Tuesday 12 January 2016

Zola 96-97 (a)

This has to be my favourite repaint I've done so far. It depicts Gianfranco Zola wearing the 1996-97 away kit, which happens to be one of my favourite kits of the past 20 years.


The most famous game in the kit is probably the FA Cup semi final at Highbury where Chelsea beat Wimbledon 3-0. It led to the club's second major final in four seasons, having waited twenty odd years prior to that.



Zola scored the second goal in the semi final, a magnificent individual effort as shown below:




In 2003, just before the arrival of Roman Abramovich, Zola was voted the greatest player in the history of the club in an online poll, receiving 60% of the votes (admittedly this will have been skewed by the fact Zola was playing for the club, and the accessibility of the internet, at the time).

A similar vote in the official Chelsea magazine taken in 2012 saw Zola finish 3rd behind Drogba and Lampard (also likely to be skewed due to the euphoria of Munich just a month or so previously!)

Greatest ever player polls are always likely to spark intense conversations, particularly at a club with such a diverse history such as Chelsea! How do you define the greatest?! The most entertaining player? The most trophies won? The biggest contribution? The most loyal and consistent?

Zola certainly ticks a few boxes. In total he won six trophies (2 x FA Cup, 1 x League Cup, 1 x Cup Winners' Cup, 1 x Super Cup, 1 x Charity Shield). But more importantly he created some incredible memories: the flick against Norwich, the lob against Everton, beating Schmeichel at the near post, turning Julian Dicks inside and out, dumping Carragher on his backside to name just a few!

Then when you factor in he is such a humble and friendly person (I was fortunate enough to meet Gianfranco at the Harlington training ground a number of times in the early 00s and my signed picture with him still hangs proudly on the wall today!), it is clear why he is remembered so fondly, and not just by Chelsea supporters.


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