A player can do no more to endear himself to the supporters of Chelsea
Football Club than to score a winning goal against Tottenham Hotspur,
and to do it just half-an-hour into your Chelsea career gives you
legendary status in SW6. As a former World Footballer of the Year George
Weah was, of course, a football legend in his own right, having scored
one of the greatest goals of all-time for AC Milan against Verona in
1996 when he raced the length of the pitch, beating defender after
defender, before dispatching the ball into the back of the net.
He
simply added to his reputation when, having been in England for less
than 24 hours after joining Chelsea on a 6-month loan deal from Milan,
he replaced Tore Andre Flo just before the hour-mark of a clash at
Stamford Bridge in which the Blues were finding it uncharacteristically
difficult to break down their London rivals. 30 minutes later Weah broke
Spurs' resistance with a close-range header and a warm reception was
guaranteed at Stamford Bridge for the remainder of his life. In truth he
was never the force of old after joining Chelsea.
He was already 33 and
although the skills had never deserted him - witness his total
demolition of Aston Villa's Ugo Ehiogu in his first away game for the
Blues - he was never quite the same force in front goal as he had been
at his peak - witness his profligate finishing after bamboozling Ehiogu
in the aforementioned match. He was ineligible for Chelsea's Champions
League campaign that season but figured regularly in domestic matches,
scoring the winning goal in an FA Cup 5th round clash with Leicester -
an excellent strike after good work by Chris Sutton (a phrase very
rarely heard around Stamford Bridge) - and also found the net in a 5-0
thrashing of Gillingham in the next round.
Sandwiched between the Cup
goals was a far-post header as Chelsea scored three times in the last
eleven minutes to beat Wimbledon. Injuries, and perhaps a little
difficulty adjusting to the pace of the English game, restricted
George's appearances in the final three months of the season but he was
selected by Gianluca Vialli for the big occasions. He partnered Sutton
at Wembley as Chelsea beat Newcastle United 2-1 in an FA Cup semi-final,
and was on the scoresheet after just two minutes as the Blues won 2-0
against Liverpool in the League, but the highlight of his time with the
club came in May when he returned to Wembley to play alongside
Gianfranco Zola as Chelsea beat Aston Villa 1-0 to win the last Cup
Final to be staged at the old Wembley Stadium.
Vialli chose not to take
up an option to sign Weah permanently that summer but the Liberian
superstar soon resurfaced in the Premiership when he joined Manchester
City in time for the new season. (Kelvin Barker) |