It was the FA Cup shock of the round and for one young boy, there would be no looking back. Chelsea was the team for him and his descendants.

The year was 1978 and Kelvin Barker was 12. Chelsea hosted European champions and First Division title holders Liverpool at Stamford Bridge. Few predicted an upset, but in front of a crowd of over 45,000, the Blues produced their best performance in years to overwhelm Liverpool, winning the third round tie 4-2.

‘I had been going for a few years – my first game was in 1970 – but that one stays in my mind because I went with my dad and my brother,’ Kelvin, who is pictured top with his son Sam, explains.

‘I remember it was after that game that my brother decided to support another team! So from that point it was me and my dad, and Chelsea was always a big part of our lives.'

Kelvin’s father John and his family had moved down from Newcastle to London shortly after the Second World War. They settled in West Kensington, and the young John needed a football team closer to home to start following. Kelvin takes up the story.

‘My dad, together with a friend, went to Chelsea, Fulham and QPR over three consecutive weekends. I think it was in 1950.

‘My dad’s friend ultimately settled on Fulham, but my dad stuck with Chelsea, who had played Newcastle. From then on, he was Chelsea – and that meant he was there for our first league win in 1955, a great memory that is.’

John is 86 now. It has been three-quarters of a century since he first stepped through the turnstiles at Stamford Bridge, but his passion for the club burns as bright as ever.

‘Dad hadn’t gone to a game for a long time, but around 2014, he really fancied getting to matches again,’ recalls Kelvin.

‘I took him to an FA Cup game against Stoke and we beat them 1-0. After the game, I was able to organise Ron Harris coming down and having a photo done with my dad, because he was a big fan of that 1970s side.

‘Since then, he’s done more than 20 games. It’s a bit of a different experience now, as by the time he gets up the stairs, he’s nearly falling over! But he does still love it when he gets to matches.

‘He’s not as mobile as he was, but he’s still up the road in Hammersmith, so he often gets on the bus down to Stamford Bridge in the week just to have a wander around and visit the Megastore. And if he is going to New Zealand to visit my brother, he will take loads of Chelsea stuff with him for his friend Dennis, who he used to go to games with.’

Kelvin has been able to pass on his love for the Blues to his three children, Dan, Poppy, and Sam. ‘I’d have been gutted if they hadn’t supported Chelsea!’ he laughs.

He took Dan, his eldest, to his first game on the opening day of the 1995/96 season, a goalless draw with Everton best remembered for Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes making their Chelsea debuts. That was also the first season Kelvin was able to get season tickets, located in the family section.

‘Those first few years going with Dan did show me how different the times were. There were fewer distractions when I started going, I was completely taken by the whole experience of going to the football and couldn’t get back to matches quickly enough.

‘It was a little different for Dan, as he had his Game Boy with him. So he was partly distracted and he said to me recently that he wishes he never had that now as he wishes he could remember more about those early games.’

Kelvin took his daughter Poppy to the Bridge for her first game in April 2005, a 3-1 win over Fulham the week before we confirmed our status as Premier League champions for the first time. Early the following season, his youngest, Sam, accompanied him to the narrow victory over Arsenal when Didier Drogba scored with his knee.

In recent years, a fourth generation of Barker Chelsea fan has arrived on the scene in the shape of four-year-old Jacob and four-month-old Austin. They are the children of Dan and his partner Charlotte.

‘Jacob’s not been to a game yet, he’s still a little bit young,’ laughs Kelvin, ‘but every year his birthday present is a home shirt with his name and age on the back.

‘So, they are building up a collection and will take it as far as they can. Hopefully, it’ll still be going at 15 years old or 16 years old! I love to see him in his Chelsea shirt, and I’d love the generations to keep it going.

‘My dad is 86 years old now and won’t be around forever, and, of course, I’m getting older too but then, hopefully, Jacob grows up and has kids, and passes it down. I don’t see it changing any time soon, and it’s how it should be as far as I’m concerned!

‘My kids were lucky to have been born into a time when Chelsea were really successful, whereas my Dad and I had to feed off scraps for many years! But Chelsea is such a big part of our lives, and I hope always will be.’

Of that, there seems little doubt. The Barker family have True Blue blood.