With the approach of a new season, I’ve put together my own dream team drawn from Chelsea sides I’ve personally had the pleasure of watching, from season 69-70 to the present day. The criteria I used for selection was that nobody was considered who came to Chelsea towards the end of their careers, having been bigger stars elsewhere. Therefore players such as Weah, Vialli, Gullit, Hoddle, Desailly (just about!) etc… couldn’t be included. Anyway, here’s my Xl, playing in a 4-4-3 formation:
Bonetti; Petrescu, Gallas, Terry, Le Saux; Hudson, Wilkins, Wise; Cooke, Osgood, Zola.
Going through the side, Peter Bonetti was a fantastic keeper – very agile with superb reflexes. Anyone who has ever watched the 1970 Cup Final will know what I mean.
Looking at the defence, I couldn’t find a better central pairing than William Gallas and John Terry. To my mind, our defence has never looked more solid and, with a bit of luck, these two will just get better and better as a pairing. Dan Petrescu, although sometimes perhaps prone to be a little bit too attacking minded was sheer class and exactly the same could be said about Graeme Le Saux.
With regards to the midfield trio, Alan Hudson and Ray Wilkins were both very young when they played for Chelsea but both made an immediate impact. Wilkins always looked to have so much time on the ball, even as a 16 year old, and effectively carried the team during the troubled ‘East Stand ‘ years whilst Hudson instantly shone in a team of very talented individuals. I always thought that he would go on to really great things but when he left us for Stoke, it never seemed to really happen for him, which was a pity because he was a great talent at Chelsea. As for Dennis, I always think it was pity that Franco Zola didn’t arrive earlier as Wisey seemed to blossom into a different class of player upon his arrival. He could play anywhere in midfield and was a great captain in his later days at the Bridge. His distribution was brilliant and he led by example.
What can you say about the front three? In terms of out and out talent, probably Zola was the best of them although personally my vote would go to Charlie Cooke, who was breathtaking. He was the darling of the Chelsea crowd, very much like Zola was more recently, and was comparable with the great George Best in many respects, basing his play around sheer dribbling skills although he was a superb passer of the ball too. He actually played in a more central midfield role during his second spell at Chelsea, after he came back from Palace. Osgood, as with Franco and Charlie, is another legend with Chelsea fans. The guy had everything and, but for breaking his leg at Blackpool after he’d just got into the side, he might have gone onto become an England great. He always claimed that the bulk he put on whilst injured lost him a lot of his electric pace but even so, his vision and close ball control meant that he was still a fantastic player. What’s more, along with the likes of Bobby Tambling, Kerry Dixon and Jimmy Floyd, he would always get us 20+ goals a season although he was a far more gifted player than any of those three.
Looking at that team, I can’t believe that I’ve been privileged enough to watch all of them play. As for me, for those of you who remember the old stadium layout with the greyhound track, I started off a kid watching with my dad from the old West Stand and when we couldn’t get tickets, we used to stand on the terraces beneath the even older North or East Stands, although I had to stand on a box to seeJ. Then as I got a bit older, I’d be in the Shed with my girlfriend/mates and more recently, since it’s turned all-seater, into the East Stand a bit or wherever else I can get tickets for. Yep, great days and hopefully even better to come.