Chelsea FanCast

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Chelsea Heritage Podcast: Dennis Wise (Part 2) Jul 30, 2022

Show notes

The Chelsea Heritage Podcast presents Dennis Wise (Part 2).

Chelsea Chadder is joined again by Chris Cassley as they talk about all things Dennis Wise starting from the summer of 1997 up until he left the club in 2001. During the episode we cover the League Cup, Cup Winners Cup and Super Cup success of 1998, the FA Cup win in 2000 at the Old Wembley, his time under Gullit, Vialli and Ranieri, Wise’s temperament, the club’s maiden season in the Champions League including THAT goal in the San Siro!

Chris also shares his memories of foreign imports, Barceolona, opening day screamers, Roberto Di Matteo. Wembley, playing in snow, his England and what his Chelsea legacy is.

For more information on Chelsea’s Heritage visit www.chelseaheritagepartnership.com

If you’d like to be part of another episode then message @ChelseaChadder on Twitter.

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Chelsea Heritage Podcast: Dennis Wise (Part 1) Jul 30, 2022

Show notes

The Chelsea Heritage Podcast presents Dennis Wise (Part 1).

Chelsea Chadder is joined by Chris Cassley as they talk about all things Dennis Wise starting from his early beginnings up until the end of the 1996/97 season including his record move from Wimbledon, his England debut, his miserable FA Cup final in 1994, that taxi incident that almost led him to jail and of course his 1997 FA Cup victory as captain.

Chris also shares his memories of Kerry Dixon, Vinnie Jones, Ruud Gullit, Dean Saunders, Glenn Hoddle, European adventures, Scorpion kicks, penalty shootouts, Matthew Harding, foreign imports and Euro 96.

For more information on Chelsea’s Heritage visit www.chelseaheritagepartnership.com

If you’d like to be part of another episode then message @ChelseaChadder on Twitter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chelsea FanCast #916 - My Chelsea with Andy Cairns of Therapy? Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge talks to Andy Cairns, singer and guitarist from the legendary band Therapy?, about his love of all things Chelsea.

My Chelsea returns with Andy Cairns, singer and guitarist from the legendary band Therapy? to talk about his support of Chelsea. Formed in 1990, and influenced by bands such as Black Sabbath, Killing Joke, Sonic Youth, Rapeman, Hüsker Dü, Butthole Surfers, The Undertones, That Petrol Emotion, Captain Beefheart, Motörhead, Mudhoney, early Metallica, Fugazi and The Stooges, Therapy? are now in to a 32 year and 23 album career, selling out gigs all around the world.

In spite of growing up in Northen Ireland, Andy Cairns just happens to be a massive Chelsea supporter and season ticket holder since 1994, and a mate of Chelsea FanCast's Mark Meehan. We invited Andy in for a chat about how he became a Chelsea fan, his first game, favourite players growing up, his favourite matches, his best and worst Chelsea moments, his all time Chelsea hero and his favourite Chelsea chant.

As well as being a great singer/guitarist in a legendary band, Andy is a top bloke who both loves and knows his Chelsea.

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50 Years of Chelsea: 2002-2003 Pt 2 Jul 26, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge is joined by Jonathan Kydd and Mark Meehan to look back at the 2002-03 season.

In part two we pick the season up in January. We lose to Arsenal away, again, 3-2 thanks to two goals in two minutes even though we get two back two minutes later. Chelsea beat Charlton 4-1 at home on what looks like a sandpit. We play like Brazil; Charlton lodge a complaint about the pitch.

While our league form is good and keeps us in the top four, all eyes are on FA Cup success. After dispatching Middlesbrough, Shrewsbury and Stoke City, we face our bogey team Arsenal in the quarter-final. We draw 2-2 at Highbury having outplayed Arsenal for much of the match which means a replay at Stamford Bridge. Surely this time we can lay the bogey to rest? Sadly not as Chelsea lose 3-1 on an awful awful night including an own goal by John Terry, now sharing the captain's duties with Marcel Desailly.

Still hopes are high for a top four finish and Champions' League qualification whilst the title challenge slipped away. A wobble with defeats away to Villa (battling relegation) and West Ham (who get relegated) means it all boils down to the last match of the season at home to Liverpool.

In one of the most important matches in Chelsea's history, a place in the top four is at stake with the winner taking all. Liverpool go ahead on 11 minutes with Desailly equalising 3 minutes later. Gronkjaer is the unlikely hero with a shot bent in to the right hand corner thanks to him slipping as he kicked it. Chelsea hang on to win and Zola comes on for a cameo for what would be his last appearance for Chelsea and gives Carragher twisted blood for old times sake.

What we didn't know at the time was that had Chelsea lost, the club may well have gone in to administration having announced debts of £99 million and a loss of £16.4 million. Not only did Chelsea's victory guarentee lucrative Champions' League football, it paved the way a few weeks later for the arrival of Roman Abramovich and things at Chelsea would never be the same again...

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50 Years of Chelsea: 2002-2003 Pt 1 Jul 25, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge is joined by Jonathan Kydd and Mark Meehan to look back at the 2002-03 season.

Chelsea began the season with only one signing, Quique De Lucas, the scurrying midfielder from Espanyol on a free. Money was tight and runours abounded that Chelsea were in financial trouble and as a consequence would have to off load big nae stars such as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Gianfranco Zola.

As it was Chelsea began the season in decent form with draws against Arsenal and Man Utd and a 3-0 home win against fancied Newcastle. A last minute goal by former non-league player Ben Wright in the first leg of the UEFA Cup first round against Norwegian part timers, Viking FK, should have been no more than an irritant. But it came back to haunt Chelsea as they were knocked out of Europe for the 3rd season in a row by lowly opponents with a 4:2 defeat to the Vikings in the second leg, sandwiched in between a 3:2 defeat at home to struggling West Ham.

Thankfully, form picked up and it was to be two months before Chelsea suffered defeat again, at the hands of Man Utd in the Worthington Cup courtesy of a rarity, a Diego Forlan goal.

Chelsea finished the year in 2nd position in the Premier League and could have been top had it not been for the infernal tinkering of manager, Claudio Ranieri. Gudjohnsen and Hasselbaink were not scoring the goals they had the season before, but Gianfranco Zola was having a renaissance, at one stage the Premier League's top goal scorer and scoring some eye opening goals.

Could Chelsea mount a realisitc challenge for the Premier League title in the New Year and break the Arsenal and Utd duopoly? Was it more likely that we could have another crack at the FA Cup, going one better than last season?

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50 Years of Chelsea: 2001-2002 Pt 2 Jul 16, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge, Jonathan Kydd and Mark Meehan look back at the 2001-2002 season in our ’50 Years of Chelsea’ series.

In part two we pick up the story in the New Year where hopes were high for another League Cup final after a 2-1 win in the semi-final first leg against Spurs, followed by a 5-1 rout of West Ham in the league.

However, the unthinkable happened when Spurs thrashed Chelsea 5-1 in the second leg, their first victory over Chelsea at White Hart Lane or anywhere for over 20 years. Thankfully, normal service was resumed with back to back 4-0 victories against Spurs in the FA Cup quarter final and Premier League, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scoring a perfect hat-trick in the latter. In the FA Cup third round, Gianfranco Zola had scored one of the best goals ever seen at Stamford Bridge.

With league from suffering from the usual inconsistency, our only hope of silverware lay in the FA Cup. A scrappy 1-0 victory over Fulham in the Villa Park semi-final, complete with mass celery throwing, set up a final at the Millenium stadium in Cardiff against bogey side Arsenal. Blighted by injuries to Le Saux, Hasselbaink, Babayaro and an increasingly influential John Terry, Chelsea were the better side in the final until Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljundberg both scored worldies to ruin the day out.

The 2001-2002 season was one of transition, turmoil off the pitch and frustration on it. Given that Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen had scored 52 goals between them a 6th place finish in the league was a disappointment. Arsenal proved to be the team we just could not beat as we finished FA Cup runners up; the League cup semi loss to Spurs still causes nightmares and the UEFA Cup defeat against lowly Hapoel Tel Aviv was a debacle.

Many supporters blamed Ranieri for his tinkering and sparse use of the genius that was Zola, but there were bright spots in the season with the Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen's partnership and goals up front, the best we'd seen since the days of Dixon and Speedie, and the emergence of John Terry and Frank Lampard as two of Chelsea's most important players together with Carlo Cudicini who had a superb season in goal and rightly won POTY.

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50 Years of Chelsea: 2001-2002 Pt 1 Jul 16, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge, Jonathan Kydd and Mark Meehan look back at the 2001-2002 season in our '50 Years of Chelsea' series.

Claudio Ranieri's first summer transfer window brought four key signings with Bolo Zenden and Emanuel Petit arriving from Barcelona, William Gallas from Marseille and Frank Lampard, the talented young midfielder, from West Ham for £11 million.

The new signings took time to settle in and with the departures of Denis Wise, Gus Poyet and Frank Leboeuf, there was an air of transition about the club. Although Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen were forming a deadly partnership up front, Chelsea were drawing too many games, evidenced by their position outside the top four in the Premier League.

Off the pitch, controversy reigned with John Terry, Frank Lampard, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jody Morris getting caught by the News of the World drunkenly abusing American tourists in shock at the awful events of 9/11. The media also had a field day when Desailly, Le Saux, Petit, Gudjohnsen, Gallas and Ferrer elected not to play in the UEFA Cup natch against Hapeol Tel Aviv due to security concerns. Chelsea were knocked out by the Israeli side but supporters were bouyed by performances in the Worthington Cup where Coventry, Leeds and Newcastle were despatched to set up a semi-final against Spurs in the New Year.

December saw some of the best performances of the season with a 3-0 away win at Man Utd, a 4-0 demolition of Liverpool at home and a 2-1 win away to top of the table Newcastle. It looked like it would be all to play for in the New Year...

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Chelsea FanCast #915 - Johnny Bumstead Jul 16, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge and Martin King interview John Bumstead, an unsung hero for Chelsea, and talk about his love for the club; what it was like to experience the lows of relegation and highs of promotion during the 1980’s; playing for John Neal and Bobby Campbell and playing with the likes of Nigel Spackman and Kerry Dxion and against David Platt and Paul Gascoigne

John Bumstead or Johnny B as he was affectionately known by the supporters, played for Chelsea from 1978 until 1991, making 409 appearances, the 9th highest appearance maker for Chelsea and scoring 44 goals.

There are few Chelsea players who have experienced the rollercoaster of what it was like to play for Chelsea in that 13 year period of the doldrums of Division Two; near relegation to Division Three; promotion to Division One; winning the Full Members Cup; relegation back to Division Two via a play off and then promotion again the next season with a record number of points. Throughout it all he remained loyal to his boyhood club until being transferred to Charlton.

Johnny B was the ultimate selfless team player, playing at the heart of Chelsea’s midfield, doing the simple things very well and he hardly ever had a bad game for the club.

He may have been small in stature but he was a steely competitor and his fearless, courageous challenges meant that injuries were a recurring theme throughout his career. He had an eye for goal and was an accomplished free kick taker with his last goal for Chelsea coming in a 3-2 victory over Spurs on December 1st 1990, the start of an unbeaten run against our North London rivals that was to last for 28 years. But perhaps he should best be remembered for the way he could shackle opposition flair players from the likes of Tony Currie to David Platt and Paul Gascoigne.

If you were to sum John Bumstead up, I can think of no better description than understated excellence.

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Chelsea FanCast #914 - Colin Pates Jul 08, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge and Martin King interview Colin Pates, who grew up supporting Chelsea as a boy and went on to play for the club for ten years, captaining the side back to Division 1 and the first Chelsea Captain to lift a trophy at Wembley. Colin opens up on his time playing for Chelsea; the highs and lows; the team that John Neal built; the Full Members Cup Final; the relationship with the supporters and his disappointment at leaving the club.

Colin Pates made 346 appearances for Chelsea between 1979 & 1988, 137 as Captain. The era Colin played in for Chelsea, was among the most turbulent in the Club’s history with the lows of relegation and the highs of promotion; Division 1 title challenges; winning the Full Member’s Cup and beating the mighty Liverpool FC, European Champions at the time, in the FA Cup.

Colin was made captain at the age of 22 and showed maturity beyond his years by moulding together the different groups within the dressing room. More than that, his classy displays as a ball-playing defender who read the game superbly, matched his impressive captaincy of a club on its way back to the top.

Pates was a player who served the club with commitment and distinction for nearly ten years, having supported them as a boy.

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Chelsea FanCast #913 - Gary Chivers Jul 04, 2022

Show notes

Stamford Chidge and Martin King interview Gary Chivers, who played for Chelsea from 1979 to 1983.

Having joined Chelsea as a youth player, Gary Chivers made his debut as an 18 year old against Middlesbrough in April 1979. By a strange quirk of fate Gary’s last match for the club was also against Middlesbrough a mere four years later, with the club escaping a drop in to Division Three by the skin of their teeth. In between, Gary enjoyed or more accurately endured some of the leanest, up and down eras of Chelsea Football Club.

In an engaging interview, Gary talks about players such as Ron Harris, Ray Wilkins, Mike Fillery, Duncan McKenzie and Johan Cruyff and the managers he played for such as Danny Blanchflower and Geoff Hurst as well as some of the matches he played in.

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