Joe McLAUGHLIN

There is a school of thought which says centre-halves should look like Desperate Dan; big and burly with a face that could scare a ghost (Martin Keown has enjoyed a successful career in this position) so there were a few raised eyebrows when Joe McLaughlin, a £95, 000 capture from Morton, arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 1983. Tall and slim with pop-star looks, he appeared to be the very antithesis of the traditional number five, but for six years he gave Chelsea sterling service in this role. There were no frills about 'Big Joe', if the ball was there to be won he would invariably send it hurtling towards row Z, but he was a superb tackler and an outstanding header of the ball and he gelled immediately alongside the more cultured Colin Pates at the heart of the defence. McLaughlin might not have been in the starting line-up at the beginning of the 1983/84 season - his debut came in a 5-0 thrashing of Derby County on the opening day - had club captain Micky Droy been fit, but he filled Droy's boots with impressive ease and missed just one game that season.

That match was at Ninian Park and it was perhaps no coincidence that in his absence Chelsea fell 3-0 behind against an aggressive Cardiff side before the half-time whistle had blown (they eventually rescued a draw with three late goals). The Blues won the Division Two championship but it took Joe a little time to adjust to top-flight football, an early confrontation with Aston Villa's Peter Withe saw the England man expose some flaws in his game, but to his enormous credit he bounced back with a string of faultless displays as Chelsea found their feet in Division One. In December 1984, McLaughlin scored his first goal for the club, a looping header which restored Chelsea's lead against European champions Liverpool, The Blues eventually triumphing 3-1. Chelsea reached the Milk Cup semi-final that year and Joe captained the side in Pates' absence for an incredible 4-4 draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

However, he broke his arm on a frozen Sunderland pitch after just ten minutes of the first leg of the semi-final, a blow from which The Blues failed to recover as Sunderland won through. The club's management and supporters felt that his form throughout the following campaign should have earned him a place in the Scottish World Cup squad that flew to Mexico in the summer of 1986. He was Chelsea's top appearance maker as The Blues challenged for the title and won the Full Members Cup. They also reached the quarter-finals of the Milk Cup and it was Joe who scored the winning goal at Goodison Park to clinch an impressive win for ten-man Chelsea against champions Everton. However, unfortunately for Joe he was overlooked for the Scotland squad and was destined to never play for his country at senior level. (Kelvin Barker)

Chelsea's 1986/87 season marked the sudden decline of a team who appeared set for success. The first cracks began to appear on a disappointing pre-season tour of the West Country where McLaughlin got involved in a disagreement with a group of his own supporters during a 3-2 defeat at Torquay. He began the season alongside new signing Steve Wicks, his regular partner Colin Pates bizarrely being moved to left-back, but was one of the players who suffered when manager John Hollins wielded the axe that autumn after a run of poor results, culminating in a defeat by lowly Charlton which left The Blues on the brink of the relegation places. Joe returned to the starting line-up after Chelsea conceded five goals at West Ham but was unable to stop the slide as the team, beset by internal strife, slipped to the bottom spot at Christmas. However, it was his equaliser at Southampton on Boxing Day which helped spark a run of three consecutive victories, The Blues going on to win at the Dell before recording comfortable wins over Aston Villa and QPR. Chelsea avoided relegation with a degree of comfort but McLaughlin made no secret of his unhappiness at the club.

It was therefore something of a shock when it was suddenly announced that he had been awarded the captaincy at Pates' expense. After a promising start to the 1987/88 campaign, a disastrous run of just one win in more than six months saw The Blues eventually relegated via the play-offs. Joe scored just one goal that season, a superb half-volley in a 1-1 draw with QPR, but by now he had become yet another victim of the Stamford Bridge boo-boys and his celebrations on scoring, a two-finger salute to the Shed End, did him no favours at all. Joe made a disastrous start to Chelsea's Division Two campaign when he inexplicably handled an innocuous cross to gift a penalty, and winning goal, to Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge. With the supporters howling, he again became embroiled in an ugly incident and was subsequently dropped and stripped of the captaincy by new manager Bobby Campbell.

Campbell had signed Graham Roberts that summer and Roberts took the captaincy whilst McLaughlin was left languishing in the reserves for nearly two months before the sudden sale of Colin Pates to Charlton gave him an unexpected opportunity in the first team, and one which he seized with relish. Chelsea stormed to the title and 'Big Joe' formed an outstanding partnership with Roberts. His performances throughout the remainder of the campaign earned him enormous plaudits and respect from his previous detractors but he remained disillusioned with the club. That summer he joined Charlton for £600, 000, where he reformed his successful partnership with Colin Pates. It is a partnership which many Chelsea supporters recall with great fondness. (Kelvin Barker)