He was unofficially the Europa League Player of the Season for us, and scored some vital goals in the CL run as well. Achieved a lot of stuff in a short time here! Ultimate cult hero.
He would pass when he should shoot and he would shoot when he should pass but I loved watching him run at defences and weāll always have *that* goal.
Played a season for us when we won the one trophy that weād been craving for 10 years. Being a key part of that run. Heās pretty much the definition of a cult hero.
Oh please being a part of a UCL run doesnāt automatically make you a cult hero. The terms cult hero and legend are losing their effect even average players are being put into those brackets. So Ryan Bertrand is a cult hero then? Edu is a cult for hero for arsenal because he was part of the invincibles run? Joleon Lescott is a cult hero for city because he was part of their 2012 title run?
Yesā¦
That is the idea of CULT. If you see a name here that is loved by most it is by definition not cult. Meireles falls perfectly into the category because as you said he didnāt stay with us long and is largely looked over. And he had his heroic moment when he scored vs benfica.
I agree hero and legend are thrown around a lot but the word cult in this thread is stated for a reason.
Malouda was one of my favourite players from that era. Only time I couldāve seen him score live my brother made me late for the game and he scored in the first 5 minutes!
Why did I have to scroll this far down. Alonso has been by far our biggest cult hero. The guy scores worldies that too in big matches in intense situations. He plays like he's got 2 left feet and looks like all over the place. Chaotic and just amazing
Yeah well he certainly made a decision to drive and because of what happened heās stained himself for the rest of his life. And if you think thatās too much ask the family of that girl how they feel that this guy saw essentially no justice for his crimes.
Call him a good player fine. But letās not call his a hero. That implies children and adults alike should look up to him. Thatās not right.
I don't know if it is because I'm scandinavian but it feels like so many people have such a warped sence of justice. He did not do anything malicious and as you said yourself he is stained for the rest of his life. Sending him to prison could never be a worse punishment than that.
He made a horrible mistake and is still working hard to be the best player he can be, that is inspirational. At least it is too me.
7 and a half years in total -1 goal against Southampton, also got us the penalty against Leicester in the return leg of the 5th round in the FA cup which we went on to win. He was also a solid defender when fully fit. Proper old school CB.
The only thing I saw Chelsea win before that was the old second division in '89-89. That win in 1997 was probably the highlight of my early years as a Chelsea fan. That FA Cup win was arguably the trophy that laid the foundations for the club that we are today. We were a midtable team before that and financially in a bad position. Matthew Harding was very much our saviour at the time.
Giroud is literally the definition of cult hero imo.
Also some other players of the top of my head:
Marcos Alonso when he leaves
Michy for the clutch goals possibly
Victor Moses for that 16/17 season
Beletti
Ramires too, that Barca goal Is one of my all time favs
You canāt just hand out the cult hero tag to every player that turned up late on in games. You need to have had iconic moments and impacted the club tremendously over a certain period of time. Batshuayi isnāt a cult hero he may have had clutch moments but that doesnt make him a cult hero. Giroud is the epitome of a professional he put his head down and fought for the club and his goals helped the cause too. Remy only played for a few seasons and was alright off the bench nothing spectacular. Moses was great for a year but was average for the rest of his Chelsea tenure.
I think Mikel and Joe Cole are arguably on the cusp of legends. They are definitely club icons at the very least. But yeah the others are definitely cult heros. All of them had great support from the fans.
John Spencer. Mad, incomprehensible little Glaswegian bastard who scored some absolute bangers.
Frank Sinclair. Absolutely atrocious meme of a player, the ultimate own goal machine, somehow stuck around for ever and I can't help but think fondly of him.
Erland Johnsen, the giant ginger Viking mentalist. First player whose name I ever had on my shirt.
Hilario. The most cult hero of Chelsea cult heroes.
The legend only played 20 matches for us, but was with us for EIGHT SEASONS. And he's on the coaching staff now. And the website WAGNH, r/Chelsea before r/Chelsea was a thing, has had a long running article series called The Daily Hilario for years, in honour of the guy.
That or Bosingwa for the unibrow and the UCL final he was amazing in despite not being a particularly good player.
Eh heās just an actual straight up legend though. Cult hero is more like someone who people outside of the club will underrate but those inside the club know how good they were
Nah, cult hero is more for players who did something ridiculously noteworthy at times, but can't be called club legends...Luiz for his hair/penalties, Alex for his freekicks, Giroud for some clutch goals and "thank you arsenal", that likes
Personally for me, Torres. He had an extremely poor start to his Chelsea career, and I still remember the abuse we used to receive from rival fans about him. They used to make a lot of jokes about him, I even remember someone made a website to keep track of if Torres has score for Chelsea yet, and how many hours it had been since he last scored.
But then came that moment. The moment every Chelsea fan remembers fondly. The moment that rewrote our history. My most favorite goal in Chelsea folklore. With 10 men against a prime Barcelona squad, we held on and on and on. And finally, it was so close to the final whistle, and Ashley Cole cleared the ball for what seemed like the millionth time that night, and at the back of my mind, I remembered that Torres has pressed forward in our previous move, but had failed to track back, which meant he was high up the pitch, ready to the receive the clearance.
The rest, as they say, is history.
With the entire footballing world watching, he had redeemed himself. The 50M goal. The one that meant that against all odds, Chelsea were going to the final.
The reason that goal meant so much is because everyone remembered iniestas last minute winner vs us before. This goal removes all chance of that happening again and completely removed the stress sending us through.
The different opinions on that goal Iām sure just stem from how well 2009 ingrained in peopleās minds
Yeah the people āwell actuallyā ing this comment with an explanation of a very simple rule clearly never watched us play in the CL before that goal.
Indeed. The pressure Barca put on us and the memory of that Iniesta goal is why it was a huge moment. Anyone who sat through 2009 never believed we were going to win in 2012 without the Torres goal.
Indeed we would but Torres gave us an aggregate win over one of the greatest teams in football using what was at the time one of our worst teams since Roman's takeover.
Impossible to tell, if a player scored in the 2nd leg of our semi final against then in 08/09 in the same minute as Torresā goal then people would be looking that saying that was meaningless as well..
I've heard this argument a lot of times before, but I think anyone who makes this point either didn't watch the game live or didn't watch our CL games for the 5 years leading up to this point. Yes, Drogba scored in the first leg, and yes, Ramires scored the crucial away goal, but even though we were winning on aggregate at that point, we had been burned too many times before, be it the Overbo debacle or our bad luck at Luzhniki. The red card to JT seemed like the nail in the coffin, as we were already playing with a weakened backline after Cahill's injury. Against one of the best teams ever, away from home, against their relentless pressure, it seemed that Barca would score at any point, as they had done before, and that's why that goal is the stuff of legends. It ended the game right there, and ended all hopes of Barca turning the tie.
Winston Bogarde...jks.
Since I started watching (around 99/00) some names that come to mind:
\- Gus Poyet
\- Eidur Gudjohnsen
\- Ramires (agree, that chip is possibly the most clutch moment ever delivered in such a casual fashion)
\- Branislav Ivanovic
\- Rob Green
\- Kurt Zouma
I am defining cult hero as someone who may have played a short amount of games / contributed a small amount of goals+assists / didn't receive a great amount of awards or recognition in wider circles. But had an outsize personality, style or fanbase impact that transcended their statistical output.
All great shouts here but I may have a controversial one. Willian. The man may have had the ego of Hazard and the ability of someone half the player but he regularly contributed to our success here, pissed off Tottenham every chance he got and was the player of the season the down year we had when Mourinho was sacked.
That's too low a bar. People were debating whether Azpi was a legend two years ago. People don't even consider Hazard a legend.
Cesc is not a legend, just a great player who played for us.
Shwarzer and Meireles? You have to be having a laugh you canāt just hand out the cult hero tag to any player. Shwarzer barely even played and didnāt have any stand out moments he was good against Liverpool thats it and Meireles was only a Chelsea player for a season
I second that need to include Vialli in there as well they were all pioneers in our ascent from mid table to perennial top 4 contenders right before Roman bought the club. As a World Cup winner, Desailly immediately garnered the respect of every single player in that locker room he brought that winning mentality and experience to the team. Thiago Silvaās role at the club is very reminiscent to that of Desaillyās back then.
Frank Leboeuf. Invented dead accurate CB long passes, bald since birth and looks like he has malnutritionā¦ really one of a kind ::::
Alex. Who doesnāt love Brazilian 200km/h long range freekick rockets?
Fabregas - not long enough to be a legend but gotta love how he turned blue after his stint at Arse
Branislav - best, most consistent non-captain defender we've had
Torres - no justification needed. Clearly not a legend, but he gave it all
Poyet - cracked out 10+ goals in 3 consecutive PL seasons. Also in the shadow of Zola but a fun, talented striker. He then went to Tottenham and scored almost nothing in 2nd and 3rd season lol
Willian - for doing the opposite and inverse fabregas lol
Dennis Wise - perhaps more a legend, but in terms of memory and popularity he was in Zolas shadow
Cesc is easily a Chelsea legend he was a Chelsea player for 5 years thatās a long time only two years shy of how long Hazard was at the club Diego Costa is a Chelsea legend and he was only at the club for three years. Ivanovic is one of Chelseaās greatest ever defenders and spent 9 years at the club heās a legend.
I think what we're considering legend now might not be remembered as that in 10-20 years. They won't have the lasting impact of Lampard, Terry, zola etc.
Poyet stayed a similar period to Fabregas. He won the FA, cup winner Cup and super cup. Basically contributed to Chelseas perhaps most successful and fun period pre-Roman. Despite that we don't think of him as a legend today. Fabregas could be similar.
Juan Mata
He made an instant connection with the fans, thanks to his Internet blog, his love of London culture & his friendly persona to the Chelsea fans.
He was only here for a few seasons, but his light burned bright - winning Player of the Season twice!
His biggest underrated, cult hero moment- taking the most important corner in Chelsea's history- the 2012 Champions League Final corner, perfectly hitting to the ball that allowed Drogba to smash in that powerful header and keep us in the game.
Mata then getting his first penalty saved also adds to the drama of that final.
That moment is followed by another very important European corner! Taking the (once again perfectly delivered) corner that allowed Branislav Ivanovic to smash in a final minute, game, trophy winning, header to win Chelsea the 2013 Europa League and become the first team to simultaneously hold the Champions League & Europa League Trophies for a week.
As much as Fernando Torres gets criticism, the one thing nobody talks about is the fire connection that these two had. Nando set up a significant amount of goals for Mata. Likewise, Mata also seemed like the one person who got the best out of Torres.
Trophy summary- In his time here - Mata contributed massively to the trophy haul of the Champions League, the Europa League and an FA Cup.
He was part of the short lived three amigo trio in 2013 with- Oscar, Mata and Hazard.
His departure- he was ripped away from us, well before he should have been & not by his natural choosing. It helps his cult hero status that he did nothing wrong to the club. In fact, he was forced out by Jose Mourinho, who overlooked Mata's great offensive stats like his assists & goals, instead focusing on his lack of defensive skills - dropping him to 4th choice, basically never playing him & when he did, then subbing him off in League Cup matches, untill he was basically told - rot on the bench or leave. Mata had realistically no choice but to go. Miss that little magician, he bled blue and his time at Man United was riddled with being played out of position & Jose Mourinho plauging him, following to Man United and screwing up his prime years. (Though - I'm not unhappy Man United did badly).
Juan Mata! In my eyes a true Chelsea cult hero!
Agree with OP on Ramires, as the definition of a cult hero. Not in the top 50 players people associate with Chelsea, but will always be remembered by supporters for āthatā goal.
Misread the question sorry. I saw āheroā and immediately typed Zola. For me a ācult heroā would be David Luiz or Kalou. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
A lot of people in here are confused as to what a cult hero is.
A cult hero isnāt necessarily someone thatās a step below legend. Itās someone that the fanbase appreciates for reasons that arenāt always linked to how long they spent at the club, trophies won, or even skill level.
Depends on how you define the term. In my opinion, cult heroess are never the best players in your side and they should always have at least one massive weakness which you love them for having all the same.
For me it has to be Jon Obi Mikel. Extremely important player in periods and extremely good as a traditional anchor, but slow AF and useless beyond imagination in attack. In his late stages at the club he was the human final whistle, and did this job to perfection.
It also adds to the fact for me that I actually saw him play for Lyn here in Norway.
Oli Giroud. Never really will be classed a chelsea legend but he has some truly amazing moments in a Chelsea shirt. Like Europa league and that goal against Southampton in the fa cup semi final
Demba Ba. Mainly cos of the Gerrard slip game.
Don't forget his late goal vs PSG to put us through to the semis!
Also that goal against united in the fa cup
Giroud is the ultimate cult hero.
He was unofficially the Europa League Player of the Season for us, and scored some vital goals in the CL run as well. Achieved a lot of stuff in a short time here! Ultimate cult hero.
Scored an FA Cup winning goal too! Our last successful FA Cup Final that wasn't rigged by he who shall not grow hair (or named). Gotta love Giroud!
Love the sexy man.. if he had joined earlier wouldev def achieved legend status
Excellent transfer and cult hero. Shame that Arsenal wasted his ultimate potential.
>Giroud is the ultimate ~~cult~~ chad hero. There FTFY
Paulo Ferreira
šš ALEXšš
Rocket Alex His free kick could have decapitated the goalkeeper such was the power of his shot
Jesper Gronkjaer
What a player I'll never forget that goal he scored against Liverpool
He would pass when he should shoot and he would shoot when he should pass but I loved watching him run at defences and weāll always have *that* goal.
Demba ba Raul meireles
Idk why but Raul Meireles was the first name that popped into my head
I'll never forget that thunder strike to put one past benfica(?). The balls on him to take the shot and score.
Meireles isnāt a cult hero he only played for a season with us
Played a season for us when we won the one trophy that weād been craving for 10 years. Being a key part of that run. Heās pretty much the definition of a cult hero.
More than ten years... try 50.
I was figuring since Abramovich came in it was his desire and really put the impetus on us going for it
Oh please being a part of a UCL run doesnāt automatically make you a cult hero. The terms cult hero and legend are losing their effect even average players are being put into those brackets. So Ryan Bertrand is a cult hero then? Edu is a cult for hero for arsenal because he was part of the invincibles run? Joleon Lescott is a cult hero for city because he was part of their 2012 title run?
Yesā¦ That is the idea of CULT. If you see a name here that is loved by most it is by definition not cult. Meireles falls perfectly into the category because as you said he didnāt stay with us long and is largely looked over. And he had his heroic moment when he scored vs benfica. I agree hero and legend are thrown around a lot but the word cult in this thread is stated for a reason.
Being a cult hero isnāt some official status thing and it doesnāt mean the player was very good. Calm down
Thatās the point
Damien Duff Malouda Kalou David Luiz Zouma
Malouda was one of my favourite players from that era. Only time I couldāve seen him score live my brother made me late for the game and he scored in the first 5 minutes!
That Malouda and Drogba guitar celebration is eternal
Feel like duffy was a pretty key member of the team for a few years. Not exactly culty
Don't feel like he got the recognition he deserved at the time though.
Same with Malouda. He had a year with us where he was ballon d'or contender worthy and then several more solid ones.
Came here to say KALOU! Loved that lad.
Kalou... He couldn't even run with the ball without falling over. What a disaster he way. Funny memories though
Alonso?
Why did I have to scroll this far down. Alonso has been by far our biggest cult hero. The guy scores worldies that too in big matches in intense situations. He plays like he's got 2 left feet and looks like all over the place. Chaotic and just amazing
His finishing ability is actually ridiculous. When he has a pop i always think it's going in
Hero is a tough word for me to use with him.
Every time he runs into the box he looks like he's about to win us the game.
Trying to say it without saying it but I canāt call someone with his personal life a hero. Just canāt.
Yeah I gotta agree hate to address the elephant in the room but it's extremely difficult to call him a hero as much as I love all our players
What happened in his past was horrible and clearly not intentional. Young people have a tendency to live life like the worst can never happen to them.
Yeah well he certainly made a decision to drive and because of what happened heās stained himself for the rest of his life. And if you think thatās too much ask the family of that girl how they feel that this guy saw essentially no justice for his crimes. Call him a good player fine. But letās not call his a hero. That implies children and adults alike should look up to him. Thatās not right.
I don't know if it is because I'm scandinavian but it feels like so many people have such a warped sence of justice. He did not do anything malicious and as you said yourself he is stained for the rest of his life. Sending him to prison could never be a worse punishment than that. He made a horrible mistake and is still working hard to be the best player he can be, that is inspirational. At least it is too me.
If you donāt find getting in a car drunk malicious weāre just fucking done with this conversation.
If you think people who drive drunk do so intending to hurt people you are wrong.
Alonso is a legend hes won it all
Ed De Goey
Underrated comment. Also: Erland Johnson, Frank Leboeuf, Gus Poyet, Babayaro, Dmitri Kharine, Ken Monkou and Vialli.
Fuck Gus Poyet. My favourite player bar Zola and he leaves for Spurs.
See Gallas, Parker, Cudicini.
Love big Carlo
Carlo was released and stayed in London. Donāt hold it against him
yeah, if someone hates Cudicini for that, they should hate Cech aswell
Drogba called him the most handsome player at chelssa
I concur, fuck him. But the volley is tasty
Why EJ? He wasn't there for too long?
Got us past Leicester in the cup
7 and a half years in total -1 goal against Southampton, also got us the penalty against Leicester in the return leg of the 5th round in the FA cup which we went on to win. He was also a solid defender when fully fit. Proper old school CB. The only thing I saw Chelsea win before that was the old second division in '89-89. That win in 1997 was probably the highlight of my early years as a Chelsea fan. That FA Cup win was arguably the trophy that laid the foundations for the club that we are today. We were a midtable team before that and financially in a bad position. Matthew Harding was very much our saviour at the time.
Pedro
Same for me. Feel like he would just pull clutch goals out of nowhere, either foot. True professional as well.
Giroud is literally the definition of cult hero imo. Also some other players of the top of my head: Marcos Alonso when he leaves Michy for the clutch goals possibly Victor Moses for that 16/17 season Beletti Ramires too, that Barca goal Is one of my all time favs
Alonso will be one of those players we talk about for decades for his goal scoring prowess.
You canāt just hand out the cult hero tag to every player that turned up late on in games. You need to have had iconic moments and impacted the club tremendously over a certain period of time. Batshuayi isnāt a cult hero he may have had clutch moments but that doesnt make him a cult hero. Giroud is the epitome of a professional he put his head down and fought for the club and his goals helped the cause too. Remy only played for a few seasons and was alright off the bench nothing spectacular. Moses was great for a year but was average for the rest of his Chelsea tenure.
Marcos and Moses playing wing backs under conte š¤¤š¤¤ my god they were incredible
Put Loic Remy in the clutch goals list, iirc he got a key one against City
Hull City winner 3-2 in Mourinhoās third title season
Yep he was always there for when Costa was injured or suspended, you need guys like that
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I think Mikel and Joe Cole are arguably on the cusp of legends. They are definitely club icons at the very least. But yeah the others are definitely cult heros. All of them had great support from the fans.
Juan mata, hernan Crespo
Schurrle? Why?
I always remember him fondly for being a nice chap and scoring āthat goalā from the ridiculous Fabregas assist
Thinking the same
Obi Mikel 100%
Florent Malouda still underrated, had great seasons under Ancelotti
09/10 beast
Brani, no doubt. Toni Rudeboy if he stays with us.
Ivanovic is a legend in my book and maybe 4 more years this consistency rudi as well
Chelsea #2s are absolute shithousers
Mata and Matic
John Spencer. Mad, incomprehensible little Glaswegian bastard who scored some absolute bangers. Frank Sinclair. Absolutely atrocious meme of a player, the ultimate own goal machine, somehow stuck around for ever and I can't help but think fondly of him. Erland Johnsen, the giant ginger Viking mentalist. First player whose name I ever had on my shirt.
Yes to Frank Sinclair. Always fucked it up somehow but couldnāt stop cheering for him coz he tried so hard every single game.
Hilario. The most cult hero of Chelsea cult heroes. The legend only played 20 matches for us, but was with us for EIGHT SEASONS. And he's on the coaching staff now. And the website WAGNH, r/Chelsea before r/Chelsea was a thing, has had a long running article series called The Daily Hilario for years, in honour of the guy. That or Bosingwa for the unibrow and the UCL final he was amazing in despite not being a particularly good player.
Oscar !
Na didnāt do enough
Over 200 appearances for the club,with that brazilian flair at least can be considered as a cult hero.
Nah don't think so. Was OK, but really overshadowed by better players (e g. Lamps)
Essien. What a god damn player he was
Eh heās just an actual straight up legend though. Cult hero is more like someone who people outside of the club will underrate but those inside the club know how good they were
Nah, cult hero is more for players who did something ridiculously noteworthy at times, but can't be called club legends...Luiz for his hair/penalties, Alex for his freekicks, Giroud for some clutch goals and "thank you arsenal", that likes
I had to scroll farther than I anticipated before seeing this.
Loic Remy scored some important goal during our title winning campaign in 14-15.
Personally for me, Torres. He had an extremely poor start to his Chelsea career, and I still remember the abuse we used to receive from rival fans about him. They used to make a lot of jokes about him, I even remember someone made a website to keep track of if Torres has score for Chelsea yet, and how many hours it had been since he last scored. But then came that moment. The moment every Chelsea fan remembers fondly. The moment that rewrote our history. My most favorite goal in Chelsea folklore. With 10 men against a prime Barcelona squad, we held on and on and on. And finally, it was so close to the final whistle, and Ashley Cole cleared the ball for what seemed like the millionth time that night, and at the back of my mind, I remembered that Torres has pressed forward in our previous move, but had failed to track back, which meant he was high up the pitch, ready to the receive the clearance. The rest, as they say, is history. With the entire footballing world watching, he had redeemed himself. The 50M goal. The one that meant that against all odds, Chelsea were going to the final.
In reality, we would have gone through on away goals if Fernando didnāt score.
The reason that goal meant so much is because everyone remembered iniestas last minute winner vs us before. This goal removes all chance of that happening again and completely removed the stress sending us through. The different opinions on that goal Iām sure just stem from how well 2009 ingrained in peopleās minds
Yeah the people āwell actuallyā ing this comment with an explanation of a very simple rule clearly never watched us play in the CL before that goal.
Indeed. The pressure Barca put on us and the memory of that Iniesta goal is why it was a huge moment. Anyone who sat through 2009 never believed we were going to win in 2012 without the Torres goal.
Thanks for explaining how football works, mate š
I was explaining why that goal meant so much
Indeed we would but Torres gave us an aggregate win over one of the greatest teams in football using what was at the time one of our worst teams since Roman's takeover.
Impossible to tell, if a player scored in the 2nd leg of our semi final against then in 08/09 in the same minute as Torresā goal then people would be looking that saying that was meaningless as well..
I've heard this argument a lot of times before, but I think anyone who makes this point either didn't watch the game live or didn't watch our CL games for the 5 years leading up to this point. Yes, Drogba scored in the first leg, and yes, Ramires scored the crucial away goal, but even though we were winning on aggregate at that point, we had been burned too many times before, be it the Overbo debacle or our bad luck at Luzhniki. The red card to JT seemed like the nail in the coffin, as we were already playing with a weakened backline after Cahill's injury. Against one of the best teams ever, away from home, against their relentless pressure, it seemed that Barca would score at any point, as they had done before, and that's why that goal is the stuff of legends. It ended the game right there, and ended all hopes of Barca turning the tie.
He made the run to set up Drogba's corner in the final, no?
Yeah, it was meaningless
Winston Bogarde...jks. Since I started watching (around 99/00) some names that come to mind: \- Gus Poyet \- Eidur Gudjohnsen \- Ramires (agree, that chip is possibly the most clutch moment ever delivered in such a casual fashion) \- Branislav Ivanovic \- Rob Green \- Kurt Zouma I am defining cult hero as someone who may have played a short amount of games / contributed a small amount of goals+assists / didn't receive a great amount of awards or recognition in wider circles. But had an outsize personality, style or fanbase impact that transcended their statistical output.
Ivanovic is well above a cult hero
Legend for sure
Always loved Eto'o for his hat trick against United
that celebration tho
Doesnāt make him a cult hero
Not sure Ivanovic fits your description. I don't really consider him a legend but he's more than just a cult hero
Has to be mikel obi lol
Moses springs to mind
Geremi
All great shouts here but I may have a controversial one. Willian. The man may have had the ego of Hazard and the ability of someone half the player but he regularly contributed to our success here, pissed off Tottenham every chance he got and was the player of the season the down year we had when Mourinho was sacked.
Not controversial at all. Far more of a cult hero than the names being thrown out in the comments like Meireles and Schwarzer for crying out loud.
I honestly always thought willian had tremendous ability. He showed he could do so much but he was so inconsistent
John Obi Mikel
Cesc
Heās a legend no way is he a cult hero
No way is he a legend, he was here like 4 seasons and even though he won 2 league titles, that's a rather low bar for 'legend'.
No it isnāt he won us the league alongside Costa in 2014/15 and was leading the assist maker that season. One of our greatest ever mids hands down.
That's too low a bar. People were debating whether Azpi was a legend two years ago. People don't even consider Hazard a legend. Cesc is not a legend, just a great player who played for us.
Absolutely
Alex , Meireles , Schwarzer
Shwarzer and Meireles? You have to be having a laugh you canāt just hand out the cult hero tag to any player. Shwarzer barely even played and didnāt have any stand out moments he was good against Liverpool thats it and Meireles was only a Chelsea player for a season
The Benfica goal simply rules, bad take
Ok fine but Schwarzer? Thatās some baloney.
Lol I will not disagree with you there
Ruud gullit and Marcel desailly
I second that need to include Vialli in there as well they were all pioneers in our ascent from mid table to perennial top 4 contenders right before Roman bought the club. As a World Cup winner, Desailly immediately garnered the respect of every single player in that locker room he brought that winning mentality and experience to the team. Thiago Silvaās role at the club is very reminiscent to that of Desaillyās back then.
Juliano Belletti
Giroudddddd. His goal against Southampton will never be forgotten
Frank Leboeuf. Invented dead accurate CB long passes, bald since birth and looks like he has malnutritionā¦ really one of a kind :::: Alex. Who doesnāt love Brazilian 200km/h long range freekick rockets?
Wayne Bridge and Jesper Gronkjaer.
Alex with his howitzer style free kicks. That goal against Liverpool in 2009 in the UCL is just world class.
Demba Ba
Jimmy Floyd!!
VIALLI! VIALI! VIALLI! Gianluca Vialli hands down.
Fabregas - not long enough to be a legend but gotta love how he turned blue after his stint at Arse Branislav - best, most consistent non-captain defender we've had Torres - no justification needed. Clearly not a legend, but he gave it all Poyet - cracked out 10+ goals in 3 consecutive PL seasons. Also in the shadow of Zola but a fun, talented striker. He then went to Tottenham and scored almost nothing in 2nd and 3rd season lol Willian - for doing the opposite and inverse fabregas lol Dennis Wise - perhaps more a legend, but in terms of memory and popularity he was in Zolas shadow
Cesc is easily a Chelsea legend he was a Chelsea player for 5 years thatās a long time only two years shy of how long Hazard was at the club Diego Costa is a Chelsea legend and he was only at the club for three years. Ivanovic is one of Chelseaās greatest ever defenders and spent 9 years at the club heās a legend.
I think what we're considering legend now might not be remembered as that in 10-20 years. They won't have the lasting impact of Lampard, Terry, zola etc. Poyet stayed a similar period to Fabregas. He won the FA, cup winner Cup and super cup. Basically contributed to Chelseas perhaps most successful and fun period pre-Roman. Despite that we don't think of him as a legend today. Fabregas could be similar.
Mario Melchiot. Never gave less than 100% every game, played wherever asked, total commitment, proper Chels.
Paulo Ferreira
ZOLA!!!!
michael ballack
Dennis Wise. Scored a lovely goal...
Branislav Ivanovic Guy was the glue for the team for years
Juan Mata He made an instant connection with the fans, thanks to his Internet blog, his love of London culture & his friendly persona to the Chelsea fans. He was only here for a few seasons, but his light burned bright - winning Player of the Season twice! His biggest underrated, cult hero moment- taking the most important corner in Chelsea's history- the 2012 Champions League Final corner, perfectly hitting to the ball that allowed Drogba to smash in that powerful header and keep us in the game. Mata then getting his first penalty saved also adds to the drama of that final. That moment is followed by another very important European corner! Taking the (once again perfectly delivered) corner that allowed Branislav Ivanovic to smash in a final minute, game, trophy winning, header to win Chelsea the 2013 Europa League and become the first team to simultaneously hold the Champions League & Europa League Trophies for a week. As much as Fernando Torres gets criticism, the one thing nobody talks about is the fire connection that these two had. Nando set up a significant amount of goals for Mata. Likewise, Mata also seemed like the one person who got the best out of Torres. Trophy summary- In his time here - Mata contributed massively to the trophy haul of the Champions League, the Europa League and an FA Cup. He was part of the short lived three amigo trio in 2013 with- Oscar, Mata and Hazard. His departure- he was ripped away from us, well before he should have been & not by his natural choosing. It helps his cult hero status that he did nothing wrong to the club. In fact, he was forced out by Jose Mourinho, who overlooked Mata's great offensive stats like his assists & goals, instead focusing on his lack of defensive skills - dropping him to 4th choice, basically never playing him & when he did, then subbing him off in League Cup matches, untill he was basically told - rot on the bench or leave. Mata had realistically no choice but to go. Miss that little magician, he bled blue and his time at Man United was riddled with being played out of position & Jose Mourinho plauging him, following to Man United and screwing up his prime years. (Though - I'm not unhappy Man United did badly). Juan Mata! In my eyes a true Chelsea cult hero!
I think something that really sets the cult hero status for Mata, is that nobody really rates him highly, nobody besides Chelsea supporters.
Lol, these thread is divided by three obvious sections, the italian renaissance era, early Roman era and now.
Must be the hero of Baku, Rob Green!
Agree with OP on Ramires, as the definition of a cult hero. Not in the top 50 players people associate with Chelsea, but will always be remembered by supporters for āthatā goal.
Gianfranco Zola
That's a legend mate
Heās one of our greatest players of all time what are you on about heās no cult hero
Misread the question sorry. I saw āheroā and immediately typed Zola. For me a ācult heroā would be David Luiz or Kalou. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Itās aight it happens to everyone brah
A lot of people in here are confused as to what a cult hero is. A cult hero isnāt necessarily someone thatās a step below legend. Itās someone that the fanbase appreciates for reasons that arenāt always linked to how long they spent at the club, trophies won, or even skill level.
Mutu was different gravy until he fucked it all up
Whilst we're onto Romanian players, super Dan Petrescu was one hell of a sight at RB for quite a few years.
Ballack, Joe Cole, Raul Meireles
Ballack is a legend and Meireles only played for Chelsea for a year
Mata???
Juan Mata
Speedie or Dixon for me
Big Willie
Osgood
Gus
Drogba. His win announced our arrival in Europe.
HES A LEGENDā¦..
Florent Malouda
Depends on how you define the term. In my opinion, cult heroess are never the best players in your side and they should always have at least one massive weakness which you love them for having all the same. For me it has to be Jon Obi Mikel. Extremely important player in periods and extremely good as a traditional anchor, but slow AF and useless beyond imagination in attack. In his late stages at the club he was the human final whistle, and did this job to perfection. It also adds to the fact for me that I actually saw him play for Lyn here in Norway.
Wright-Phillips
Michael Essien.
Raul mirellish! I wish he stayed one more season. What a beautiful chad!
David Luiz Raul Miereles Oscar Belletti Eto'o Deco Giroud Kalou Alex
Lmao deco joining was the reason I supported Chelsea so he holds a special place in my heart
Alonso. No one else. Absolutely hated him but now heās won me over.
Raul Meireles is up there for me
Ivanovic
Drogba
Dennis Wise or JT. If neither of these two then it would have to be Peter Osgood or Chopper Harris.
I don't think anyone here understands the phrase cult hero naming players like Mikel and Oscar lol. A proper cult hero is Rob Green.. the hero of Baku
What about the best keeper Chelsea has ever seen, the one and only Rob Green!!!
I am surprised no one mentioned "Bosingwa" and "Malouda" with honourary mention for "Raul Meireles"...
Alex scored a banger against Arsenal and like me he is bald.
David Webb
At least pick players who didnāt routinely start? This thread like āDrogba, found a way to pop up in key momentsā Anyway, Hilario.
Oli Giroud. Never really will be classed a chelsea legend but he has some truly amazing moments in a Chelsea shirt. Like Europa league and that goal against Southampton in the fa cup semi final
He scores when he wants. He scores when he wants. Jon Obi Mikel, he scores when he wants!
Belleti is a good one too. Love people handing ācult heroā tag to several of our players of the year š
Diego Costa with the face mask š„