1 GK Petr Čech
2 DF Branislav Ivanović
3 DF Ashley Cole
4 MF Claude Makélélé
5 MF Michael Essien
6 DF Ricardo Carvalho
7 FW Andriy Shevchenko
8 MF Frank Lampard (vice-captain)
9 MF Steve Sidwell
10 MF Joe Cole
11 FW Didier Drogba
12 MF John Obi Mikel
13 MF Michael Ballack
14 FW Claudio Pizarro
15 MF Florent Malouda
17 FW Scott Sinclair
18 DF Wayne Bridge
20 DF Paulo Ferreira
21 FW Salomon Kalou
22 DF Tal Ben-Haim
23 GK Carlo Cudicini
24 MF Shaun Wright-Phillips
26 DF John Terry (captain)
27 FW Franco Di Santo
33 DF Alex
35 DF Juliano Belletti
39 FW Nicolas Anelka
40 GK Henrique Hilário
Players out on loan
37 MF Jack Cork (at Scunthorpe until May 2008)
43 DF Ryan Bertrand (at Norwich until May 2008)
44 DF Michael Mancienne (at QPR until May 2008)
–– DF Adrian Pettigrew (at Rotherham until May 2008)
–– MF Anthony Grant (at Southend until May 2008)
–– DF Alcides (at PSV Eindhoven until June 2008)
–– DF Khalid Boulahrouz (at Sevilla until June 2008)
–– DF Slobodan Rajković (at PSV Eindhoven until June 2008)
–– FW Hernán Crespo (at Internazionale until June 2008)
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Chelsea Player
In popular culture
In 1930, Chelsea featured in one of the earliest football films, The Great Game. One-time Chelsea centre forward, Jack Cock, who by then was playing for Millwall, was the star of the film and several scenes were shot at Stamford Bridge, including the pitch, the boardroom and the dressing rooms. It included guest appearances by then-Chelsea players Andrew Wilson, George Mills and Sam Millington. Owing to the notoriety of the Chelsea Headhunters, a football firm associated with the club, Chelsea have also featured in films about football hooliganism, most recently The Football Factory. Chelsea also appear in the Hindi film, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.
Up until the 1950s, the club had a long-running association with the music halls, with their underachievement often providing material for comedians such as George Robey.[60] It culminated in comedian Norman Long's release of a comic song in 1933, ironically titled "On The Day That Chelsea Went and Won The Cup", the lyrics of which described a series of bizarre and improbable occurrences on the hypothetical day when Chelsea finally won a trophy.
The song "Blue is the Colour" was released as a single in the build-up to the 1972 League Cup final, with all members of Chelsea's first team squad singing; it reached number five in the UK Singles Chart. The song was later adapted to "White is the Colour" and adopted as an anthem by the Vancouver Whitecaps. In the build-up to the 1997 FA Cup final, the song "Blue Day", performed by Suggs and members of Chelsea's squad, reached number 22 in the UK charts. Bryan Adams, a fan of Chelsea, dedicated the song "We're Gonna Win" from the album 18 Til I Die to the club.
Records of Chelsea
Bobby Tambling is Chelsea's all-time top goalscorer, with 202 goals in 370 games (1959–70). Six other players have also scored over 100 goals for Chelsea: George Hilsdon (1906–12), George Mills (1929–39), Roy Bentley (1948–56), Jimmy Greaves (1957–61), Peter Osgood (1964–74 & 1978–79), and Kerry Dixon (1983–92), who is the only player in the club's recent history to have come close to matching Tambling's record, with 193 goals. Greaves holds the record for the most goals scored in one season (43 in 1960–61). Chelsea's current top-scorer is Frank Lampard with 99.
Officially, Chelsea's highest home attendance is 82,905 for a First Division match against Arsenal on 12 October 1935. However, an estimated crowd of over 100,000 attended a friendly match against Soviet team Dynamo Moscow on 13 November 1945. The modernisation of Stamford Bridge during the 1990s and the introduction of all-seater stands mean that neither record will be broken for the foreseeable future. The current legal capacity of Stamford Bridge is 42,055.
Chelsea hold numerous records in English and European football. They hold the record for the highest points total for a league season, the fewest goals conceded during a league season, the most consecutive clean sheets during a league season, the highest number of Premier League victories in a season , the highest number of clean sheets overall in a Premier League season (all set during the 2004–05 season), and the most consecutive clean sheets from the start of a league season (2005–06).
The club's 21–0 aggregate victory over Jeunesse Hautcharage in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 remains a record in European competition. Chelsea may also hold the British transfer record, but the fee for Andriy Shevchenko, estimated at around £30m, remains unconfirmed. Roberto Di Matteo holds the record for fastest goal in an FA Cup final at Wembley, which came 42 seconds into Chelsea's win over Middlesbrough in 1997. Chelsea hold the record for the longest streak of unbeaten matches at home in the English top-flight. They secured the record on 12 August 2007, beating the previous run of 63 matches set by Liverpool between 1978 and 1980. The record is ongoing, and currently stands at 75 matches.
Chelsea have recorded several "firsts" in English football. Along with Arsenal, they were the first club to play with shirt numbers on 25 August 1928 in their match against Swansea Town.[52] Chelsea were the first English side to travel by aeroplane to a domestic away match, when they visited Newcastle United on 19 April 1957, and the first First Division side to play a match on a Sunday, when they faced Stoke City on 27 January 1974. On December 26, 1999, Chelsea became the first British side to field an entirely foreign (non-UK) starting line-up in a Premier League match against Southampton. On May 19, 2007, they became the first team to win the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium, having also been the last to win it at the old Wembley.
Supporters
Chelsea have the fifth highest average all-time attendance in English football and regularly attract over 40,000 fans to Stamford Bridge; they were the fifth best-supported Premiership team in the 2005–06 season, with an average gate of 41,870. Chelsea's traditional fanbase comes from working-class parts of West London, such as Hammersmith and Battersea, from wealthier areas like Chelsea and Kensington, and from the Home Counties. In addition to the standard football chants, Chelsea fans sing songs like "Carefree", "Blue is the Colour", "We all follow the Chelsea" (to the tune of Land of Hope and Glory), "Ten Men Went to Mow", "Zigga Zagga", "Hello! Hello!" and the celebratory "Celery", with the latter often resulting in fans ritually throwing celery.
Chelsea do not have a traditional rivalry, in the manner that Liverpool and Everton, or Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur do. The club's nearest neighbours are Fulham, but they are not seen as big rivals by Chelsea fans, because the clubs have spent most of the last 40 years in separate divisions. A 2004 survey by Planetfootball.com found that Chelsea fans consider their main rivalries to be with (in order): Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. Additionally, a strong rivalry with Leeds United dates back to several heated and controversial matches in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the FA Cup final in 1970. A more recent rivalry has grown with Liverpool following several clashes in cup competitions. In European competition, Chelsea's biggest rivals are Barcelona, with the two competing to be among the best sides in Europe and having played in some highly controversial matches in the UEFA Champions League in recent seasons.
During the 1970s and 1980s in particular, Chelsea supporters were long associated with football hooliganism. The club's "football firm", originally the Chelsea Shed Boys, now known as the Chelsea Headhunters, were nationally notorious for violent acts against hooligans from other teams, such as West Ham United's Inter City Firm and Millwall's Bushwhackers, both during and after matches. The increase in hooliganism in the 1980s led chairman Ken Bates to propose an electric fence to deter them from invading the pitch; the proposal was rejected by the GLC. Chelsea's hooligan element were revealed to have links with neo-nazi groups such as Combat 18, and other far-right or racist organisations including the British National Party. Since the 1990s there has been a marked decline in crowd trouble at matches, as a result of stricter policing, CCTV in grounds and the advent of all-seater stadia.
Colours
Chelsea's traditional away colours are all yellow or all white with blue trim, but, as with most teams, they have had some more unusual ones. The first away strip consisted of black and white stripes and for one game in the 1960s the team wore Inter Milan-style blue and black stripes, again at Docherty's behest. Other memorable away kits include a mint green strip in the 1980s, a red and white checked one in the early 90s and a graphite and tangerine addition in the mid-1990s.
Chelsea's kit is currently manufactured by Adidas, which is contracted to supply the club's kit from 2006 to 2011. Their previous kit manufacturer was Umbro. Chelsea's first shirt sponsor was Gulf Air, agreed midway through the 1983–84 season. Following that, the club were sponsored by Grange Farms, Bai Lin tea and Italian company Simod before a long-term deal was signed with computer manufacturer Commodore International in 1989; Amiga, an off-shoot of Commodore, also appeared on the shirts. Chelsea were subsequently sponsored by Coors beer (1995–97), Autoglass (1997–2001) and Emirates Airline (2001–05). Chelsea's current shirt sponsor is Samsung Mobile.
