Mike FILLERY

It is hard not to sympathise with Mike Fillery for having the misfortune to play out his entire Chelsea career during the worst period in the club's history. The flip side of that statement, however, is that if the supremely talented midfielder had managed to impose himself on matches more regularly, that particular period for the Blues might just have been a whole lot better. He was given his League bow at the age of 18 by manager Danny Blanchflower towards the end of a 1978/79 season which saw Chelsea finish bottom of Division One. His debut might have given him an indication of the excitement and, more often, disappointments which lay ahead as Derby scored with the last attack of the game to deny the Blues what would have been just their fifth win of the season. The reason for Mike's slightly premature elevation to the first team was to ensure that he was ready to replace the Manchester United-bound terrace-icon, Ray Wilkins. He began the 1979/80 season on the left of midfield and quickly began to score the goals which were to become his trademark. He opened his account for the Blues with a brace in a League Cup tie at Plymouth and three days later he silenced the vociferous Newcastle supporters in the Gallowgate End when he shot Chelsea into an early lead of a game they eventually lost 2-1, but it was when new manager Geoff Hurst moved him into the centre that he really began to flourish.

Chelsea looked certainties for a promotion place for much of that season but eventually blew up over Easter and missed out on goal difference. For Fillery, however, it could have barely been more successful. The youngster missed just one match and found the net a hugely impressive 11 times, including crucial strikes in narrow wins against Cardiff, West Ham and Leicester. On January 1st he scored English football's first goal of the 1980's when he gave the Blues the lead in an early kick-off at Luton. He began the following campaign where he had finished the last - on the scoresheet. A spectacular diving header earned Chelsea a 2-2 draw with Wrexham and he was again amongst the scorers when the Blues shared another four goals, this time with Shrewsbury. Chelsea enjoyed a prolific autumn with Fillery pulling the strings in midfield and their free-scoring team notched up eight wins and a draw from consecutive games to go clear at the top. In October, Mike struck a 35-yard wonder goal to earn a win at Orient and the following weekend he was on target again during a 6-0 thumping of Newcastle. However, a bizarre second half of the season during which they failed to score in 19 of their final 22 League matches highlighted many shortcomings, most notably the fact that the midfield was no longer functioning to an acceptable standard. (Kelvin Barker)

Geoff Hurst was the summer of 1981's most inevitable recipient of a P45 but his successor, John Neal, was soon aware of the daunting task ahead of him. Chelsea's opening to the campaign was promising and Fillery found himself in a rich vein of goalscoring form in the early weeks. His first of the season came at the end of September in a 2-0 win at Orient and sparked a run of 6 goals in 10 games which included a strike in each leg of the Blues' 3-2 aggregate victory over Southampton in the League Cup. The old inconsistencies soon returned though and a 6-0 humbling by Rotherham was quickly followed by a League Cup exit at lowly Wigan. The 1981/82 FA Cup competition catapulted the Blues back into the limelight when, after needing five games to struggle past Hull City and Wrexham, they were drawn at home to European champions Liverpool in the 5th round. In front of more than 40, 000 people, Fillery (the photo above shows him during the game with Kenny Dalglish looking on) and his fellow youthful midfielders turned in a supershow to nullify the threat of McDermott, Souness, Whelan and Lee, and helped lay the platform for a much-deserved 2-0 triumph. Cup holders Tottenham arrived in the next round and it was Mike who thumped a powerful free-kick past Ray Clemence on the stroke of half-time to put the home supporters in dreamland

Unfortunately, the dream soon became a nightmare and Spurs ran out 3-2 winners against Chelsea's under-strength team. Fillery scored twice more in the spring as yet another season petered out disappointingly but that was nothing compared to the traumas of the following term. As the team's form slipped from mediocre to downright abysmal, manager Neal was faced with various selection dilemmas. He kept faith with Fillery, and the midfielder was the club's second highest appearance maker of the campaign despite it being his least effective season by some distance. He did, however, rediscover his finishing prowess and his nine goals, including two in a 6-0 win over Cambridge and another brace in a 2-2 draw at Oldham, were absolutely vital as the Blues avoided the drop to Division Three on the final day. As the axe fell on a number of the club's under achievers, John Neal fought to persuade Mike Fillery to remain at Stamford Bridge and play a part in the club's revival. However, Fillery had been seduced by QPR manager Terry Venables' ultimately fruitless claim that he would make him an England international and in the summer of 1983 he left for Loftus Road for a tribunal-set fee of £155, 000, QPR having offered to pay £30, 000 more than that just two days earlier! (Kelvin Barker)