True Blue, Through and Through

As dust settles on the corridors of Stamford Bridge after what has been a long and arduous year, I cannot help but relive the season which has been by far the most memorable in the century old career of Chelsea Football Club. So much so, that the club has made its space in the illustrious pages of English Football history.

Expectations were always an integral part of the Blues campaign ever since the Russian invasion and with the arrival of a high-profile manager, the bar was inevitably raised higher. Quite expectedly, the season began on a high note with every opposition left high and dry. Even the other three of the chosen top four were left licking their wounds after the first leg.

And then, disaster struck. It was perhaps complacency that had crept in the minds of Chelsea’s princes. The year end saw a series of indifferent performances coupled with a few drubbings from unfancied opponents leaving the Blues clinging on to the top spot, barely. Confidence hit the lowest ebb when the Special One returned to The Bridge, albeit with Internazionale, and much to the heartbreak of the Blues faithful, he sincerely plotted Chelsea’s fall; an untimely exit from the Champions League followed; a Roman dream lay in tatters.

Many had expected and had confidently predicted that this season would go down as another season of expectations going up in smoke; another year of so near yet so far. But they had surely underestimated the steel that this team had imbibed. Convincing victories at home and away against the other title contenders coupled with unharnessed aggression saw hapless opponents steam rolled into submission. Chelsea had risen from its ashes- with a renewed belief and an unquenchable thirst.

Captain, leader and legend John Terry marshaled his troops with optimum efficiency which saw a season with the fewest goals conceded. The Golden Gloves followed.

Upfront, it was the magician par excellence, super Frankie Lampard who netted a staggering twenty seven times this season and provided innumerable assists to the ever hungry hit man Didier Drogba, who brought home the Golden Boot after scoring an overwhelming thirty seven goals.

The season ended for Chelsea with an English double which saw them being crowned the Premier League champions and the FA Cup champions. But more importantly it banished the ghost of Jose Mourinho forever. Carlo Ancelotti, the biggest signing in three years, has certainly proved himself more than Special.