Phelan 94-96 (a)

This is the third time I've done the tangerine and graphite away kit of 1994-96 (see Gullit and Peacock). Terry Phelan joined Chelsea in November 1995, and left just over a year later. During that time he made 15 appearances, mostly during his first season at the club.

Dodds 86-87 (h)

Billy Dodds will be best remembered for his career in Scottish football during the 1990s and 2000s. However, he actually began his footballing life at Chelsea.

His debut came in a 3-0 defeat at Blackburn in the Full Members Cup in 1986. He soon made his home debut as a sub against Arsenal in a 1-0 win. That was it for the 86-87 season, and the a year on he was sent out on loan to Partick Thistle. The 88-89 season saw three more substitute appearances before he moved on to Dundee.

The 1986-87 season was a strange one for Chelsea kits! It was the only year that the Chelsea Collection was used as a kit sponsor! During the season the club had three sponsors on the shirt, though a lot of the time there was none at all, like the one Dodds is wearing on the repaint.

Simod, the Italian clothing manufacturer was the sponsor for a number of games; Bai Lin Tea for a few more, and also Grange Farm for a couple! Believe it or not, Grange Farm was an actual farm that was owned by chairman Ken Bates! The sponsorless shirt is demonstrated by Micky Hazard below:

Peacock 93-94 (h)

The 1993-94 season was a big year for Chelsea - we reached our first major cup final in 23 years! The champions Manchester United were our opponents, a team we had beaten both times in the league that season. Gavin Peacock had scored the winner in both games.

It looked as though Chelsea might notch up their third win over United, as they had most of the first half. Gavin Peacock came closest hitting the bar with goalkeeper Schmeichel stranded off his line. However, the game changed after 60 minutes when a penalty was deservedly given after a foul by Eddie Newton. Just six minutes later the game was over after another penalty was converted by Eric Cantona. This one was definitely not a foul and referee David Elleray later admitted his mistake.

The damage had been done though and United went on to score a twice more, winning 4-0. Fortunately for Chelsea they would go on to win the FA Cup just three years later, though Peacock had departed by then.

Shane Long Hull City 13-14

This is my first Soccerstarz repaint. Shane Long was released as a West Brom figure, before his move to Hull City in January of 2014. 

Long only lasted at Hull until the beginning of the following season, before he moved to Southampton, but in that time he managed to score 4 goals in 17 games. This coincided with the club's highest league position and points total in the Premier League, and an FA Cup Final.

Drogba 10-11 (a)

The 2010-11 season started so well for Chelsea, and Drogba. In the first game we won 6-0 against West Brom with Drogba scoring a hattrick, having also done so in the 8-0 thrashing of Wigan in the last game of the previous season. Therefore, going into the next game, away at Wigan, he had the chance to become the first Premier League player to score hattricks in three consecutive games. Unfortunately for him he didn't score at all, but we did win 6-0 again meaning we had scored 12 goals in the first two games of the season, and 20 goals in our last three Premier League matches!

Such incredible form had the supporters dreaming of, and believing in, more record breaking seasons, and domestic dominance, all achieved whilst playing the best football of the Abramovich era! However, as tends to happen at Chelsea, the incredible high was followed shortly by an unfathomable low, as we collapsed during the late autumn and early winter.

A late revival was not enough to secure any silverware, and it ultimately cost Carlo Ancelotti his job. In hindsight, that decision, and the sacking of Ray Wilkins which seemed to cause the collapse, put the club back years in terms of title winning potential. It sparked a return to the quick turnover of managers that had followed Mourinho's sacking in 2007, with Andre Villas Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, and Rafa Benitez all failing to last a year in the job.

Drogba failed to replicate his form of the Double winning season, scoring just 13 goals in 37 games - 24 goals fewer than the previous year.

Smertin 04-05 (h)

Alexei Smertin joined Chelsea in 2003, but was loaned out immediately to Portsmouth. Upon the arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2004, Smertin was one of six players to make their debut on the opening game of the season - a 1-0 win over Manchester United.

Smertin was used sparingly throughout the season, clocking up most of his appearances early in the campaign. After Christmas, he was predominantly on the subs bench and played in domestic cup games.

Smertin scored his only goal for Chelsea in the Champions League, hence I've used the fonts used in Europe that season on the figure.

The obvious reason for Smertin's lack of game time is the remarkable success of the 2004-05 side. The season had begun promisingly, going unbeaten up to mid-October, but there were questions over the scoring ability of the side. However, the defeat at Manchester City, and the emergence of a previously injured Arjen Robben, sparked the team into life and four goals were put past all of Blackburn, West Brom, Charlton, Fulham, Newcastle and Norwich before Christmas.

This heavy goalscoring period was followed by a record breaking Christmas, where the defence was not breached for ten games (1025 minutes - a Premier League record at the time), lasting up until March. By the end of April the league had been sewn up for the first time in half a century.

What a season! The Chelsea of 2004-05 are statistically, at least, the best ever of the Premier League era. They still hold the following records:

• Highest points tally - 95
• Most wins - 29
• Most away wins - 15
• Fewest goals conceded - 15
• Fewest away goals conceded - 9
• Most clean sheets - 25

Chelsea have done a brilliant feature on the title winning season here.

We only lost one game in the league that season, and finished with five more points than the "invincible" Arsenal team from the previous season.

Laudrup 97-99 (h)

This is the third time I've painted someone in this kit. The previous two being Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu figures.

I've varied it slightly this time by painting the socks in the change colour - usually worn in matches against teams with white socks.

Laudrup joined in the summer of 1998, but got injured in pre-season meaning he didn't make his debut until the third game of the season. He came on as a sub in the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid which Chelsea won 1-0. However, it took until the famous 4-3 at Ewood Park for him to show his quality, coming off the bench to set up Tore Andre Flo's equaliser.

Things quickly turned sour though, when Laudrup complained about manager, Gianluca Vialli's rotation policy after a 0-0 draw against Helsingborgs. By the time the next round of the Cup Winners' Cup had come round, Laudrup was complaining of homesickness, and a tie against Copenhagen was the perfect opportunity for him to return home. A 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge was shortly followed by the announcement that upon the completion of the tie, Laudrup would stay in Denmark and be transferred to our opponents in exchange for Bjarne Goldbaek.

Ironically, Laudrup scored the winner in the second leg, his only goal for the club, to knock his new team out of the competition.