Graeme LE SAUX

Graeme Le Saux was spotted by John Hollins playing in a tournament in his native Jersey at which the Chelsea manager was due to present the trophies. He joined The Blues in December 1987 and made his debut as a substitute in a 3-2 victory at Portsmouth on the final day of Chelsea's Division Two championship winning season in 1988/89. The speedy left-sided full-back or midfielder made his first start in a Full Members Cup game against West Ham which was won 4-3 and four days later, on Boxing Day 1989, he replaced John Bumstead at Crystal Palace and scored with the last kick of the game to earn The Blues a 2-2 draw. He made a total of seven appearances that campaign, three as a substitute, and created the first goal of Kerry Dixon's hat-trick on the final day at Millwall with a tremendous run and cross. Le Saux was a regular feature in the side throughout the following season, beginning on the left of midfield but also playing regularly on the opposite flank. He announced his arrival on the scene with a demolition of Tottenham's right-back Terry Fenwick during a Rumbelows Cup quarter-final and scored the only goal of the game to beat Aston Villa in November. Graeme also found the net in an amazing 6-4 victory at Derby, and against Leeds at the end of March, he raced from the halfway line to score a spectacular solo goal which proved to be no more than a consolation in a 2-1 defeat.

The first signs of his now legendary temper were evident in the home clash with Luton in April when, after scoring Chelsea's first goal of a game in which they rallied from 3-0 down to draw 3-3, he was sent-off for lashing out after being fouled. Le Saux was Chelsea's top appearance maker in 1991/92, starting on 39 occasions and scoring in a 4-1 win over Luton, a 3-2 defeat at Arsenal, and the only goal of the game at Coventry. An ankle injury forced Graeme to miss the start of the following campaign and he didn't appear in the first team until mid-October. His first start came at Tottenham in December when he created both goals for Eddie Newton as Chelsea recorded their annual victory at White Hart Lane. However, manager Ian Porterfield was becoming frustrated with the quality of Le Saux's final ball and Graeme was equally frustrated at being so often the player who was substituted. On Boxing Day 1992, his frustration boiled over when he was taken off at home to Southampton. As he left the pitch, he threw his shirt to the ground and exchanged words with the manager. He was dropped for a game as punishment and although he soon returned to the team, the writing was on the wall for him. In March he was transferred to Blackburn Rovers for £700, 000. (Kelvin Barker)

 After an eventful four years at Blackburn in which he won a Premiership title, suffered a horrendous ankle injury and engaged in an on-pitch punch-up with team-mate David Batty, Graeme returned to Stamford Bridge in August 1997 for a then record fee of £5 million. Now recognised as the best left-back in the country, he slipped seamlessly into the Chelsea side which challenged for honours on three fronts. In September, he scored his only League goal of the campaign with a blistering shot in the last minute to seal a 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace. He also scored at Ipswich in the Coca-Cola Cup and floated a delightful chip over Peter Schmeichel's head in an FA Cup clash with Manchester United which Chelsea were losing 5-0 at the time! A disappointing run of injuries after Christmas restricted him to just 26 League starts but he was fit enough to play in the Coca Cola Cup Final at Wembley in March as Chelsea lifted their first trophy of the season with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough. Their second trophy was the European Cup Winners Cup but, sadly, Le Saux was unfit to play in the Final. Restored to full fitness for the 1998/99 season, having featured in England's World Cup campaign that summer, Graeme performed superbly both in defence and midfield throughout The Blues' impressive title challenge.

However, he now found his season being interrupted by frequent suspensions. He was sent-off along with Blackburn's Sebastien Perez on his first return to Ewood Park and was fortunate to avoid the same fate against Liverpool when he responded to Robbie Fowler's juvenile taunts by flattening the Liverpool striker with a left-hook. When available, he was an automatic selection and although he failed to register on the scoresheet that year, he played a huge role in Chelsea's qualification for the following season's Champions League. Sadly, what should have been the most exciting campaign of Le Saux's Chelsea career proved to be something of a damp squib. An injury sustained in the first-half of The Blues' clash with Leicester in August set the tone for a frustrating season in which he was rarely fit, being able to make just 13 appearances in a season in which Chelsea played 61 games in all competitions. The ultimate disappointment came when Le Saux was forced to miss Chelsea's FA Cup Final triumph over Aston Villa in May 2000. (Kelvin Barker)

Graeme was amongst the substitutes at the beginning of Chelsea's troubled 2000/01 season but was given a boost in September when, in the absence of Dennis Wise, new manager Claudio Ranieri made him captain for his first game in charge, a daunting trip to Old Trafford. Le Saux responded in style, creating all three of Chelsea's goals in a 3-3 draw and spectacularly foiling a goalbound effort from Andy Cole. However, just three weeks later he was seeing red again as a result of a tetchy confrontation with Sunderland's Kevin Kilbane. An injury collected in the same game led to another lengthy spell on the physio's couch and he was unable to return to League duty until the end of January, figuring regularly after that as The Blues secured a UEFA Cup spot. Graeme remained free from serious injury throughout 2001/02 and responded with his best ever season for Chelsea. He began in defence but it was when he moved forward to play as a conventional left winger that he hit a run of exhilarating form which seemed certain to lead to an England recall. He captained the side which beat top-of-the-table Liverpool 4-0 in December and scored the opening goal of the game after just three minutes. Chelsea reached the FA Cup Final and Le Saux scored their third goal in a 4-0 rout of Tottenham at White Hart Lane in the sixth round. However, he was later sent off for a poor challenge on his old adversary Mauricio Taricco, with England manager Sven Goran Eriksson watching from the stands (three days later in a League match at Stamford Bridge, Taricco was sent-off for an almost identical challenge on Le Saux as Chelsea again won 4-0).

In the Final in Cardiff, which Chelsea lost 2-0, Graeme was booked in the first minute for a challenge on Lauren which had the Arsenal defender rolling around theatrically despite the TV cameras proving that Le Saux failed to make any contact with him. England's problems on the left of midfield led many within the press to mount a campaign for Le Saux to be included in the England squad for the 2002 World Cup but Eriksson resisted, preferring to use Emile Heskey instead! Graeme found the net twice in a successful final season at Stamford Bridge; a close range effort in a 2-0 win over West Brom and a shot from distance which slipped through the fingers of Charlton's Dean Kiely to seal a 4-1 victory. He again showed his versatility by playing in both left-sided positions regularly and also performing well on a couple of occasions when he was asked to move into a more central role. He had an outstanding game on the final day of the season as Chelsea's midfield dominated their Liverpool counterparts to lay the foundations for a Chelsea victory which earned their place in the Champions League at The Reds' expense. However, the takeover of Chelsea Football Club by Roman Abramovich in the summer of 2003 allowed The Blues to purchase some new players for the forthcoming campaign and Le Saux was surprisingly allowed to leave as a makeweight in the deal which took Wayne Bridge from Southampton to Stamford Bridge for £7 million. (Kelvin Barker)