My Chelsea FC love-affair Part 1

(Chelsea FC 2nd official visit to Malaysia for a friendly pre-season match)

On the 29th JULY 2008, Chelsea FC will versus Team Malaysia at Shah Alam Stadium in Selangor, Malaysia. It is a game i look forward to attend. The team visit to Malaysia & some other Asian countries are part of the pre-session warm up session before the English Premier League @ EPL kick-off somewhere in the next month. With the recent signing of Deco & Jose Bosingwa, the new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who manage Portugal in the Euro 2008 are looking to forward to beat up our national team...just like what every EPL team did on their every visit.

(Glenn Hoddle signing superstar Ruud Gullit into the club which begins the Chelsea revolution)

I've been a long Chelsea FC fan. Long since the age of Ruud Gullit era and there were next to none of Chelsea fans that I can find circa 1995-1999. I have a great respect for Glenn Hoddle who manage to bring Ruud Gullit who has many European league experience into the club to boost the morale & confidence within the players. Me & my brother Azad see a potential for the West London club to bloom. It's only a matter of time til reached its superstar club after successful wins under the management of Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri & Jose Mourinho.

(The Stamford Bridge, home of the The Blues)

On September 1999, my family went to the UK because my dad had to attend a course in Cambridge University. The time we spend there was priceless & memorable. There i had the opportunity to visit Stamford Bridge ie Chelsea FC stadium but our visit there were spend on visiting more valuable visiting places such as Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park, Harrods, Royal Albert Hall, Picadilly Circus, etc. So we end up our visit to UK w/out visiting Stamford Bridge. How sad. But we didn't return emptyhanded. My brother got himself the Chelsea HOME jersey with No.9 Vialli on its back & I got myself Chelsea AWAY jersey with No.10 Casiraghi on the back of my jersey.

(Gullit's players during Vialli's era)

Ruud Gullit was an great player on the field & even a better manager on the bench. With vast experience in the european competition, he knows exactly who to bring into Chelsea. Thus begins the evolution of Chelsea with its european players. Di Matteo, Vialli & Zola were the first 3 Italian signing that change the tempo game of Chelsea.

(Gullit's first honours as manager of Chelsea FC beating Middlesborough 2-0 in the final)

Under Ruud Gullit, Chelsea won:

FA Cup Winners 1997

Runner Up to the Charity Shield in 1997.

(Vialli is the 1st Blues manager who manage to bring Treble Honours in 1998)

Then when his apprentice Gianluca Vialli succeeded him. Under his helm, Chelsea won numerous titles namely:

Coca Cola Cup Winners 1998
UEFA European Cup Winners Cup Winners 1998
UEFA Super Cup Winners 1998
FA Cup Winners 2000
FA Charity Shield Winners 2000

(Ranieri's sole silverware for Chelsea in 2004 ie the FAPL Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur vs. Newcastle in the Final)

In the year 2000, Claudio Ranieri succeded Vialli and managed the team from year 200-2004 but only manage to get:

FA Cup Runners-Up 2002
FA Barclaycard Premiership Runners-Up 2003/2004

(The Special One manage to bring the EPL title back to Stamford Bridge after 50 years wait, he did the same feat. the following season.)

The best among all the managers were most likely to be Jose Mourinho who lead the team to several major titles namely:

Carling Cup Winners 2005
FA Barclays Premiership Champions 2004/2005
FA Community Shield Winners 2005
FA Barclays Premiership Champions 2005/2006

(Avram Grant is by far the only Blues manager who manage to bring Chelsea to the European Champions League Final)

However, after Mourinho's departure from Chelsea, I find Chelsea less to my liking when they hired Avram Grant to do the job. Grant however manage to get Chelsea in a good spot after taking over the Blues from Jose Mourinho. He manage to get Chelsea into 3 runner-ups title namely:

League Cup / Carling Cup Runner-Up 2008
English Premier League Runner-Up 2008
Champions League Runner-Up Champion in 2008.

(The new manager for Chelsea FC hired to get back the EPL title)

Oh well, now that Chelsea have a new boss ie Luiz Felipe Scolari i look forward to see a successful management under the man.