I think it is fair to say that the last few years has seen something of a milestone in Chelsea's history. However contrary to Scouse belief our history is long (and scouse belief of history should always be discarded as it is entirely selective) but I am deliberately limiting this topic to relatively recent history as I think it gives most people the opportunity to contribute whether that contribution be based on experiencing it first hand or through learning about it through reading / television / DVDs or just reading things on the net.

Therefore I apologise in advance to those people who can offer first hand experience stretching back further than the majority. As such the likes of the Mears brothers (who attended many social gatherings with Bluebeard), David Calderhead, Ted Drake and the Doc are not included as options in this poll.

This poll really concentrates on the key people of the past 25 years. I would think that a big enough percentage of people on here are aware of all of them to be able to offer some comment.

So I have offered up a short list of the people who I feel have played a significant part in our history in the past 25 years and am curious which one you feel is worthy of the most 'accolade' from the fans.

Clearly you are free to just vote however I am interested in your reasons for voting for a particular person if you don't mind putting them down.

I do have my own thoughts but I would rather keep them to myself for now as I don't want to push the discussion in an one particular direction.

Now this is a tricky one. For me it's down to three people I think.

Zola - Being that little star he was he probably brought a few fans to us. He was the reason why I started to support Chelsea.

Roman - Well, without him we would have been....I don't want to think about it. Now we are filthy rich, have great players, good facilities etc. And we are hated too of course, but that is just an added bonus

Mourinho - 6 titles in 3 years says it all. He made Chelsea into a top team and managed to get us into the papers every single day during his time here.

So I'm not sure yet who I'm going for. Will think about the other persons on that list too. Perhaps I've missed someones contributions.

I was dragging my mouse to Franco Zola... but it wouldn't budge from Ken Bates

I was sitting on the fence till Ken put some current through it

1. Roman

2. Bates

3. Jose

1. Roman

2. Bates

3. Jose

Spot on Scott, Same for me !!!!!

I was sitting on the fence till Ken put some current through it

Loz that one surely deserves to be put into the 'memorable quotes' section.

Bravo Tim.

Roman comfortably ahead so far although not that many votes - so a little BUMP is called for to try and get a few more people to vote.

A big toss-up between Roman and Hoddle for me.

I think that without those two coming to chelsea at the times they did, we might well be playing in the Championship (or worse ie. Leeds).

The success of all the other players and managers listed are direct results of the influence of at least one of these two.

Edit - add Bates to that list as well. One of Roman, Hoddle or Bates.

A big toss-up between Roman and Hoddle for me.

Hoddle doesn't do toss-ups it against his spiritual beliefs

Hoddle done a reasonable job for us, but no more than that. He was the first manager for years that was really given the backing of the board, it was as if Bates thought, "I've secured our future at last now lets start building something". It won't come as a suprise to most of you that Bates got my vote, despite the fact that he wanted to electricute me!

RA bought a club with lots of good players, a nice finished ground, crap fans that are prepared to pay over the odds and sit quietly and a team that was in the champions league. Would he have looked at us if we were battling to keep hold of a run-down shell of a ground who's only good part was.......well it's ours!!! with a team that were complete sh*te, fans that were running amock home and away???? No he wouldn't, the worst that would have happened if RA hadn't taken over is that we'd have gone back to being a middle of the table premiership side - there were other people ready to bail Bates out.

Everyone else on the list may well have added to what the club is, but none ensured the clubs future.

Hoddle done a reasonable job for us, but no more than that. He was the first manager for years that was really given the backing of the board, it was as if Bates thought, "I've secured our future at last now lets start building something". It won't come as a suprise to most of you that Bates got my vote, despite the fact that he wanted to electricute me!

RA bought a club with lots of good players, a nice finished ground, crap fans that are prepared to pay over the odds and sit quietly and a team that was in the champions league. Would he have looked at us if we were battling to keep hold of a run-down shell of a ground who's only good part was.......well it's ours!!! with a team that were complete sh*t, fans that were running amock home and away???? No he wouldn't, the worst that would have happened if RA hadn't taken over is that we'd have gone back to being a middle of the table premiership side - there were other people ready to bail Bates out.

Everyone else on the list may well have added to what the club is, but none ensured the clubs future.

That is a very good point. I voted Abramovich but I never thought of it that way. I'm persuaded. Bates it is, the old bas*ard

Can you change my vote Loz?

Well Bates was my vote as well and to be honest it was Bates by a country mile for me and I was actually expecting him to top this poll reasonably comfortably.

I just had to go for bates, we would be sharing a ground with someone else and the bridge would be no longer

if it wasn't for him.

I remember going into the old secretary office near the old club shop in about 83/84 to renew my membership,

when Batesy came out of his office and see me and a mate doing this, rubbing his hands together and said "good lads

another 16 quid for the club" (or whatever the price was in those days)...

Well Bates was my vote as well and to be honest it was Bates by a country mile for me and I was actually expecting him to top this poll reasonably comfortably.

It's more of a reflection of the age level / amount of time the average member on here supported Chelsea I guess. I started supporting Chelsea when I was 12 and that was in 96-97, I have no memories of the difficult times Bates steered Chelsea through other than what I have been told by "old timers". So for the time I have supported Chelsea, then Abramovich overall is the most influential figure, and it seems that way for the majority on here. However in the entire history of Chelsea FC, which is what the vote was for, it has to be Bates.

Edit. I just realised that the title of the poll says "Recent history". Recent is a very subjective term no? Recent for a 20-25 year old is not recent for a 40-50 year old. We view time differently to you old farts because we haven't been around as long

bates also my vote, but it was close for me...

Just for the record I'm not "THAT" old, I'm not even 31 yet!!!

Poor Ranieri. Not a single vote yet

I voted Abramovich and I stick by it

Bates is my second choice though

I went with Hoddle, although I really feel I should have given the vote to Bates, the fact that he is at Leeds now didn't allow me to vote for him. Sure he was an arrogant bar steward, and he threatened every reporter under the Sun that he would sue them, only for the very info they were about to report turn out to be true in the end...No wonder the press hates us still! However, he had a vision for Chelsea as a Football Club, and he saved us from the brink of extinction.

However, I started watching Chelsea under the rule of Hoddle, and therefore he gets my vote. He had a great vision for Chelsea on the pitch, he started bringing in big name European players too, and started us off on the track of being a cosmopolitain force to be taken seriously in the league and Europe. He brought in Gullit, who brought in Vialli, who brought in Zola....it just snowballed from there.

Off the pitch, it should be Bates. Make no mistake about it, had Bates not bought our club for a quid, we would have really suffered and there is now way that Roman would have looked at us further down the line. But, at the end of teh day its about the football we play, and the success we have on the pitch. For me, Hoddle started all that

Scott

I went for Bates. I don't know how close we were to oblivion when Roman took over (I've heard different accounts), but I'm pretty sure we were a lot closer to it in the early 80s, and Bates took us on at a time when Roman wouldn't have given us a second glance. We were a mediocre second divison team with no money, a crumbling stadium and a big hooligan problem. Then there was the property developers. Only someone as pig-headed and stubborn as Bates could have defeated them and won back our home, which in turn allowed us to start moving forward on the pitch. Roman deserves a lot of the credit for our recent success, but without Bates it's very conceivable there wouldn't have been a Chelsea for him to take over and Stamford Bridge would now be a set of luxury flats or a Sainsbury's.

Its Bates!

Of corse its Bates!

No Bates NO STAMFORD BRIDGE

I cant see how anybody could put Jose or Hoddle or Zola above Uncle Ken,its just plain non-sense.

Even though we didn't get our tickets for the 97 cup final.........THERE'S ONLY ONE PIG HEADED CAPTIN BIRDSEYE!!

This really is a no contest.

http://www.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=8 ... id=8340674

I think there's a bug on the voting. I'm pretty sure that I voted for Roman but it says that I voted for Bates. I'm definitely sure that I didn't vote for him anyway.

That is just for polls carried forward from the old software. It doesn't mean your vote has been counted wrong, just that that cross is in the wrong place. All new polls created since the upgrade are fine.