‘It’s the time of the season,’ are the lyrics that begin the song that brings a true 1960s feel to the special video that launched Chelsea’s new, 1960s-inspired home kit.The man who sang those words when the track was first recorded back in 1967 is Colin Blunstone, leader singer of The Zombies, and it is a song he still sings today and will be doing so in the near future at Stamford Bridge itself.Now this is no small matter for Colin, and neither is his music being linked with the shirts the team will be wearing in 2021/22, for he is a devoted Chelsea fan of long-standing, and he is not surprised the song Time of the Season was chosen for that time of the Blues’ season when the new designs are unveiled for the first time.

‘It is a very interesting song because it's been in so many films,’ Colin pointed out when talking to the official Chelsea website earlier this week.‘I think that if anyone's trying to evoke a feeling of the ‘60s, that is one of the songs that is used the most.‘It's great for The Zombies as a band because it gets our music to a whole new audience who wouldn't know about that song otherwise, and the amazing thing about it is it's been number one in nearly every country all around the world apart from the UK, and we're a UK band. It was number one in America but never number one here, but most people know it because of the films.’Now a generation of Chelsea fans who had not heard it before will have done so having watched the video that features stars from our men’s and women’s teams, plus plenty of clever references from the past.

Colin agrees the kit does match the song for conjuring up the Swinging Sixties, and he should know, as The Zombies were formed at the start of that culture-shifting decade and contributed other memorable hits to the era such as She’s Not There which was another US no.1.The Chelsea area of London, with its King’s Road, was of course an epicentre of ‘60s’ fashion.‘If Chelsea weren’t playing at home and I wasn't playing [a concert], it was good fun on a Saturday to just walk down the King’s Road,’ recalls Colin. ‘Thousands of people used to do it and you'd see lots of very interesting people just cruising up and down the King’s Road. When I was younger, I really enjoyed the social life in London and a lot of it is centred around the King's Road.

‘It was associated with musicians and artists of all kinds and it was a place you went to see what people were wearing, and Chelsea Football Club has always since the ‘60s been a fashionable club. I don't really think of it in those terms because I am more interested in the football but hopefully that helps to draw good players to the club because it's in west London which is a great part of London.’Chelsea fans of a certain age who listened to legendary BBC radio DJ Terry Wogan (and there may be a few) might recall him joking after playing a Colin Blunstone record by asking ‘didn’t he used to play for Chelsea?’, an undoubted reference to Frank Blunstone, our former winger of the 1950s and 1960s. What is not known is whether Wogan knew the two are actually related!‘I first came to Chelsea with my father and that was the only time I’ve met Frank Blunstone,’ reveals Colin.‘My father was Frank’s father's cousin, and I've never quite worked out what that makes me.

‘I became aware of him when I was only 10 years old in 1955 because Chelsea won the old First Division and he was a member of that team. I came up to Chelsea probably a year later and we went to the players’ lounge and I can remember talking to Frank. I remember the Sillett brothers, John and Peter came in, and the goalie at the time was Reg Matthews.‘Just having the same name as Frank, especially for a 10-year-old, made a huge impression and although I never met him again, that was the start of a lifetime relationship with Chelsea as a fan.‘I’ve followed Chelsea through thick and thin, and sometimes people can get a bit edgy if you're supporting one of the top teams in the world, but between 1955 and now we've been relegated a few times and it didn't diminish my interest in the slightest.’Ian Hutchinson, from the 1970 FA Cup-winning team, is a player Colin highlights as a particular favourite.‘He just seemed completely fearless and he was the first player to use the long throw. Last week I read a biography of Peter Osgood and he was a wonderful player, all that team were really good players.

‘Later on, the big names that everyone remembers, Didier Drogba, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Butch Wilkins, Gianfranco Zola.‘Then there are three players I really liked that probably aren't remembered as well as some of the others. I really liked Ramires on the right side of midfield and as a guy who could play all over the pitch, Michael Essien was very good. And Dan Petrescu, the Romanian right-back, I don't think he got the acclaim that he should have.‘Another combination I loved watching was when Damien Duff was on the left wing and Arjen Robben was on the right wing. Magic happened when those two were playing. Great players - there have been so many through the years!’The Zombies themselves took their place among the greats when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, along with The Cure, Def Leppard, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead and Roxy Music.

At the event in Brooklyn in the States they performed Time of the Season, as they no doubt will when they play at the Under the Bridge venue at Stamford Bridge on Friday 4 March 2022. Before then, this year there will be a live stream concert on 18 September from Abbey Road Studios, where they recorded Time of the Season.Going to the Under the Bridge gig is probably the best chance you will have of hearing Colin sing at Stamford Bridge as if you are ever near him at the game, he admits to being more a quiet studier of the action than one of those joining in regularly with the chanting. And he will be just as absorbed a week on Saturday when he settles down to watch his team play in the Champions League final.

‘I generally watch Chelsea on my own because I really like to focus,’ he says. ‘I sound like I'm anti-social but I don't really like to talk while Chelsea are playing and I can get quite tense. I've found a sort of way of levelling off the victories and the defeats but it does help if I'm on my own, with absolute silence and no phone calls or anything like that.‘So that's how I’ll watch the Champions League final, I'll be on my own.‘There have been many great memories and recently the team have had such a great run with wonderful players, I just feel really fortunate to have been a fan during these years.’

The new kit is now available to buy – shop now at the Official Chelsea Online Store or in the Stadium Megastore at Stamford Bridge.