James

In July 1995, he signed for Chelsea on a free transfer. At the time Chelsea were a mid-table team, whose most notable recent achievement was reaching the 1994 FA Cup final. Initially played as sweeper by manager Glenn Hoddle with limited success, Gullit was moved to his more familiar role in midfield, where he scored six goals. The signing of Gullit, alongside the likes of Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu, propelled Chelsea to the semi-final of the FA Cup but their league form was disappointing. Gullit's earliest difficulty in England was adapting to the abilities of some of his Chelsea teammates, “I would take a difficult ball, control it, make space and play a good ball in front of the right back, except that he didn’t want that pass. Eventually Glenn said to me, ‘Ruud, it would be better if you do these things in midfield’.” However, his adjustment was rapid and he ended the season by being named runner-up to Eric Cantona as Footballer of the Year.

Vialli joined Chelsea in the summer of 1996 for £1million a year (after rejecting an offer from Rangers) as part of manager Ruud Gullit's cosmopolitan rebuilding of the side, and won the FA Cup in his first season, including two goals in a spectacular 4-2 comeback over Liverpool in the fourth round, but a feud with Gullit saw him regularly left out of the starting line-up; in the final itself he was limited to a five-minute cameo appearance as a late substitute. During the 1997-98 season, he scored four goals in a win over Barnsley and a Norwegian side TromsøVialli joined Chelsea in the summer of 1996 for £1million a year (after rejecting an offer from Rangers) as part of manager Ruud Gullit's cosmopolitan rebuilding of the side, and won the FA Cup in his first season, including two goals in a spectacular 4-2 comeback over Liverpool in the fourth round, but a feud with Gullit saw him regularly left out of the starting line-up; in the final itself he was limited to a five-minute cameo appearance as a late substitute. During the 1997-98 season, he scored four goals in a win over Barnsley and a hat-trickNorwegian side Tromsø in the Cup Winners' Cup, but still couldn't cement his place in the side.

Im going for 2-0 Chels win. Found a stream link for later if you dont have Sky. You will need Sopcast and im not sure if it'll work but ill put more links up later. Sport Channel 1 - sop://202.190.75.149:3912/1004

Blue is the colour football is the game... !

Woooo thats it

Blow the wistle ffs

OH FUCKING YES!

Crowd are singing " you dont know what your doing "

Newcastle look awful at the back, i can see us getting more before long. 30mins gone.

This one, sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/6029

milner takes belleti out, free kick chels

yeh star sports is what im using sop://broker1.sopcast.com:3912/6029

Mikel nearly clips the keeper from out side the area..another corner

omg my stream is good Still 0-0 20mins gone

If you have sopcast then ive been told its on... Sport Channel 2 / SopCast (1011) YES TV / SopCast (30017 or 22508)

Ill put up Balloons the day Avram gets sacked.

Roberto Di Matteo Di Matteo made an impressive start to his Chelsea career, scoring the winner against Middlesbroughon his home debut. His passing ability and accurate long-distanceshooting saw him become one of the driving forces of Chelsea'sresurgence in the late 1990s. He contributed nine goals in his firstseason, including long-range efforts against both Tottenham andWimbledon. He helped the club finish 6th in the league, their highestplacing since 1989-90, and reach the FA Cup finalat Wembley. Within 43 seconds of the kick-off, Di Matteo scored from 30yards, the fastest ever goal in a Wembley cup final, to set Chelsea ontheir way to a 2-0 win. The following season he again proved his worth to the team, chippingin with ten goals and numerous assists, as Chelsea went on to claim theLeague Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup,their first European honour since 1971. In the League Cup final, againagainst Middlesbrough, Di Matteo scored the 2nd goal in a 2-0 win.Season 1998-99 turned out to be a special season for Chelsea as they went on an unbeaten run of over 20 games to finish third in the Premier League and qualify for the Champions League. Di Matteo played a pivotal role in midfield next to Gustavo Poyet, Dennis Wise and Dan Petrescu and scored some memorable goals, among them a strike against Coventry in the dying seconds of the game. During the 1999-00season he was hampered by injury but returned late in the season toscore a handful of crucial goals, including his third Cup-winning goalat Wembley, once again in the FA Cup. In a dour match, Di Matteocapitalised on an error by Aston Villa goalkeeper David Jamesto score the winner in the 71st minute, handing Chelsea their fourthmajor trophy in three years. This lead Di Matteo to comment on the oldWembley Stadium saying "It's a shame they're tearing the old place down- it has been a very lucky ground for me". Early into the 2000-01 season, Di Matteo sustained a triple leg fracture in a UEFA Cup tie against Swiss side FC St. Gallenand spent the next eighteen months on the sidelines. He eventually gaveup on his comeback and retired in February 2002 at the age of 31. In his six years at Chelsea, he made 175 appearances and scored 26 goals. -------- Shame he got injured when he did, was a class player in his time.

I know but i only just got the internet back, it can snow after xmas on here.

Just saw the goals, what the hell is Kalou doing for the 1st Villa goal? Shocking to say the least. Great goals from Sheva and Ballack though.

Welcome Son. :huh:

I got the white Chelsea away shirt Stella Fridge for my room Laptop So What did you all get? :huh:

I just bought one aswell, bargin! I got the Champions League Coat aswell.

Does the African Nations Cup start at the begining of January? If so Essien, Kalou and Mikel will be missing aswell so yeh we are fucked.

If we can win our home games we dont stand a chance in hell of winning the league. Way to many draws at home, Fulham, Everton and now this. So gutted right now. Only plus point was Shevchenko today for me.

Chelsea Vs Aston Villa Chelsea's third-choice goalkeeper Hilario could start, with Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini both out injured. Cech is suffering from bruising picked up in Sunday's win at Blackburn while Cudicini is out with a rib injury. Aston Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov could be in line for a recall after making his comeback from injury as a substitute against Manchester City. Petrov's former Celtic team-mate Shaun Maloney would be the player most likely to make way. Match Chat Here