Venables, who died on Sunday at the age of 80 following a long illness, was a Chelsea youth product, and subsequently the captain and leader of Tommy Docherty’s Diamonds in the early 1960s.

It was a young, exciting Blues team that won silverware, challenged for the Championship, and competed in Europe.

But it was as a 15-year-old apprentice Venables’ journey with the Blues began. He is pictured below a few weeks after choosing to sign for Chelsea ahead of other London clubs.

It did not take long for Venables to make an impression. Less than two years later, in February 1960, he made the first of his 237 Chelsea appearances in a defeat to West Ham United.

• Terry Venables: A born leader remembered

Venables is pictured below later that year in action against Everton at Stamford Bridge, ready to help cover his goalkeeper Reg Matthews. A typically high-scoring game for the Chelsea team of that era finished 3-3.

Chelsea were relegated to the second tier in 1962, Venables largely absent, but the Blues came roaring back the following year and won promotion in our final game.

The class of 1962/63 is pictured below, with Venables top right. He played every minute of all 42 of our league fixtures. He turned 20 midway through the season.

We were pipped to the title by Stoke City, who won 1-0 at the Bridge in May 1963 in front of over 66,000 supporters.

Venables is pictured here watching on as his great friend, Ron Harris, shackles the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews.

Venables was appointed club captain during the following season as Chelsea adjusted well to life back in the top flight. A genuine title challenge was then mounted in 1964/65.

Venables is pictured here during a 2-0 home win over Leeds United in September ’64. He opened the scoring as we maintained our position at the top of the table.

A larger-than-life character who loved the company of his team-mates, Venables was also a good trainer. Here he is stretching out at the Bridge in October 1964.

The camera liked Venables, a good-looking man with a warm smile. Donning a mohair sweater, he is pictured here in the boot room at Stamford Bridge for a promotional feature.

Venables leads the team out at Stamford Bridge ahead of an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Tottenham we won 1-0.

He is pictured (top) ahead of that game with a newspaper clipping on his head.

Although our quest for the title fell short – and we lost in the FA Cup semi-final – Venables did get his hands on silverware during that tumultuous 1964/65 campaign.

We won the League Cup for the first time in our history following a two-legged success against Leicester City.

A couple of months later, Venables was one of eight Chelsea players sent home ahead of a game away to Burnley for breaking a curfew.

Here he watches that match on television alongside, left to right, Marvin Hinton, Joe Fascione, Eddie McCreadie and Bert Murray.

The highlight of Venables’ final season as a Chelsea player was a hat-trick he scored against AS Roma in the Fairs Cup at Stamford Bridge.

We won 4-1 at the Bridge before grinding out a goalless draw in the Italian capital despite the best efforts of the home side to physically intimidate us. Here Venables joins a throng of Blues keeping trainer and physio Harry Medhurst busy upon our return from Rome.

Venables looks the part wearing an initialled jacket during a photoshoot in October 1965. Behind him are Harris, George Graham, John Hollins and McCreadie.

Manchester United’s George Best shows Venables the ball after the Chelsea man had fouled him during a game at Stamford Bridge in March 1966. He would play just 13 more times for us before moving to Tottenham as his relationship with manager Docherty deteriorated beyond repair.

Before then, Venables would wed his first wife Christine McCann in April 1966.

The Chelsea contingent of Hollins, McCreadie and Graham are pictured here helping Christine and the mischievous Terry move into their new home in Ilford a few days before the wedding.

And here they are suited and booted on the big day outside St Cedd’s Church in Canning Town. Ron Harris and Peter Bonetti have joined the happy couple with Christine showing off her touch!

After three full seasons at Spurs, Venables moved on to QPR. Here he is trying to keep tabs on Tommy Baldwin during an FA Cup third round tie in 1974 at a boggy Loftus Road.

Venables would later go into management, most famously with Barcelona, Tottenham and England.

He was briefly joint-manager at Middlesbrough, alongside Bryan Robson, and here watches on next to our boss Claudio Ranieri during a 2-1 Chelsea win in March 2001.

Venables always kept Chelsea close to his heart. We were the team where he took his first steps in the game and made his name – and it was while at the Bridge he earned his two England caps. El Tel represented no club more often during his career than Chelsea.

Fifty years after the promotion season of 1962/63 in which he had been so integral, Venables is seated between Bobby Tambling and Graham at a celebratory anniversary dinner at the Bridge in September 2013.

We will continue to remember Terry and celebrate his life at Sunday’s game against Brighton.