Football History

Concluding the series looking at players who pulled on first the blue of Chelsea and later the red and white of Arsenal. In 2004, Chelsea paid what was then a record fee for a goalkeeper to buy Petr Cech from French club Rennes for £7 million. For Part One please click here; Part Two please click here; and Part Three ...

Continuing the series looking at players who appeared for both Arsenal and Chelsea. This time considering some players who appeared first for Chelsea before switching their allegiance to Arsenal. For Part One please click here; and Part Two please click here. George Graham Although George Graham is indelibly associated with Arsenal, that is not where the Scot started his career.  ...

Continuing the look at players who first appeared for Arsenal, before later in their careers pulled on a Chelsea shirt. For Part One plwase click here. Ashley Cole Few transfers between the clubs have attracted such controversy, and rarely has a former club favourite come to be held in such disdain as Ashley Cole is by Arsenal fans. He joined ...

Arsenal and Chelsea are big London rivals, although, arguably, before Roma Abramovich bought the club and began to invest heavily in it, the West London side were not regular contenders for trophies. Since then, in recent pendulum has swung the other way, and it is Chelsea who are the more likely to challenge for the major prizes, although Arsenal fans ...

Concluding the series looking at players whose careers were cut short by injury, or failed to fulfil their potential as a result. For Part One click here; Part Two click here; Part Three click here; Partt Four Click here; and Part Five click here. Ledley King Although he played for Tottenham, his boyhood club for 12 seasons the latter part ...

The latest instalment in the series looking at players whose careers were either ruined by injury, or failed to fulfil their potential because of them. Pierluigi Casiraghi For Part One click here; Part Two click here; Part Three click here, and Part Four click here. With Chelsea having broken their transfer record to sign Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan, some ...

The fourth instalment of the series looking at players whose careers were ruined by injuries. For Part One, please click here; for Part Two, please click here; and Part Three please click here. Jack Wilshere Jack Wilshere is still playing, and theoretically, could still go on to enjoy a major career in the game. But realistically he has unlikely ever ...

The third part in the series looking at players whose careers were either cut short by injury, or whose potential was never fully realised because of them. For Part One click here and Part Two click here. Dean Ashton At the age of 23, Dean Ashton was looking upwards. He had risen through the football ranks, from Crewe in League ...

Contuining the series about players whose careers were either ended by injuries, or sho failed to realise their true potential because of them. For Part One, please click here. Owen Hargreaves Own Hargreaves was, by his own admission, one of the worst signings that Alex Ferguson made as Manchester United manager. But it was not meant to be that way ...

It takes years of hard work and dedication to become a professional footballer. For every thousand boys – or girls – that dream of becoming a major star, less than one will ever go on to sign a professional contract. And, even then, the odds of making it in the game are long, as the large number of academy graduates ...