Peter Bonetti
Known as ‘The Cat’ for his incredible reflexes, Bonetti revoloutinised goalkeeping at Chelsea in a long and distinguished career. His agility fits in rather well for a game of five-a-side and guided him to 208 clean sheets for the club. The first came on his debut in March 1960 at the age of just 18. The Cat was a key figure in all off the successes of the 1960s and ‘70s and seemed to rise to the magnitude of the occasion. Memorable performances include the 1970 FA Cup Final won over Leeds United and the Cup Winners Cup replay win over Real Madrid.
Peter Sillett
Signed from Southampton, Sillett established himself as a stalwart at right-back for Chelsea throughout the ‘50s and the early 60’s when fit and was described by Sir Stanley Matthews as the best full-back in the world. From one’s experience of five-a-side, the small twist of the pro game commands tireless energy and goals. Sillett had both of these in abundance. The hard-running fullback was not only a fierce competitor but was also a threat from both free-kicks and penalties. In his time at the Bridge, Sillett will be most fondly remembered for his winning goal in a must win table-topping game against Wolves in front of 75,000 crowd. During his time in blue Sillet recorded an impressive 34 goals in 288 games from defence.
Frank Lampard
When the name Frank Lampard is raised, the first phrase or cliché that springs to mind is goal machine. Indeed, it is hard to find a midfielder with a matching goal-scoring record or the natural knack of timing a late run into the box. However there is more to Lampard’s game than just goals, the powerful midfielder possesses a fine all-round game with effective distribution to match his precision in front of goal. Lampard is Chelsea’s all-time leading goal scorer after displacing Bobby Tambling with 211 successful strikes.
Gianfranco Zola
Is there a bigger compliment than being labelled by Sir Alex Ferguson as his favourite foreign player to grace the Premier League without playing for Manchester United. “Gianfranco Zola was a marvel,” wrote Ferguson in My Autobiography and the Scotsman was absolutely correct. The diminutive magician hailing from Oliena, Sardinia is arguably the classiest player to grace the bridge with his mesmerising dribbling, visionary passing and eye for goal. The elegant Italian brought a certain warmth to his game and an exotic flair to England as seen with this goal vs. Norwich in the FA Cup:
Didier Drogba
The irrefutable hero on that night in Munich and the man for the big occasion, Didier Drogba would be a scary man to line-up against in a game of five-a-side. Drogba’s goals proved invaluable in Chelsea’s successful Champions League campaign, scoring crucial goals against Napoli, Barcelona and of course Bayern Munich prompting long-term rival Sir Alex Ferguson to say the following: “As far as I was concerned, he [Drogba] won the Champions League for Chelsea.” Therefore it came as no surprise that in November of 2012 the two time African footballer of the year was named Chelsea’s greatest ever player in a poll of 20,000 fans conducted by Chelsea Magazine.
What do you think of this side? Tell us who you would pick!
