The department is led by David Barnard, director of football operations/club secretary, who has been with Chelsea since 2002 and was elected to the Board of Directors in 2007.

The longest-serving member is Jane Fitzgerald, who has been with the club since 1985 and is currently the EA to the head coach and the operations department. Jane originally started work in the main reception in the old ivy-clad office building at Stamford Bridge before the stadium was redeveloped, and she has seen enormous changes in more than 38 years here, having worked for 28 managers or head coaches!

The next member is Kim Mall, who has been with the club since 1991 and is the current assistant club secretary. Kim originally joined the club on work experience before joining the hospitality team and then moving to the football department 18 years ago.

The fourth member of the department is Pete Nuttall, who originally worked with the club from 2008 as a member of the Thomas Cook team who looked after all the club’s travel requirements.

Eight years later, Pete joined us full-time and is now responsible for the overall delivery of all men’s, women’s and Academy team travel, as well as tours, friendly matches, and all FIFA or UEFA competitions, and the club’s business travel too.

Their department is responsible for the day-to-day administration and operational needs of the football side of the club, complying with all the various football authorities’ rules and ensuring their regulations and competition requirements are met.

They also have to organise and deliver all men’s first-team fixtures, including pre- and post-season tours. The current department members have been responsible for organising and administrating 35 major finals and numerous tours as far afield as Asia, Australia and North America.

The department was especially busy during the Covid-19 pandemic, as they had to ensure that all the various protocols were complied with so that matches and training were able to take place.

Some Champions League games had to be played in neutral countries because teams were unable to play in their own stadiums, but the most testing time was the Champions League final in 2021.

The operations team were in Istanbul to meet with UEFA to make arrangements for the final when they received a call to say that Turkey had been placed on the UK’s red list for travel.

With the final only three weeks away and nothing in place, the team spent hours working alongside UEFA to transfer and re-organise our arrangements to Porto.

Victory over Manchester City meant that we qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi and started 2022 on a high by winning the one remaining trophy we needed to complete the full set of silverware.

However, circumstances changed dramatically when the war in the Ukraine broke out and the club was hit by government sanctions. This meant that the department were unable to finalise any fixture arrangements, both domestic and European, without the government signing off each fixture.

Originally we were only given a small budget per fixture, even for Champions League games abroad. In some weeks, we had no confirmation until a few days before that fixture’s budget was approved. This also meant that our pre-season tour arrangements to the USA were put on hold.

Despite the sanctions, we managed to reach both domestic cup finals and, with the takeover of the club that summer, the sanctions were lifted. The pre-season tour went ahead and normal service was resumed.

Unsurprisingly, the team have many memories to look back on from their combined century of service to Chelsea. Jane begins with the success stories, looking back fondly on the 1997 FA Cup final.

'It was the first major trophy we had won since I joined the club,' she says. 'The joy of winning the FA Cup was really special.

'The second moment I’d pick out would be the 2004/05 season and the first time we won the Premier League title. Then, of course, the other one would be the 2012 Champions League success in Munich.'

Kim, meanwhile, picks out a specific game from our triumphant European Cup Winners’ Cup run in 1997/98. 'One of my greatest memories was something out of the ordinary,” she says. 'Chelsea played away in Tromso, Norway, in October.

'On arrival, it was like a fairytale winter wonderland, snow covering our shoes as we walked along. The pitch was cleared for the game, but at half-time a huge snowstorm hit, which continued into the second half.

'Play was stopped twice to clear the snow again, but somehow they completed the full 90 minutes. I’ve never seen another game like that one, but we went on to win the Cup Winners’ Cup that season in Stockholm, and it’s one of many treasured memories for me.'

Speaking of ‘out of the ordinary’, David goes back to the signing of Oriol Romeu from Barcelona back in the summer of 2011. 'In those days, there was no option to sign documents digitally – all contracts required original signatures,' he explains.

'The only problem was that I was in Asia for our pre-season tour, while Oriol was playing in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Colombia.

'I had to return from Asia, draft the documents in my office in Cobham, then fly out to Bogota via Madrid, before travelling on to Manizales in the Andes, where Spain were playing. Signatures obtained, I stayed to watch Oriol play for Spain that evening, then returned back to London to register him as a Chelsea player.'

Pete recalls a particularly anxious moment ahead of a pre-season trip to China, which began with our charter plane being blocked by authorities the week before travel. “In the end, however, all went well,” he says. 'The most rewarding event was the Porto Champions League final. With such a short time to plan and deliver the event, there were challenges, but it ended in glory.

'More recently, our men’s pre-season tour to the USA in the summer was the first time we have planned and delivered a five-game tour in five different cities across the US – an extremely successful tour which I was very proud to be a part of.'

Given the mind-boggling numbers involved in their 100 years of service, it seems right to end on a stat.

At least one of the current Football Operations staff have been involved in 31 of the 36 major honours that Chelsea’s men’s team have won since the club’s formation in 1905.