Craig BURLEY

There are some things that you simply cannot prepare a young footballer for, and one of them is coping with a 7-0 defeat on your debut. That was the fate which befell 19-year-old midfielder Craig Burley in April 1991, when he made his senior bow for Chelsea as a substitute for Kerry Dixon just past the hour mark of a league match at Nottingham Forest. That defeat was a major factor in the removal of Bobby Campbell from the manager's office but his replacement, Ian Porterfield, initially overlooked his fellow Scot's claims for a midfield berth. A hugely impressive thirty minute cameo as substitute for the injured Vinnie Jones against Spurs, in a 2-0 win, set him up for a run in the side which began with his full league debut, a 1-1 draw with Southampton, and ended five games later with his first win bonus, earned in a 2-1 defeat of West Ham.

Injuries and poor form meant that 1992/93 was almost a total write-off for Craig. For the third consecutive season, he was in the Chelsea line-up for the trip to Nottingham Forest but that match, a 3-0 defeat, was to prove his only start of the league campaign. His two substitute appearances that season were to prove far more notable. At Tottenham in early-December he replaced the ineffectual Robert Fleck and played a significant role as The Blues scored two late goals to win 2-1, and against Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day, it was Burley who replaced Graeme Le Saux, prompting Le Saux to throw the tantrum which ultimately ended his first spell with the club.

The arrival of Glenn Hoddle as player/manager in the summer of 1993 had a huge impact on the career of the young Scot. He wasn't selected by Hoddle until November, when a run of three consecutive substitute appearances was followed by a place in the starting line-up at Southampton. A dismal team performance, and 3-1 defeat, at the Dell saw Chelsea fall into the relegation zone but Craig kept his place for the following day's visit of Newcastle, a 1-0 win, and subsequently for the bulk of the remainder of the season. He scored his first goal for the club in January 1994 and, in doing so, revealed a side to his game which had so far remained unseen.

Joining a notable band of Scottish players with thunder in their boots (Dave Mackay, Peter Lorimer, Hot-Shot Hamish!), Burley suddenly appeared to develop a penchant for scoring spectacular goals from distance. His first came in a 4-2 defeat of Everton and was followed by fine strikes against Wimbledon and at Liverpool, where he scored at both ends and was only denied an identical goal which would have given The Blues a 2-2 draw by a wondrous David James save. He was also a big player throughout Chelsea's run to the FA Cup final that year, starting in every game and scoring three times. In the final at Wembley, he was replaced by Hoddle after Manchester United's second goal in a 4-0 hammering of The Blues. (Kelvin Barker)

 Chelsea qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup by virtue of their appearance at Wembley but the purchase that summer of David Rocastle, and the return to fitness of Nigel Spackman, left George Burley back on the fringes, and a bizarre UEFA ruling whereby he was considered to be a foreign player meant he was only selected for one game throughout The Blues' run to the semi-final of the ECWC. Surprisingly, he didn't make his first appearance of 1994/95 until November, when four consecutive substitute appearances were eventually followed by his first start, in a 1-0 defeat by Everton. Frustratingly for Craig, he spent much of the campaign either as a substitute, or often as a starter who was regularly substituted himself.

He made a significant impact at Ipswich when he replaced Spackman six minutes from time with The Blues 2-1 down and scored the equaliser three minutes later. Ironically, Ipswich were managed at the time by Craig's uncle, George Burley. His only other goal that season came in a 2-1 win at West Ham. His total of 16 starts in 1994/95 was repeated in the following campaign, when he surprisingly failed to find the net at all. Rocastle had by now fallen from favour but Craig now found the imperious Ruud Gullit blocking his way. He was given an extended run in the side in the autumn but was dropped before Christmas and didn't resurface until March.

A high quality performance in an FA Cup quarter-final tie at Wimbledon, in which he set up a goal for Dan Petrescu with a superb through ball, was followed by a disastrous showing in the semi-final against Manchester United when he set up a goal for David Beckham with a suicidal back-pass. Unfortunately for Craig, that goal proved decisive and he added to his misfortune six days later with a repeat performance against Aston Villa, Dwight Yorke this time benefiting from his generosity. To his credit, he bounced back well to feature in all of the remaining games and, more significantly, to be selected alongside Dennis Wise and Roberto Di Matteo for Ruud Gullit's first game in charge at the beginning of the following campaign.

His first goal for 18 months came in a 2-0 victory at top-of-the-table Sheffield Wednesday and his 31 league appearances that year bore testimony to his consistency. The campaign ended with Chelsea winning their first major silverware for 26 years. Craig scored once in the FA Cup, against West Bromwich Albion in a 3-0 third round victory, and was in the starting line-up as Wimbledon were humbled in the semi-final, but when the day of the final dawned, Craig was nowhere to be seen. He was expected to be named as a substitute but was replaced on the bench by Andy Myers, amid strong speculation that he had fallen out with the manager on the morning of the match. Sadly, the toothless wonder decided he had had enough and that summer he left to join Celtic for £2, 500, 000, where his outstanding performances led to him being awarded the Scottish Player of the Year trophy in his first season. (Kelvin Barker)