Hi all,

Just wanted to say Hi and give my story on how I came to support Chelsea.  My history with Chelsea goes back to 1997. It was the first time I came to London from the continent to study English. My school was on Munster road and every day on my way to school I would walk past Stamford Bridge. It was a different Stamford Bridge back then than it is now. On the weekday evening matches there were people sitting on the actual bridge on Fulham road above the rail tracks. Sometimes I was one of them too. At that time, you could actually see a part of the North side of the pitch.  Those were the days of Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, Tore André Flo, Dennis Wise, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola.  Gianfranco Zola was an absolutely mesmerizing player to watch. One of those underappreciated geniuses.
I think it’s the magic of Gianfranco Zola and also living and studying in the proximity at the time got me to supporting Chelsea.
 

Welcome Rocker_Joker.

 

 

Zola was and is my hero, only player to have his shirt number retired. Not under appreciated in my eyes. Genius, wizard, magician, legend...no words do this God justice

1 hour ago, Malta Blue said:

Zola was and is my hero, only player to have his shirt number retired. Not under appreciated in my eyes. Genius, wizard, magician, legend...no words do this God justice

Nobody has had the number 26 since a certain player left... 

11 hours ago, Malta Blue said:

Zola was and is my hero, only player to have his shirt number retired. Not under appreciated in my eyes. Genius, wizard, magician, legend...no words do this God justice

Were 25 and 26 really retired by the club, isn't it more a matter of new players not daring to pick either number?

3 hours ago, Valerie said:

Were 25 and 26 really retired by the club, isn't it more a matter of new players not daring to pick either number?

Yet w**kers like Michy have the balls to take the legendary 23 shirt...

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

Yet w**kers like Michy have the balls to take the legendary 23 shirt...

It's disgusting, but it's probably a tribute to a club legend 

5 hours ago, Valerie said:

Were 25 and 26 really retired by the club, isn't it more a matter of new players not daring to pick either number?

25 was, when Zola buggered off the club officially announced that 25 will never be used again. I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it but I'm more often drunk then I'm not so it could of been imagined

1 hour ago, Malta Blue said:

25 was, when Zola buggered off the club officially announced that 25 will never be used again. I'm pretty sure I didn't dream it but I'm more often drunk then I'm not so it could of been imagined

That's entirely possible, I don't remember, I drank a lot of braincells to oblivion in my time 

4 minutes ago, Valerie said:

That's entirely possible, I don', I drank a lot of braincells to oblivion in my time 

Something I hope most of us on here have in common ? life is not worth living without booze ? ? ?

4 hours ago, Malta Blue said:

when Zola buggered off the club officially announced that 25 will never be used again

He didn't bugger off at all Roman asked him to stay but he'd given his word to the Italian club he joined and didn't want to break his promise.

53 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

He didn't bugger off at all Roman asked him to stay but he'd given his word to the Italian club he joined and didn't want to break his promise.

You misunderstood my intent. My use of the term bugger of was in no way meant in a derogatory way. I use it all the time. You  know when your round a mates house and it's getting late. When you go to get up off their sofa you slap your knees and say 'right' well I normally follow that with I better bugger off. I mean it instead of saying I'm off or I better go or I'm leaving. Sorry for the confusion. Zola is my footballing Idol. I model myself on a mixture of him and Norman Wisdom. I probably don't need to tell you I'm a short arse ?...when I say someone buggered off or just means they left... In will endeavour to think about my choice of words in the future ? hope this helps

Welcome to the forum.  A great  time to have started following Chelsea, with some great players in and around the team back then, in looking back then it was certainly a transition toward what made us attractive to Roman