Two stalwart defenders tell us about their enduring love of Chelsea in the matchday programme for our FA Cup third round game against Chesterfield, which can be ordered now.
Cesar Azpilicueta recently reached 450 appearances as a Blue and is in his 10th season at the club, having arrived as a 22-year-old shortly after we won the Champions League for the first time in 2012. He opens up on his relationship with Chelsea and discusses the recent rollercoaster of results in an exclusive interview with us, as well as seeing his name among the likes of Dennis Wise, Kerry Dixon and Steve Clarke in the all-time appearances table.
'To be on that list is a privilege and I feel really proud of that,' he says. 'From when I started playing here, I was lucky to have the confidence of the club and every manager, and my team-mates. So I’ve been playing a lot and every time I wear the blue shirt I feel very proud to share all our moments with the fans.
'Football is a sport where the demands are really high every day, especially at Chelsea. You have to prove yourself every single day, so there’s no time to sit back and enjoy. Of course, we have had our moments of joy and enjoying trophies together, but I just take them as something that I’m really proud of and always with the hunger to get more.
'Time goes really quickly but that’s how it works in football! You cannot live in the past, though, you have to look at the present and the future. I’m a person that always wants more and every day I try to improve. We can always get better and I don’t like to focus a lot on what I’ve done before, only at what we can do in the future.'
Meanwhile David Webb – our goalscoring hero from the 1970 FA Cup final – takes us back in time with a detailed look at the atmosphere at the club back in those swinging days. His son Danny is on the coaching staff at Chesterfield, so he has a special interest in this game.
'He’s the assistant manager, so will be sitting in the dugout on the opposite side to what I did when I was manager at Stamford Bridge in the 1990s,' he explains. 'It’s fabulous to see and I’m very proud of him for what he’s achieved.
'A few years back, when he was a lot younger, we were guests at a game and I was telling Bruce Buck that one day my son would turn up to Chelsea and be in the dugout. So, while it’s not the Chelsea dugout, he’s in a dugout no less. If I see Bruce, I shall remind him of that! It’s great to see him at Chelsea.
There’s plenty of other exclusive content to enjoy, including the manager’s notes, the latest from the women’s and Academy teams, plus a raft of historical features, including a look at our last FA Cup tie against Chesterfield, all the way back in 1950.
Get your copy from the programme sellers around the ground or order it online to be delivered to your door.