Your Chelsea FC Memories

[Martina 210]

I'll never forget Ballack chasing the referee - Ballack was one of my favourite players.

And Petr Cech's injury…we got tickets (mostly because of Cech, my son is his biggest fan) for Czech Republic - Denmark friendly (I'm Czech but have been living in Denmark since 1987) and Cech got injured a week or so before the match and obviously didn't play.

[Rmpr 8,977]

@Ollie, it took me all day to read your post, amazing stuff!

[Ollie 4,400]

Took me all day to write it ... But thanks

[Rmpr 8,977]

Took me all day to write it ... But thanks

I only have one big memory and that is actually the Sunday morning of May 20th...

I woke up at around 7-8am after parting and drinking like a crazy dude and the city was so quiet and so beautiful (it was strangely sunny) that I decided to leave the hotel and show off my Chelsea top. I think our win hadnt yet sinked, so walking alone around random streets close to Marienplatz, I had an enormous breakdown, I started celebrating and crying like if I had Autism and I had finally realised we were Champions of Europe and remembered everything we went through to get there! It was my weird little moment, but I will never forget.

The rest of our glory moments were me alone in the couch celebrating, since there are obvious no "Chelsea friends" or "Rivals to prank" in Brazil. I cant go to any parade the day after as well.

[Ollie 4,400]

I got up on May 20th obviously very hung hung over with a few bruises and went straight to Stamford Bridge for the parade and drunk all day again, that really was some weekend. Really hope for another like it soon, will hopefully do a mini version if we win the UEL. Would never have thought back in the day that we'd be on the verge of winning every European trophy after winning every domestic honour. Must admit though, the Club World Cup still hurts a lot, that's the one thing missing but then again at least it gives us something to aim for. I can see us winning the UCL again soon, just need to get over the line for top 4 this season and carry on building. It may take another 3 years but it will happen.

[Rmpr 8,977]

I got up on May 20th obviously very hung hung over with a few bruises and went straight to Stamford Bridge for the parade and drunk all day again, that really was some weekend. Really hope for another like it soon, will hopefully do a mini version if we win the UEL. Would never have thought back in the day that we'd be on the verge of winning every European trophy after winning every domestic honour. Must admit though, the Club World Cup still hurts a lot, that's the one thing missing but then again at least it gives us something to aim for. I can see us winning the UCL again soon, just need to get over the line for top 4 this season and carry on building. It may take another 3 years but it will happen.

The parade must have really been something, I tried to go, but my girlfriend at the time had her birthday at the 22nd, meaning I would not get in time for it if I had not taken the plane at the 20th.

The next UCL I will definetly go to London to watch the game, I have already been at the Stadium, now I want to be at the city!

I thought we would win UCL every year until Carlo left, then I thought we would never win it because the opportunities had passed (a bit like Palmeiras with Libertadores, who tried hard to win and only did it after losing the first 4 finals). But I agree with you, if Mou comes back, I think he will win UCL in the course of his 3-4 years with us!

[Ollie 4,400]

They say things happen when you least expect it. We should've won 3 UCL's by the time we actually did (AT LEAST!!) and indeed i too gave up hope as many here did i think, it was a jynx we were never going to win it. That's what was so ironic about how we won it. After deserving to have won it in previous years, being desperately unlucky and having absolutely nothing go our way, we did the absolute opposite to win it undeservedly with everything going our way. I think we won it the perfect way because of the past, it let us erase the pain of the past by correcting all the wrongs all in that 1 extraordinary campaign.

When people say we were lucky and fluked it, they just don't remember the other side of the coin.

TC meet up for our next UCL final

[Rmpr 8,977]

They say things happen when you least expect it. We should've won 3 UCL's by the time we actually did (AT LEAST!!) and indeed i too gave up hope as many here did i think, it was a jynx we were never going to win it. That's what was so ironic about how we won it. After deserving to have won it in previous years, being desperately unlucky and having absolutely nothing go our way, we did the absolute opposite to win it undeservedly with everything going our way. I think we won it the perfect way because of the past, it let us erase the pain of the past by correcting all the wrongs all in that 1 extraordinary campaign.

When people say we were lucky and fluked it, they just don't remember the other side of the coin.

TC meet up for our next UCL final

I dont think it was undeserving, I know it has been against all odds and we were the underdogs, but luck and efficiency is part of the game. It is ugly to only defend, but it is not against the rules...I would only put it as undeserved if we had robbed or if the ref did a major mistake that helped us!

TC meet up for our next UCL final would be epic!

[Stingray 9,441]

TC meet up for our next UCL final would be epic!

[Spike 12,049]

TC meet up for our next UCL final would be epic!

I see nipps.

[Stingray 9,441]

I see nipps.

No way! Its a shadow

[Laylabelle 9,361]

Loved last years parade espically as half way through the season seemed so unlikely we'd have anything to parade!That and despite being amongst v tall people got some half decent photos...you can actually make out who the people in them are lol!!!

Hope we do win the Europa Cup..because we again are the only English side in the European comps and it'll be nice after everything to have a trophy to show for the weeks of dire crappyness

Memory of this season hopefully be forgotten this time next year...

[Leif 6,006]

I wasn't even alive when this happened, but watching this made me happy. Some of my all-time favourites in this team! Love the way we'd counter-attack with such precision.

Osgood's celebration for the 4th goal is one of the best celebrations ever.

[chelsealukas23 79]

My first match at Stamford Bridge, crazy night

[gary gordon 1,777]

Just watching us go from a top 8 team in England to one of the most feared teams in Europe is the biggest achievment for any club. I remember watching the 1997 FA cup with my friend from school and thinking that was the greatest moment for our club. I remember my friend texting me with the big news that Roman was buying the club and we would be "rolling in the money" very soon. I'm no bandwagon supporter, but i must say that my interest became much greater for the club because of the takeover. I never thought success would come so fast though..

Best moments/memories for me:

1. Obviouslly our first league title in 50 years.

2. Carling Cup Final vs Liverpool

3. Drogba's goal vs United in 97 FA cup final

4. Beating Barca 06-07 Lampard goal from the by-line

5. Beating United at the bridge 08 (Ballack double)

6. Beating Arsenal at the Emirates 09 (Drogba double)

7. 09-10 League title,8-0, highest goal scoring record, Drogba golden boot all in one day.

8. Munich..

[lockaby 0]

Mikel set to leave Chelsea for Galatasaray after taking advice from Drogba.

[Laoch20 22]

Really good topic, don't know why i ignored it tbh. So many memories come to mind both good and bad from the ecstasy of the 2008 UCL Semi to the agony of the final which was just within a few weeks together. From the FA Cup final in 1994 to the revenge in 2007....too many memories!

I remember when i was 10, we beat Newcastle on pens in the fa cup (95/96) at St James' it was too late for me to stay up so i went to bed when the 90 mins had finished. My dad left me a note in the morning saying we won on pens, he even noted down the order of the scorers and if they missed or scored, finishing with Newton scores, Chelsea win 4-2! i'll never forget that. Just like i'll never forget the year before getting knocked out on pens by Millwall and the year before that, the first ever Chelsea match i watched on TV, the 1994 FA Cup final against Man Utd where i cried like a baby lol. I remember not having Sky and having to press tele text to find out the scores, there were no pc's or phones or fuck all back then, just shows how much things have come on in the last decade. I love all the memories from my first few years being a Chelsea fan because those days were so different. Remember watching all the scores come through, seeing Chelsea 1-4 Man Utd, Liverpool 5-1 Chelsea etc etc, remember that Myers OG at Anfield? Fucking dick lol. Then we started progressing bit by bit. Such a huge turn around from 95-98

The FA Cup has always been special for me because a lot of my early memories were from that. The 94 final, my first game i cried so much.... well i was only 7! Remember this Man Utd fan proper hammered the day after fall down the stairs down by the river, my dad always tells me about that lmao manc cunt. Then 94/95 Millwall.... went to a replay and they done us on pens thanks to Kasey Keller the yank bastard. 95/96 the pen shootout that i mentioned above but the 1 memory i have from that year was Duberry's shot against the bar in the semi against Man Utd, i mean fuck sake how much bad luck have we had against that team? In the final in 94, Peacock hit the bar in the first half, it was 0-0 at half time. In 96, the semi, Duberry hit the bar at 1-1 late in the day, we lost 2-1 because of Burleys infamous back pass that put Beckham through and he duly finished. Then 12 years later, more woodwork heartache against them in the UCL final.

Then we started winning trophies!! The 97 FA Cup final against Boro was emotional because it had been so long since we won anything and after all the near misses in the previous few years, we finally had a run where we played everyone shit! (woo). I hadn't had to wait long but for my dad and his family waited ages. I watched the final in Brighton in a pub called 'The Hob Goblin' remember the day so well, watched it with my dad, grandad and uncles, was an awesome day, Di Matteo's goal after just 42 seconds will be one of the greatest memories of all time and steady Eddie sealed the deal from a piece of Zola magic. Then we went on a bit of a roll, the season after we beat Boro again in the League Cup final and then won the cup winners' cup against Stuttgart and the super cup against Real Madrid, what a spell! The best thing about winning the League Cup (was the Coca Cola cup back then) was the fact that we beat Arsenal in the Semi and not only did i fucking hate them from an early age, but they were bidding to be the first team to do the domestic treble. Was brilliant to beat them, and Di Matteo's goal... WHAT A HIT SON! Love that goal. All our goals were unstoppable that day. We beat em 5-0 at Highbury the season after too, was fucking brilliant.

The Champions League.... In the 98/99 season, the Champions League qualification places went from 2 teams to 3. We had a great season, battling out with Man Utd and Arsenal all the way for the title before narrowly missing out and coming 3rd, ah yeah that reminds me, GUPPY YOU CUNT!! But it was a great season and beating Leeds meant we had qualified for the Champions League for the first time. Back then there were 2 groups to get out of and then the knockout stages would begin. We had a qualifier against Skonto Riga which i went to, we drew 0-0 away then beat them 3-0 at home, Chris Sutton scored ffs! We ended up getting to the quarter finals where we drew against Barcelona. In one of the most memorable nights ever, we beat Barca 3-1 in the first leg at home and then they beat us 3-1 at their place. It went to extra time and they found 2 goals to finish us off 5-1 and 6-4 on aggregate but the squad came home as heroes. We then suffered a bit in the league and lost out to the UCL places for a few years until 2002/2003 where we had a great season. The top 4 qualified then and we needed a draw at home on the final day of the season against Liverpool at the Bridge to secure Champions League football for the 03/04 campaign. If Liverpool won, it would've been them who took 4th place so the match was huge. We went 1-0 down early but goals from Desailly and Gronkjaer helped us win 2-1 and we had done it! Another great memory, that game.

In July of that year (2003), Billionaire Russian Roman Abramovich bought the club from Ken Bates and paid off our debt which was around £100m and then we just went up to the highest level. He pumped lots of money into the club and we then challenged everything. We came 2nd in the league in 2004, won the League in 2005 then again in 2006 to become only the 2nd team in Premier League history to win back to back titles and were suddenly a team finishing in the top 2 every year and challenging the Champions League. We were a level 1 team, in 2005 we were the best team in europe in the coefficient stats, it was amazing but one thing was missing.... We wanted to win the Champions League.

Now when you're talking about memories, The UCL (Uefa Champions League) has provided us with many. Bridge vs Arsenal, Beating Lazio away 4-0, Beating Barca 4-2 and then Bayern 4-2. The Semi against Liverpool in 2008, then the quarter against them in 2009 that finished 4-4 and knocking Juve out in the same year there have been some stunning moments but we just could not win it! No matter how well we played, something was stopping us from going all the way.

In 2004 we got to our first Semi Final, losing the 1st leg to Monaco 3-1. A 2-0 win at the Bridge would have got us to our first final. We went 2-0 up thanks to a Grokjaer fluke and super Frankie Lampard, but just before half time, Ibarra scored with his hand and we went into half time 2-1 up. The players just didn't show up in the second half and Morrientes scored a second for the visitors and our Champions League dream was over. In 2005 we was knocked out but a goal from Luis Garcia that was NOT over the line, 2006 we were knocked out because of a harsh red card in the first leg against Barca for Del Horno. They won 2-1 and the 1-1 in the second leg wasn't enough. In 2007 we got knocked out on penalties to Liverpool. In 2008 we finally got to the final, avenging Liverpool in the Semi but as was our luck, we hit the post with 15 minutes to go, Drogba got sent off for a little slap, Lampard hit the post in Extra Time and then in the Penalty shootout, Terry infamously slipped on the winning penalty and hit the post. Anelka had his spot kick saved and we lost again. In 2009 we got knocked out against Barcelona thanks to a goal with seconds to go after we had at least 3 blatant penalty appeals turned down. We just were not allowed to win this tournament at all. Further defeats to Inter and Man Utd followed before an amazing 2011/2012 campaign.

We struggled through the group needing to beat Valencia to qualify which we did, we struggled through the 2nd phase, overcoming Napoli after a 3-1 first leg defeat. Our season was going so badly that in between the first and second Napoli game, Andre Villas Boas was sacked and Di Matteo was promoted from number 2 to number 1 as the caretaker manager. He led us to an amazing turn around against Napoli prevailing 4-1 AET and then past Benfica before getting Barcelona yet again. We got battered in the first leg but somehow won 1-0. We then went 1-0 down in the 2nd leg, Terry got sent off for a petulant knee to Sanchez and then we conceded again, it was all over, surely. We're gonna get smashed now, 2-0 down, 1 man down and playing the best team in the world in their own arena. We somehow came back, Lampard threaded a ball through to Ramires in first half stoppage time, he chipped over Valdes and the score was 2-1, we're going through, madness. Heaps of pressure from Barca in the second half, we sat back and defended for our lives. Drogba gave away a penalty, a trip on Fabregas. Surely Messi would now kill this tie and end his goal-less run against Chelsea. Nope... he hit the bar, it was still us going through, then Messi hit the post with a few minutes to go. The pressure was unrelenting then Torres came on for a tired Drogba. A cross blocked by Cole, Barca players appeal for handball, Cole whacks clear. Torres was on his own, all the Barcelona players were in the Chelsea half trying desperately to get the decisive goal and didn't notice Torres continuing his run after losing the ball previously. Torres ran through, rounded Valdes and stroked trhe ball into an unguarded net and we were through in the most unbelievable game ever against all odds. We were in the Champions League Final for a second time.

Once again, the odds were against us. Chelsea vs Bayern Munich, in Bayern Munich's own stadium. Terry, Ivanovic, Meireles and Ramires all suspended, we were down to our bare bones. Bayern dominated most of the game but we held out very well. Cahill and Luiz who had just come back from 2 month layoffs were at the heart of the defence and we defended brilliantly unlit a lapse from the ever reliable Ashley Cole let Muller rise to head Bayern 1-0 up in the 83rd minute. Surely this was it, our luck had run out and we were going to fall agonisingly short again. Torres comes on for Kalou and wins a corner almost immediately. Mata whips it in right on Drogba's head and he powers beyond Neuer and once again we had risen from the dead. Extra time again, 1-1 full time. JUst a few minutes into extra time, Drogba gives away a penalty, tripping Ribery. Just like in the Camp Nou, Drogba gives a pen away late and we were facing elimination again. The pressure was unbelievable, especially as it was ex Chelsea hero Arjen Robben to take it. He stepped up and Cech guessed right to save and we were still alive, somehow. Almost like Deja vu from the Camp Nou. Full time, AET 1-1 so that meant what we all dreaded.... Penalties. It was bad enough but to have a penalty shootout against Germans in their own stadium was something nobody wanted, especially as they had beaten Real Madrid on penalies in the previous round in Madrid. Oh... and they had their end too. The nerves were ridiculous, nothing can compare to how nervous i was as it was about to start. Mata missed our third. It was 3-2 to them after 3 each. Cech saved from Olic, it was back all square. Ashley Cole scored which meant that if Schweinsteiger missed, we would step up to win. Cech saved from the German and Didier Drogba, Terry-eque from 2008 had the duty to score the penalty to win Chelsea the Uefa Champions League for the first time in their history. He took a 2 step run up, it was basically a walk up. There was a brawl in the pub i was in but i could only stare at the screen. Drogba scored and we had done it! After all the hurt from 2004-2009 it was all behind us now and could finally call ourselves European Champions. No matter what happens now, we can say we're seen Chelsea rule Europe and to make it sweeter, we knocked Tottenham into the Europa League because of our poor league form, we didn't finish in the top 4 so we needed to win it to qualify. Talk about win it at the right time! Drogba then decided that he had done what he came to do and left meaning he had won us the Champions League with his last kick in a Chelsea shirt. What a legend.

I could write a whole book on my Chelsea supporting history in truth and it's only been going for 17 and a bit years! Obviously this new Chelsea since Roman took over is like a different world to what we were before but now we really are a top level side, a big world force and trophies and top players are easier to come by now and not few and far between. To be honest, even Football is completely different now and that's why it's important to remember as far back as you can because it will never be like that again. Money now dominates the sport and although it made football a lot better, it is killing the genetics of the game and making it harder for home grown players to break through. A London derby full of Londoners and a Scouse derby full of scousers is a distant memory but the love we have for our team stays the same, even if that's not quite the same with today's players.

Anyway... other random memories

- Tromso in the snow

- Cup Winners' Cup semi comeback against Vicenza

- Lampards penalty in the 2008 Semi vs Liverpool.

- Matthew Harding's tragic death after Bolton away

- Drogba's amazing scoring record in semi's and finals

- JFH hat-trick against Tottenham and beating Tottenham 4-0 twice in 3 days

- Essien vs Barca

- Welcome to Hell, Galatasaray 0-5 Chelsea UCL 99/00

- Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea, 06/07 we had just lost the title but what an emotional and proud day when Jose and the players went to the fans at the end. 1-1 with 10 men too.

There's too many memories and there will be a hell of a lot more to come. Let's hope we can have some more amazing ones in seasons to come. I didn't want to write that much but it's hard to put things in short when there is such a massive story behind each event. We've came from the doldrums and the darkest possible places in the English football ladder to rule England and rule Europe. WHAT A JOURNEY!!

Chelsea Til i die.

Hey Ollie you're going to have to put in the Villa away on the 11th of May and the Europa league final into that fantastic post of yours.

[Changingman_2000 876]

This......