End of an era: DIDIER DROGBA

Signed from Marseille on 20th of July 2004, Didier Drogba was one of the brightest stars in Chelsea Football Club since the Roman era began. Many questioned his transfer fees from Marseille which was reported as 24 million pounds and the then manager Jose Mourinho was questioned a lot. Mourinho calmly replied "Judge it when he leaves the club". Drogba now after 8 years of service to the club finally puts the curtains down to his illustrious career at the Bridge. The most decorated overseas player ever to play in the PL. The Ivory Coast captain managed to find the net 157 times in 341 appearances and is the club's fourth highest scorer all time. Didier's 8 year career at Chelsea was a decorated one where he managed to win three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two Carling Cups and the Champions League. Drogba also holds the record of scoring in every FA CUP final he has participated in and has managed to score in his 8 appearances at the Wembley. No wonder he is regarded as the "King of the Wembley". Didier has had many un-forgettable moments and also a few forgettable one's at the Bridge. 
Ron Gourlay very rightly said: 'Didier is undoubtedly a Chelsea legend and will always be part of the Chelsea family". How ironic it was that it was Didier's final kick of the ball as a Chelsea player that led the club to their greatest day in their 107 year history. Didier was instrumental in Chelsea's Uefa Champions League success where his vital goals against Napoli,Barcelona and Bayern munich in  the final led the club to their most glorious day. 
Drogba managed to win- 1 player of the year award, 1 players player of the year award, 2 PL golden boots and 2 African player of the year award during his time with Chelsea FC. Drogba is also Chelsea's record striker in European competitions and also their record scorer in cup finals scoring 9 times in 9 appearances. Didier's best season as a Chelsea player came during the 2009/10 season where he found the net 37 times in 41 appearances.
Didier Drogba had few bad forgettable moments as a Chelsea player and was often criticized for his play acting. Didier Drogba's infamous slap in the 2008 UCL final against Manchester United is still considered one of the main reasons as to why Chelsea lost that final. Another infamous incident was against Barcelona in 2010 at Stamford Bridge where he openly criticized the referee which led to him serving a ban. But all these moments lived short in the memory of Chelsea fans as nothing can overshadow what the African KING has done for the London club. His contributions can never be matched. Part of the most successful period in the Club's history Drogba was and forever will be regarded as one of the club's all time greats.


The legend leaves the club on a high having won every possible trophy he could as a Chelsea player and none can question his desire,passion and love for the club. Didier Drogba a true Chelsea LEGEND and as he said: "A Blue Forever". Thank You Didier. It has been an honor.





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AVB : The season and what went wrong

On 22nd june 2011 Andre Villas Boas left Porto FC to join the English side Chelsea FC. On a deal which saw Chelsea pay 15million Euros to the Portuguese side to avail his services. At a tender age of 34 AVB was regarded as one of the most talented young managers in world football. After an amazing season with FC Porto which saw him lift the Portuguese league,cup,Portuguese super cup and also the UEFA cup (now known as Europa Cup). Villas Boas side went unbeaten that season with 27 victories to their name. Villas Boas was highly regarded in world football. Having worked besides the likes of Sir Bobby Robson and Jose Mourinho the expectation level on the guy's shoulders were high. AVB worked well in the transfer window signing the likes of Spanish duo Oriol Romeu and Juan Mata as well as Liverpool mid-fielder Meireles. Villas Boas had an amazing start to his pre-season career in Chelsea with lifting the Barclays Asia trophy and managed to win all his pre season games with Chelsea. AVB's first game in-charge was against Stoke city at the Britannia stadium which saw his side held to a 0-0 draw. AVB finally lost his first game for Chelsea away to Champions Manchester United 3-1 which saw Fernando Torres's miss of the season. Villas Boas's signings had a quick impact with Juan Mata and Oriol Romeu having an amazing start to their Premier League career with both of them starting regularly. Villas Boas had his plans simple and quite straight forward. He wanted to re build this Chelsea side by replacing the likes of Frank Lampard,Didier Drogba to name a few. Villas Boas plans were working pretty decent with Daniel Sturridge hitting his peak form under the Portuguese manager with the likes of Mata and Meireles supporting him,but all was not well in that Chelsea dressing room with the likes of Lampard un-happy with the lack of appearances they were getting under the manager. Villas Boas suffered his first set back when his side crashed out of League cup after loosing to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge 2-0. This defeat was followed by 3 back to back wins against Wolves,newcastle and Valencia with the same score line of 3-0. Victory against Valencia also saw Chelsea top their Group E and qualify to the knock out rounds of the UEFA Champions league.Villas Boas's Chelsea also defeated undefeated Manchester City at the Bridge 2-1 in the league and things looked good for the Portuguese manager. Pressure again started to rise when Chelsea lost 2-0 to Everton which saw Villas Boas's men put up an unconvincing performance and drop put of the top 4. Come January Villas Boas signed Bolton star defender Gary Cahill to Chelsea,but that deal had little affect as Villas Boas hardly gave Cahill an appearance. Pressure continued to mount on Villas Boas after his side lost to Napoli 3-1 in the UCL. Villas Boas had left out Chelsea stars Frank Lampard,Ashley Cole out of the playing XI. The final nail in the coffin arrived when AVB's side lost to West Brom 1-0 in the league which saw them 3 points behind of Arsenal and outside a top 4 place in the league. AVB was later on relieved of his duties and assistant manager and ex-Chelsea player Roberto Di Matteo was handed over the mantle.

What went wrong: The aim AVB had was quite clear and  it was something Chelsea really need right now. But the timing was all wrong and the personnel he had were not good enough. Villas Boas started the transformation period a little too early. He should have looked to establish himself for the first 2 seasons and slowly and steadily should have worked upon the rebuilding phase. Replacing the likes of Lampard and Drogba was never going to be an easy task and Villas Boas started this phase a little to early. Villas Boas should have slowly and steadily invested in the transfer window and looked for the ideal replacements of his ageing squad. The biggest blow for AVB in the transfer window was the failure to sign Croatian midfielder Luka Modric from Spurs. The Chelsea team lacked creativity and AVB's tactics demanded more attacking and creative players. The high line that AVB played in the defense was another factor that haunted him more than often. Ageing Chelsea defenders lacked pace and high line meant tracking back and the likes of Terry,Ivanovic lacked pace with Luiz the only defender with a good amount of pace at his disposal. AVB had issues with the senior players as well when his tactics were being questioned openly in the media by the senior players after a string of bad results and he definitely lacked the backing of his dressing room.

-Shikharr Chandra
Follow me on Twitter: @ShikharrC