he was suddenly in love with the club again.

[MHL_blue]

and............I know he left us on bad terms and is now pretty much hated, but I still cannot overlook the contribution made by one W Gallas.

He loved us at the time and what cannot be deleted from the history books is the number of clean sheets we held when Gallas and JT were the defensive pairing. Best I have ever seen. They complemented one another like no other pairing I have seen before or since. And he did a pretty good job at right back and left back.

Loved the last minute goal against the Spuds in 2006 and he did very well in partnership with Terry. Just so sad the Gallas affair had such a bad ending.

[BlueBeard]

Can't believe I left out Joey Jones and Gallarse - it's official, I'm on my way to Alzheimersville :D

[Scott]

Can't believe I left out Joey Jones and Gallarse - it's official, I'm on my way to Alzheimersville :D

I can forgive you for forgetting Willie, but Joey never!

Speaking of the Jones' what about Vinny?

[bjd]

I can forgive you for forgetting Willie, but Joey never!

Speaking of the Jones' what about Vinny?

The midfielder ?

I seem to recall we paid half a million for a long throw and some very dodgy tackles for twelve months!!

Edited November 20, 2009 by bjd

[BLUENUT]

I never took to DOrigo - loved the club until we weren't doing so great, then demanded a move and claimed every club in the world wanted him, then we picked up and he was suddenly in love with the club again.

I used to play as a left back and he was probably one of the first Chelsea players I could aspire to. He was quick, had a great shot and was only kept out of the international side by Pearce, who went on to become 'Mr England.' I still remember the goal he scored v Man City away than won us promotion with great fondness, I wasn't there, it was one of the only games outside of the top division to be shown on TV for some reason back then.

I know he left, and it was to Leeds, but we seemed to sell all our best players back in those days - I was gutted when he left though

[bennyboy1976]

Yeah but Vinny coming over to the Away end at Upton Park one year and starting off a song (One man went to mow) was worth the money alone. He enjoyed his time at the bridge too i can assure you.

[bennyboy1976]

I used to play as a left back and he was probably one of the first Chelsea players I could aspire to. He was quick, had a great shot and was only kept out of the international side by Pearce, who went on to become 'Mr England.' I still remember the goal he scored v Man City away than won us promotion with great fondness, I wasn't there, it was one of the only games outside of the top division to be shown on TV for some reason back then.

I know he left, and it was to Leeds, but we seemed to sell all our best players back in those days - I was gutted when he left though

Got to admit, i liked Dorigo, but prefered his understudy at the time, a certain Graham Le Saux.

[fester]

In the Hoddle era I thought Terry Phelan did a good job.

Also Paulo anyone?? He's been pretty reliable for us.

Other than that most of those mentioned but especially:

Erland Johnsen (especially for winning that penalty against Leicester!);

Ron Harris (I saw him around the ground on a match day last year and he still frightened me :D );

Paul Elliott (I was at Anfield THAT day :angry: );

Desailly (pure quality - I remember him being sub'ed by Duberry (who was highly rated) against Leicester at 2-0 up, but the comparison against the same oppo' was stark and we ended up drawning 2-2 - one of the results that cost us the title under Vialli);

and of course JT.

Sounds like I have a thing against Leicester! ;)

[bjd]

Yeah but Vinny coming over to the Away end at Upton Park one year and starting off a song (One man went to mow) was worth the money alone. He enjoyed his time at the bridge too i can assure you.

Yeah that much was obvious. He was actually a bit better than we all thought he was going to be too if i recall, though it was really just all about that long throw. I remember him and Joe Allon having a long range shooting competition in the warm up before a match at the Bridge once and the crowd got really into it. Vinny won too!

[fester]

How could I forget Ken Monkou :angry:

[BlueBeard]

Yeah but Vinny coming over to the Away end at Upton Park one year and starting off a song (One man went to mow) was worth the money alone. He enjoyed his time at the bridge too i can assure you.

I never liked Vinnie Jones much, but I'll always remember him for that goal at Anfield, pure class!