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The summer of 2003 was an important one. Roman Abramovich had decided to plough his money into our team.
Chelsea has arguably the nicest area around the its ground in Britain, and had a lot of potential.
My first reaction when I heard he was to take over was one of disappointment. I felt like not renewing my season ticket. I
knew nothing about the man and felt he was going to buy the club for the wrong reasons: to make money out of the fans
and merchandise. How wrong I was.
Chelsea shares that I had originally bought for 80p, had gone up to 170p and then collapsed to 10p were all bought up. At
least I recouped about 25% of what I had invested into the club when they first floated!
It was more of a relief later when we found out that Chelsea had run up enormous debt. The club's failure to qualify for the
Champions League in three successive years had hurt our finances. We nearly did a Leeds. Roman had saved us, and
put his money where his mouth was. Chelsea signed Wayne Bridge, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Adrian Mutu and Hernan
Crespo at the beginning of the season, and Arjen Robben, Petr Cech and Paulo Ferreira at the end.
We began the season brightly, easily dispatching MSK Zilina to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. We
were unbeaten for nine games until we lost to Besiktas at home who were a disgrace both on and off the pitch.
With a lack of funds I could not make any European away games. This included a 4-0 annihilation of Lazio.
In the FA Cup we lost, as usual, to Arsenal. In the League Cup we lost to Villa, with Angel of all people scoring one of the
goals.
In the league we had our best season to date. We seemed to be more solid, conceding fewer goals. We finally seemed to
be building into a world class team. However, losses away to Charlton and another failure to beat Arsenal in the League
showed we still had a fair way to go.
As the season progressed, we improved and got to the Quarter Final stage of the Champions League. And who did we
have to face? Yes. Bloody Arsenal. I held hope for us but was pessimistic. I watched the home leg in a bar in Tokyo having
been sent there for work reasons. As usual, most of the expats in there were Arsenal fans, so i took great delight in
rubbing it in when we scored. The match ended 1-1. I couldn't get a ticket for the away leg despite having been to several
hundred Chelsea matches to date. Instead I watched it in my local in Wandsworth, where I had just moved to. Arsenal
scored. We equalised. It looked like the game was heading into extra time. Then Wayne Bridge popped up to score a
famous Chelsea goal and silence the Highbury crowd. Arsenal needed to score two goals in normal time just to stay in the
competition. With four minutes to go it was unlikely to occur. Chelsea won, and the next day I draped my gooner
workmates' chair with flags, scarves and Chelsea memorabilia to rub it in. In the semis we played Monaco. A combination
of poor tactics, and an excellent Morientes display meant we were 3-1 down from the first leg. In the second leg, Chelsea
seemed to lack direction and drew 2-2, losing 5-3 on aggregate.
Our hearts were broken yet again. We had reached the semis of the European Cup - our furthest ever.
In the final game of the season we beat Leeds and Ranieri did a tour of the pitch. Perhaps he knew that would be his final
game. He was correct. He had built solidity into the squad, and in his final season as manager had helped us finish in
second place, albeit 11 points behind the rampant winners Arsenal.
In the Summer we were treated to our first glimpse of our new Messiah. Mourinho had won the UEFA Cup and now the
Champions League with Porto on a limited budget. His first interviews showed the self belief and arrogance he has. This
rubbed off onto the team and this was catalyst we required to get the team onto the next level.
The season started off with an unconvincing 1-0 win against Manchester United with Eidur scoring the all important goal.
With more disposable income I could afford to go to more of the aways, and only missed five all season in the league. The
trip to Manchester City, a new ground with no atmosphere, saw us lose our first game of the season. 1-0 with a disputed
penalty. This was to be the only game we lost that season. In the league we were sublime. Impossible to score against and
exciting in attack.
We lost unluckily to Newcastle in the FA Cup having used all three substitutions and then having Wayne Bridge injured
with a tackle from Shearer. We were down to ten men, which was reduced to nine when Carlo Cudicini was sent off in the
last minute.
In the league, we still could not beat a good Arsenal side. It seemed they would romp away with the title again but after an
iffy decision against them at Old Trafford their confidence fell. Every game we seemed to win, Arsenal were drawing
against sides they were beating the year before.
There are too many good performances to mention by the team in the league. We were solid and winning games before
we were perhaps drawing, or even losing.
We went to Bolton away, knowing that a win would secure us the title. I went, but being the typical Chelsea pessimist
thought we would blow it. Chelsea surprised me. Lampard scored twice and cue jubilation from the travelling faithful. There
were tears of joy from many a fan that finally we had won a competition we had only succeeded in fifty years previously.
For me it took a long time to soak in. I didn't cry, just cheered in joyous celebration. On the way back I realised I had
missed my last train back to London. Sky had put the kick off at 515pm, and for some reason there were no trains back to
London from Manchester after half past eight on a Saturday. Cue a trip back to London that ended at 11am the next
morning, including a kip over at an ex Chelsea naughty boy's house in Watford who had been in the same predicament as
me. You never had things easy being a Chelsea fan! The trip included £130 between three of us for a cab between
Coventry and Watford!
Chelsea had reached the semi final of the Champions League having dispatched Barcelona on the way. Liverpool were to
meet us in the semis. We drove up to Anfield in confident mood having already beaten the Scousers three times that
season, including a win in the final of the League Cup. We had drawn 0-0 at home in the first leg having missed two
sitters. The atmosphere at Anfield was like nothing I had experienced before, and I feel that in this case the adage of
having a twelfth man on the pitch is entirely apt. When I say twelfth man, I mean fourteenth man. Liverpool scored with a
goal that the linesman deemed to have crossed the line. TV replays showed that this decision was incorrect. Having said
that, Chelsea had several chances to equalise. I still dream of the effort Gudjohnsen had in the last minute skewing just
wide. We had lost in the semi final of the Champions League for a second season running. It was also one of the
occasions where Jose was less than gracious in defeat. I cannot criticise him, as he is excellent at deflecting attention
away from the players and giving them confidence.
So we were left to celebrate lifting the Premier League trophy at our home game with Charlton. Aptly, Claude Makelele
scored with a rebound from a penalty that he had originally missed. He has been a superb ball carrier with great vision,
skill and strength for such a small man. It is a shame he is coming toward the twilight of his career, but in my opinion is one
of the most important Chelsea players ever.
It was only at this match that I found the time to shed my emotions. I guess subconsciously I could not believe we had won
the league until I had seen us hold the trophy aloft. I cried virtually all the way through. Chelsea, to their credit, did the
presentation brilliantly and invited the players from the 1955 league championship winning team to join in the celebrations.
The parade a few weeks later was a great success, and of course there was much drinking involved in between.
So Jose, backed with millions and a superb football mind, had won two major trophies in his first season as manager.
We had finished with a record 95 points gained out of a possible 114, scoring two goals per game on average.
Now it's time to see if we can build on our success! Chelsea are going to be a dominating force in English football for at
least the next five years. It's time we had a trophy cabinet to compete with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and
Arsenal. In fifty years time people will reflect on the time Chelsea had a great team, and we need to seize the moment!
Chelsea has arguably the nicest area around the its ground in Britain, and had a lot of potential.
My first reaction when I heard he was to take over was one of disappointment. I felt like not renewing my season ticket. I
knew nothing about the man and felt he was going to buy the club for the wrong reasons: to make money out of the fans
and merchandise. How wrong I was.
Chelsea shares that I had originally bought for 80p, had gone up to 170p and then collapsed to 10p were all bought up. At
least I recouped about 25% of what I had invested into the club when they first floated!
It was more of a relief later when we found out that Chelsea had run up enormous debt. The club's failure to qualify for the
Champions League in three successive years had hurt our finances. We nearly did a Leeds. Roman had saved us, and
put his money where his mouth was. Chelsea signed Wayne Bridge, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Adrian Mutu and Hernan
Crespo at the beginning of the season, and Arjen Robben, Petr Cech and Paulo Ferreira at the end.
We began the season brightly, easily dispatching MSK Zilina to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. We
were unbeaten for nine games until we lost to Besiktas at home who were a disgrace both on and off the pitch.
With a lack of funds I could not make any European away games. This included a 4-0 annihilation of Lazio.
In the FA Cup we lost, as usual, to Arsenal. In the League Cup we lost to Villa, with Angel of all people scoring one of the
goals.
In the league we had our best season to date. We seemed to be more solid, conceding fewer goals. We finally seemed to
be building into a world class team. However, losses away to Charlton and another failure to beat Arsenal in the League
showed we still had a fair way to go.
As the season progressed, we improved and got to the Quarter Final stage of the Champions League. And who did we
have to face? Yes. Bloody Arsenal. I held hope for us but was pessimistic. I watched the home leg in a bar in Tokyo having
been sent there for work reasons. As usual, most of the expats in there were Arsenal fans, so i took great delight in
rubbing it in when we scored. The match ended 1-1. I couldn't get a ticket for the away leg despite having been to several
hundred Chelsea matches to date. Instead I watched it in my local in Wandsworth, where I had just moved to. Arsenal
scored. We equalised. It looked like the game was heading into extra time. Then Wayne Bridge popped up to score a
famous Chelsea goal and silence the Highbury crowd. Arsenal needed to score two goals in normal time just to stay in the
competition. With four minutes to go it was unlikely to occur. Chelsea won, and the next day I draped my gooner
workmates' chair with flags, scarves and Chelsea memorabilia to rub it in. In the semis we played Monaco. A combination
of poor tactics, and an excellent Morientes display meant we were 3-1 down from the first leg. In the second leg, Chelsea
seemed to lack direction and drew 2-2, losing 5-3 on aggregate.
Our hearts were broken yet again. We had reached the semis of the European Cup - our furthest ever.
In the final game of the season we beat Leeds and Ranieri did a tour of the pitch. Perhaps he knew that would be his final
game. He was correct. He had built solidity into the squad, and in his final season as manager had helped us finish in
second place, albeit 11 points behind the rampant winners Arsenal.
In the Summer we were treated to our first glimpse of our new Messiah. Mourinho had won the UEFA Cup and now the
Champions League with Porto on a limited budget. His first interviews showed the self belief and arrogance he has. This
rubbed off onto the team and this was catalyst we required to get the team onto the next level.
The season started off with an unconvincing 1-0 win against Manchester United with Eidur scoring the all important goal.
With more disposable income I could afford to go to more of the aways, and only missed five all season in the league. The
trip to Manchester City, a new ground with no atmosphere, saw us lose our first game of the season. 1-0 with a disputed
penalty. This was to be the only game we lost that season. In the league we were sublime. Impossible to score against and
exciting in attack.
We lost unluckily to Newcastle in the FA Cup having used all three substitutions and then having Wayne Bridge injured
with a tackle from Shearer. We were down to ten men, which was reduced to nine when Carlo Cudicini was sent off in the
last minute.
In the league, we still could not beat a good Arsenal side. It seemed they would romp away with the title again but after an
iffy decision against them at Old Trafford their confidence fell. Every game we seemed to win, Arsenal were drawing
against sides they were beating the year before.
There are too many good performances to mention by the team in the league. We were solid and winning games before
we were perhaps drawing, or even losing.
We went to Bolton away, knowing that a win would secure us the title. I went, but being the typical Chelsea pessimist
thought we would blow it. Chelsea surprised me. Lampard scored twice and cue jubilation from the travelling faithful. There
were tears of joy from many a fan that finally we had won a competition we had only succeeded in fifty years previously.
For me it took a long time to soak in. I didn't cry, just cheered in joyous celebration. On the way back I realised I had
missed my last train back to London. Sky had put the kick off at 515pm, and for some reason there were no trains back to
London from Manchester after half past eight on a Saturday. Cue a trip back to London that ended at 11am the next
morning, including a kip over at an ex Chelsea naughty boy's house in Watford who had been in the same predicament as
me. You never had things easy being a Chelsea fan! The trip included £130 between three of us for a cab between
Coventry and Watford!
Chelsea had reached the semi final of the Champions League having dispatched Barcelona on the way. Liverpool were to
meet us in the semis. We drove up to Anfield in confident mood having already beaten the Scousers three times that
season, including a win in the final of the League Cup. We had drawn 0-0 at home in the first leg having missed two
sitters. The atmosphere at Anfield was like nothing I had experienced before, and I feel that in this case the adage of
having a twelfth man on the pitch is entirely apt. When I say twelfth man, I mean fourteenth man. Liverpool scored with a
goal that the linesman deemed to have crossed the line. TV replays showed that this decision was incorrect. Having said
that, Chelsea had several chances to equalise. I still dream of the effort Gudjohnsen had in the last minute skewing just
wide. We had lost in the semi final of the Champions League for a second season running. It was also one of the
occasions where Jose was less than gracious in defeat. I cannot criticise him, as he is excellent at deflecting attention
away from the players and giving them confidence.
So we were left to celebrate lifting the Premier League trophy at our home game with Charlton. Aptly, Claude Makelele
scored with a rebound from a penalty that he had originally missed. He has been a superb ball carrier with great vision,
skill and strength for such a small man. It is a shame he is coming toward the twilight of his career, but in my opinion is one
of the most important Chelsea players ever.
It was only at this match that I found the time to shed my emotions. I guess subconsciously I could not believe we had won
the league until I had seen us hold the trophy aloft. I cried virtually all the way through. Chelsea, to their credit, did the
presentation brilliantly and invited the players from the 1955 league championship winning team to join in the celebrations.
The parade a few weeks later was a great success, and of course there was much drinking involved in between.
So Jose, backed with millions and a superb football mind, had won two major trophies in his first season as manager.
We had finished with a record 95 points gained out of a possible 114, scoring two goals per game on average.
Now it's time to see if we can build on our success! Chelsea are going to be a dominating force in English football for at
least the next five years. It's time we had a trophy cabinet to compete with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and
Arsenal. In fifty years time people will reflect on the time Chelsea had a great team, and we need to seize the moment!
2003-