Last Night's Chelsea Visit

Well, what a good evening and what a very excited child!

We had to be at Stamford Bridge for 5:45pm and were immediately taken through the itinerary.

The food looked yummy, but I was restricted to tomato soup and the Huffty had eaten and was so excited that I thought his head would explode.

There were two mascots and we spent time with the other family in the area where the Chelsea tours start off at before going to the dressing room at around 6:30pm.  This area is where the wives and girlfriends watch the game from so that they are not hassled by the punters.  Kitten was most disappointed that only the dads and the children were allowed in the dressing room, which I suppose would have been many young ladies real idea of what a nightclub should look like.

So, Huffty and I were led around the stadium and through the press room to the dressing room.  There was a full complement of players though the team was a young one as the Champions league group was already pretty much sown up.  So, there were a few faces missing through injury or being rested but Huffty met and got the autographs for many of the big names.

A lot of the players are either on the treatment tables or sitting with they headphones on, so you do feel initially that you don't like to intrude but an official encourages you to approach the players.  Because this was a younger team I have to confess that I know most of their names but not yet all of their faces, which makes things a little more difficult.

The first we saw was Joe McEachran who is a 17 year old hotly tipped for stardom.  I have seen him make a few substitute appearances, but this was his first Chelsea start.  We bagged him in the autograph book straight away.  Then the list becomes a who's who of football.  Apart from the youngsters there was Flourent Malouda, Didier Drogba, Nicholas Anelka, Petr Cech and John Obi Mikel.  We approached the treatment tables, which I felt a little more uncomfortable with but we bagged Paolo Ferreira, Branislav Ivanovic  and Ramires.  Solomon Kalou was there but we missed him, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Essien were also either rested or injured.

Although John Terry wasn't playing due to injury he was in the dressing room and was very amenable.  The senior players are very much used to this and I must say that players like Malouda, Anelka, Drogba and others were very good with the Huffty and also relaxed in indulging in idle chit chat with me.

Whilst approaching all the players and getting the Huffty's autograph book and shirt signed I completely forgot that we were allowed to take photos. Doh!  However, I remembered at the last minute and rather than disturb all the players again I just asked John Terry.  I have tried to keep the blog fairly anonymous but many of you have now seen the Huffty on the television, so here is the picture.

The Huffty was quite shy in the dressing room, which is quite understandable when a child comes face to face with not just one but many of his idols.  Of course, I did my best to get him involved and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

As we left the dressing room the manager Carlo Ancelloti came out of his room, so we grabbed him too.

We went back to join Kitten and then the Huffty left to do his mascot duties.  He waited in the tunnel whilst the players warmed up on the pitch and, perhaps, his highlight of the evening was when they went into the dressing room after the warm up as all of the players "high-fived" him as they came down the tunnel.

Kitten and I were standing at the side of the pitch with all the official photographers whilst the ceremonies took place so we managed a little video footage too.

The Huffty now has his autograph book, signed shirt and the match programme (with his picture in and a few words) as souvenirs.  Notoplip's son (Sonic) also got a mention in the programme as being a regular attendee at the matches with Huffty, so we got him a copy too.

I dare say that the John Terry picture will be blown up and put on his bedroom wall.

Kitten has watched the Sky footage several times already and although it is short  it is memorable for all.