The Opponent: Chelsea
The day has finally arrived, I have been looking forward to it for a while, watching endless middle class rugby followers stare at the matchday ticket like its a pissed on winning lottery ticket, wandering round the noble Town End like its the opening of a new branch of Ikea, and you can almost guarantee that the anoraked version of The Swiss Family Robinson will be sat in my seats, the same fucking seats I have had for 12 years. I am quite looking forward to the football too. I don’t have many pre match beers it must be said, but work allowing, I shall partake in a few this evening, bit of a long shot but does the cricket club open up at all? Most of the talk has been about what kind of team will Jose put out, Torres? Terry? Lampard? Mata? Who knows apart from the manager formally known as The Special One. For me, I would rather the few hundred that make the long journey to Preston on Saturday bring the 3 points back with them than a win tonight, although I wouldn’t grumble if we could manage a City/Chelsea/Preston treble.
Now Chelsea have a squad, we all know the household names, but such is the depth of the squad at Mourinho’s disposal they currently have 11 of them out on loan (Moses and Lakaku to name but a few), and some 14 of their academy players, including Patrick Bamford, currently plying his trade for Franchise. Roman Abramovich has now owned the club for 10 years, and last year’s accounts showed the first profit Chelsea FC plc had made under his ownership, totalling £1.4 million. It is said Abramovich has lent Chelsea nearly £800 million in interest free loans and has played a major part in turning Chelsea in to a global brand during his time in control, although its funny that they can’t get a better shirt sponsor than us. Taking a look through Chelsea’s player of the year list it does make impressive reading, names such as Bonetti, Drogba, Gullit, Lampard (3 times) and the fantastic Gianfranco Zola stick out, however, in 1998 it must have been a poor year by Chelsea’s high standards, following the decision to award that boss eyed little turd, Dennis Wise, with the accolade. The winner of the award for the last 2 years, Juan Mata, seems to have issues with The Special One, having found himself dropped frequently, The Telegraph alleging that it is simply down to Mata’s dashing good looks pissing off Jose somewhat!
The Last Time We Met At – The County Ground - New Years Day, 1994, just over 16’000 squeezed in to the CG to see us beaten 3-1, with our only goal coming from Andy Mutch. One of the players to score for Chelsea that day was the aforementioned Wise.
They have served us both – Glenn Hoddle, Sam Parkin, Rhys Evans, Alan Mayes, Duncan Shearer, Gus Poyet, Dennis Wise, Tom Jones and Micky Hazard. Adi Viveash has been the youth team coach at Stamford Bridge for the last 2 years.
Where the opposition gather – http://www.theshedend.com/topic/24554-swindon-v-chelsea-lc-240913-ko-1945-gmt/page-2“With absolutely no respect to Swindon whatsoever, we should destroy them. I won't accept anything less than a win by a margin of at least 4 goals”.
Chelsea Last 6 – WWWDLW (Currently 4th in The Premier League)
The Odds – Swindon 9/1 Draw 7/2 Chelsea 2/5 (William Hill). First goalscorer – Eto'o/Torres/Ba all around 7/2, Lampard/Hazard/Oscar/Mata around 6/1, Ranger/Ajose/N’Guessan around 9/1 although shop around and N’Guessan pays a more generous 20/1.
The Son Says – Its the first time he really has had to make a decision with more than just his heart. Even the wife chipped in with a 2-1 win prediction. At first he said 5-0 Chelsea, then realised the importance of what he said and opted for a 3-3 draw, lord only knows what happens after that.
The Prediction – I would love to be bullish about this, rouse the troops etc, but this is Chelsea for fuck sake. 2-1 Swindon, Nile Ranger scoring a late double in front of 14’671 with around 2922 from the leafy suburbs of Surrey. We are going to pass it round them, displaying our total football credentials. Di Canio will appear on Sky Sports News on Wednesday saying it was all down to him.
And Finally - Stamford Bridge was designed by the noted football architect Archibald Leitch, who had also designed Ibrox, Celtic Park and Hampden Park. Most football clubs were founded first, and then sought grounds in which to play, but Chelsea were founded for Stamford Bridge.
