Chapter 275 Blue Lion Dynasty

Some people say that people are more tolerant of history because it is the past of our lives.

Among all Chelsea fans, Ron Hawkins has always believed that he is the luckiest one, because he is one of the few, even extremely rare, witnesses of Chelsea's two peak football.

Remember, 50 years ago in 1955, Drake's Chelsea created a feat that shocked the whole of England.

In 1953, they were almost relegated, in 1954 they were ranked in the middle, and in 1955, the Blue Lions beat the strongest Wolves at the time and won the English Premier League championship, which was considered a miracle by countless people at the time.

Ron Hawkins was a witness to Chelsea that season. Chelsea had a total of 42 league games that season, and Ron Hawkins watched 41 of them. The only one he didn't go to was the away challenge against Aston Villa because he got married on that day. As a result, Chelsea lost that game, which made him feel very bad.

He still remembers clearly that at the end of October that year, Chelsea was still hovering in 12th place, which was a reasonable ranking of Chelsea's strength in many people's minds. Then they were eliminated from the FA Cup by Nottingham Forest, and many bad things happened afterwards, such as the British newspaper strike.

It was a crazy era, and also an era full of hope. After Chelsea won the first league championship in history, everyone was full of confidence in Drake's team, but in fact, the team was completely beaten back to its original form in the second year. They ranked 16th in the league after the season, only 3 points away from the relegation zone.

Chelsea's performance has been ups and downs since then, and they have been relegated four times. The longest time they even missed the top league for 5 years, and then they never had the glory of the past. It was not until Ken Bates took charge of the team that Chelsea gradually returned to the forefront of the Premier League.

Although many outsiders are very disgusted with Ken Bates, in the minds of real Chelsea fans, he has always been a very contradictory chairman. On the one hand, he did cause Chelsea heavy financial pressure and eventually sold the team to the Russian Abramovich, but it was also him who made Chelsea stand at the forefront of the Premier League again and find some of its former glory.

This wait lasted for 50 years.

Ron Hawkins is a very famous old fan of Chelsea. The Times often reports on him, and his words represent the public opinion of Chelsea, because in his past life, he watched more than 2,600 Chelsea first-team games and more than 500 reserve team games.

Even this season, he is already in his 80s, but he still watched every Chelsea game live, including away games. No one is more qualified than him to evaluate this Chelsea and represent Chelsea fans.

It was precisely for this reason that Chelsea gave him the highest recognition. In addition to a set of VIP tickets for the Champions League final, which allowed him to go to Germany with his friends to watch the game live, he will also receive an honor, that is, to enter the stadium holding the 2003/2004 Premier League Championship Gold Cup and personally present it to the team captain John Terry.

This is definitely a great honor for a die-hard Chelsea fan. Ron Hawkins dressed up for this purpose, wearing a long-sealed suit and tie, and watched the entire game on the rostrum of Stamford Bridge.

This game was exactly the same as all Chelsea fans imagined. Ye Qiu's team did not give the opponent any chance and had been relegated from the Premier League in advance. The heavily indebted Leeds United completely lost the will and determination to fight back and was slaughtered crazily by the Blues at Stamford Bridge.

When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, the entire Stamford Bridge was completely filled with [Champions! Champions! ! 】 was drowned by the cheers of the crowd, and no one could hear clearly what the on-site broadcast was shouting, because it was obvious that even the on-site broadcaster was excited.

Everyone had been mentally prepared for the team to win the championship, but when this moment really came and all the suspense was settled, everyone found that all the mental preparations they had made before were far from enough.

Just like at this moment, Drake, who was standing at the entrance of the player tunnel with Ron Hawkins, couldn't help crying, and even Ron Hawkins, who was used to the ups and downs, had red eyes at this moment.

They waited for this day for half a century, and how many 50 years can there be in life?

"Ron, I can die!" Drake is already old. He is no longer the young and vigorous young marshal back then. Now he is in his 80s. To put it bluntly, half of his foot is in the coffin.

But if there was anything he was unwilling to accept before, it must be that he could not see Chelsea win the championship again. But now, he feels that he has no regrets and can die peacefully.

"I have no regrets to see today again!" Drake hugged his old friend with tears and laughter.

Ron Hawkins was also excited. The hug between the two old men at the player's tunnel was not known to others, but it moved the people around them because they both represented Chelsea's past and pursuit.

During his playing days, Drake was a center forward for Arsenal and the England national team. After retiring, he became a coach and led Chelsea to win the championship in the third year. However, many people felt that he was very lucky that season, and he never could again. Repeat the peak of the year.

Chelsea has been studying and discussing the celebrations after the team wins the championship. Abramovich hopes to publicize his first championship in his first year at Chelsea. Neither Ye Qiu nor Peter Kenyon objects. , but Ye Qiu suggested that the team should be made closer to the fans.

Therefore, the head coach, players and famous old fans who helped Chelsea win the league championship all received special invitations from Chelsea for this game, and each of them also received VIP tickets for Chelsea's Champions League final. Among them, Ron Hawkins and former champion coach Drake were invited to present the awards after the team won the championship.

This move undoubtedly greatly pleased Chelsea fans and won the recognition and attention of English football.

As a multinational force, although Chelsea's main lineup still has a strong English flavor, many people feel that Chelsea has always been an international team. Even Chelsea fans have not shown how much they care about this team. sense of loyalty, but now, this change of the club proves that the club's strategy will gradually tilt towards the fans.

"I still remember that when the team won the championship that year, there seemed to be no parade, right?"

The game was over, and the entire Stamford Bridge stadium turned into a vast ocean. All the players and coaching staff rushed into the stadium and celebrated wildly, while the Chelsea fans in the stands sang loudly "We are the champions." ], this momentum can be heard clearly even as far away as Fulham Road outside the stadium.

Derek laughed. His teeth had been filled again and again, and a few were obviously missing. You could see it when he smiled, so he was usually very shy about smiling, but tonight he didn't mind at all. , "What was our prize for winning the championship? Tea and cheese sandwiches, but nothing else!"

"Oh, yes, also, because we won the championship early, Sir Busby and his Red Devils lined up to welcome us at Old Trafford. That was the most glorious moment in my life. Not long ago, Bentley You even told me about this, haha!”

According to the rules of European teams, if a team wins the championship early, every opponent it faces must maintain a gentlemanly manner before the game starts and line up to welcome the championship team.

"Bentley?" Ron Hawkins also became concerned when he heard the name. "I heard he was sick. Have you come?"

"How can we miss him at this time?" Drake laughed. "He was still telling me that John Terry looked like him, and he was going to ask for a photo and autograph from John Terry later. It seemed like His grandson is a Terry fan and asked him to get a Terry game jersey." After he finished speaking, he laughed again.

For these old people, this is the greatest joy in life.

Bentley is definitely qualified to say this, because he was the captain who helped Chelsea win the league championship that year, and after the team was eliminated from the FA Cup by Notts County, it was Bentley who swore to the media and reporters that he would Led the team to win the league championship, which started Chelsea's sprint for the championship.

There is another one named O'Connor. In the words of these old people, Bentley is the spiritual leader of the team, and O'Connor is the team's offensive method. This is the son of a Cumberland farmer with extremely skilled foot skills. He is jokingly called Ronaldinho in that championship team by many old fans.

Of course, this is what they say now, but it can be seen that O'Connor's technical characteristics and status in the Chelsea team at that time.

There were no professional players at that time, they were all a group of amateur fans. The most admirable thing about O'Connor was that he had to carry his shoes to London every Saturday to attend Chelsea games. After the game, he had to take the train back to the farm. He went to help, but this young man was very good and scored a hat-trick in the first game, although the team eventually lost to Busby's Manchester United 5:6.

The English First Division 50 years ago and the Premier League 50 years later are two completely different worlds.

Today's players can easily earn tens of thousands a week and become famous in one fell swoop. This was unimaginable at the time.

"I still remember that when we won the championship, there wasn't so much emphasis on it. After we won the championship, we rushed to eat cheese sandwiches, which were extremely delicious food. Remember? We just put the championship trophy away On the trolley, two or three staff were randomly arranged to watch, and anyone could look at it and touch it, but no one paid attention to it. "

Derek recalled the scenes of the past, every bit of them.

Back then, as long as they could have a meal of tea and cheese sandwiches, it was a luxurious meal for them. But now, these things are all over the place, and no one pays attention to them. And for these old people, the only thing they can say is that the world has changed. Got it!

"Football at that time focused on the game, but now football focuses on the results!" Hawkins said lightly, "This is not something that can be changed by one person, a team, or even an era. This is The result of more than 100 years of development of professional football.”

Sometimes, Hawkins will scold current players and coaches in newspapers, for example, they are greedy for money, for example, they receive high salaries but fail to achieve results, but sometimes he himself also thinks, this is not the case for players and coaches. The problem is that the environment has changed.

Today's general environment is like this, who can stay out of it?

"To be honest, Drake, sometimes I miss those years. I miss the traffic jam in London because of the game we won the championship. I miss every minute of the last 15 minutes. As long as a year, I miss that year because we defeated Sheffield Wednesday and brought the newspaper strike to an early end. I miss Mills, I miss O'Connor, I miss everyone and everything."

After hearing this, Drake chuckled, raised his head, his ears filled with the sound from the Stamford Bridge stadium, and kept nodding, "Yes, I miss it too, because those were the glorious years we passed away, and now this The era no longer belongs to us. He belongs to young people like Ye Qiu, John Terry, and Lampard. He no longer belongs to us!"

Ron Hawkins smiled after hearing this, "Don't tell me yet, I really think Ye Qiu will do better than you!"

"Fart!" Drake yelled out loud.

Ron Hawkins looked at Drake with a smile, and after the latter blurted out, he was also happy.

This is something that everyone who really knows Drake knows. His character is the kind of tough-talking type who cannot be subdued no matter what. He can laugh at himself and admit that he is inferior to others, but if someone says to his face that he is inferior, If someone says something, he will fight to the end. This is a very typical English character.

"Well, considering that he won the second championship for us and has the opportunity to win the first championship in the club's history, I admit that he did a better job than me!" Drake looked at him with a smile. asked Ron Hawkins, "How do you think? Are you satisfied?" After saying that, he shook his head and sighed in a deliberately aggrieved manner.

Ron Hawkins knew his old friend very well and didn't care. He just smiled and said, "I think he can bring a dynasty to Chelsea, just like the dynasties of Liverpool and Manchester United, which allowed Chelsea to completely inform England. Football!"

In the so-called dynasty, winning a championship for one or two seasons is nothing. What matters is that you maintain dominance for a long time.

There are many dynasties in the history of England. Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool have all dominated the English top league for a long time. Teams such as Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday have also been brilliant for a time, while Everton It is intermittent and has no continuity, so it is not talked about much.

Only by creating a dynasty of your own can you be worthy of being a wealthy family!

Therefore, even if Chelsea is currently invincible, no matter how good and outstanding Chelsea's performance is, even if Chelsea now has endless money, in everyone's eyes, this team is still unable to compare with the giants, which is not good to say. It is an upstart, or to put it mildly, it is a newly emerging powerhouse.

Only when you create a glorious dynasty of your own can you be a wealthy family!

When it comes to this point, Drake has no objection and keeps nodding. He knows very well that for Chelsea, this is definitely a God-given opportunity. It can even be said to be the best moment in hundreds of years. As long as you seize the opportunity, It is not difficult to lay the foundation of a dynasty in one fell swoop.

The first is the timing. Manchester United’s Class 92 is on the decline. With Beckham leaving the team and Keane’s condition declining, Giggs, Scholes and others are also facing the problem of adjustment and transformation, and even the entire Manchester United team. All need to be adjusted. Although this team still has strong combat effectiveness and can occasionally maintain competitiveness, it is difficult to achieve sustained status and stability.

You know, the league relies on stability. Ye Qiu was able to win the championship with an undefeated record this season because his team is stable enough.

It is difficult for Manchester United, which is out of work, to have an impact on Chelsea, but Arsenal is different from Manchester United. Henry, Ljungberg and Vieira are all in their prime age, but the problem is that these players are obviously disengaged.

In the final analysis, Arsenal spent huge sums of money on the construction of the new stadium, which resulted in the club having to reduce its investment in the management of the team, and also imposed salary restrictions on many leading players. It is said that Wenger also proposed a plan for players after the age of 30. The one-sign-a-year strategy is definitely a failure, as evidenced by the pressure exerted by Vieira and others this season.

Liverpool has been in decline for many years and cannot regain its dominance for the time being. Therefore, the current situation in the Premier League will usher in a golden opportunity, that is, there is no leader. As long as Chelsea can take advantage of the trend, avoid making mistakes and maintain strong competitiveness, in the next few years It is not difficult to dominate the Premier League for many years.

Also, if today's professional teams want to succeed, there are three things they must have. One is huge financial backing. Abramovich's assets are the highest in the Premier League; the other is a manager who knows how to operate, Peter ?Kenyon has proven his strength. He can turn Abramovich's investment into the driving force for Chelsea's sustainable development in the shortest possible time, and establish a blood supply system that makes Chelsea self-sufficient as soon as possible. This That's what Peter Kenyon is good at.

Of course, the most important thing is to have a good head coach.

In Ye Qiu's first season in the Premier League, he proved with a Premier League championship and reaching the Champions League final that he is the most promising candidate in today's football to lead Chelsea to build a Blue Lion dynasty, and today's Chelsea fans also They all believed in him.

With these conditions, it can be said that Chelsea has an excellent opportunity to dominate the Premier League in the future. Facts have proved that the separation of powers in Chelsea's management has also ensured the division of power and cooperation in the club. As long as the current situation continues and the club's development trend is maintained without major changes, Chelsea will surely usher in a glorious peak period.

The Blue Lions Dynasty will no longer be an unattainable fantasy for Chelsea fans, but a real goal!