Another season of association football is over which left behind some good and bad memories, some shocking memories and some angering ones. But it was definitely a memorable season, and everyone, even those not supporting the mighty Chelsea like I do, can look back at this year and instantly think of Chelsea (let’s ignore the fact that Manchester City won the league for the first time in 44 years if my calculations are correct).

Climbing out of the hole dug in the first half of the season Chelsea finished the season on a high. Regardless of the league result which would have left us out of the European competitions next season, we can still consider this our most successful season ever. 19th May 2012 is the day to remember! I for one will never forget this season. Here’s my round-up of the 2011/2012 season as I experienced and remembered it:

This poor little Northern European girl had to depend on TV coverage most of the time as the distance between her house and Stamford Bridge is more than 1,100 miles. But this only frustrates me occasionally (like every weekend). I did attend a few matches though which was only possible because I didn’t buy a single pair of shoes the entire season. For real!

AVB, easy as 123

The most exciting signing in my opinion was the hot new manager who impressed me when he managed Porto the season before. Andre Villas-Boas was only 33 when he became Chelsea’s new manager – younger than some of our senior players. But he brought in an exciting change – different kind of football, young players, rotation and all that, which worked for a while until it didn’t anymore.

The high line football AVB was trying to employ didn’t work the way it should have. Players didn’t adapt to it and many defensive mistakes were made by players who I still consider some of the best defenders in the league. It appeared as if it was impossible for us to keep a clean sheet at all.

As the first signs of Chelsea’s decline occurred, it went downhill fast. In the beginning of the season, AVB seemed to be a man who had it all under control. I was especially impressed when he made the right substitutions when they were needed. It has been said that AVB had his sights on the future, but forgot to attend the present. He tried to rejuvenate the squad, which of course, is exactly what we have wanted for a long time. But maybe the changes were too sudden. Giving Anelka and Alex no first team spot because they announced they wanted to leave in January wasn’t the best way to manage the case. He also upset some other senior players who had a massive influence on the entire team, and gradually he lost their full backing. That led to a chain reaction of bad results, behind-the-scenes drama and players’ underperformance. The result was: by Boxing Day Chelsea was the 3rd club in London, they were knocked out of the Carling Cup by the eventual winners Liverpool, they were on the verge of being knocked out of the FA Cup and Champions League, and the inevitable happened – Roman Abramovich had to say goodbye to yet another manager.

Although I hate the fact that we no longer have the best-looking manager in the league (no offence, Robbie, you’re a doll), and that AVB couldn’t finish his project, his sacking proved to be the right thing at the time. Like many have said – he was the right man for the job, but at the wrong time. I will be forever grateful for what AVB has done for Chelsea and I think he deserves a lot of credit for leading Chelsea to another Double.

My 10 days of football

Right after I had handed in my letter of resignation at work I packed my suitcase and flew to London. The 10 days mentioned in the title weren’t actually devoted to attending football matches, but everything I did was football-related.

As soon as I arrived I took a bus to the city of my university – Cardiff. That’s basically the whole reason I had planned to attend Swansea vs. Chelsea in the first place – to go back to the city I have fond memories of (and that’s also why I’m rooting for Cardiff City to win the Championship playoffs every year, with no luck). Swansea was my first away game so it was particularly exciting for me. The match didn’t disappoint either. We managed to pull a last minute equalizer which made it a memorable first away game. Unfortunately for Danielle for whom this was her 2nd attendance, her hero JT was absent again, like the last time. If I only believed in jinxes… And that brings me to another point of the game – Ashley Cole got sent off, and this fed my record of sendings-off per game I attend (one every other game). Let me remind you again: I don’t believe in jinxes!

It was also a pleasure meeting some of the Chelsea faithful I had been talking to online, and whom I ran into at the stadium by accident.

An interesting fact from that match: with 20,526 spectators, Liberty Stadium got a new attendance record. So, I’m now part of their history.

That weekend Chelsea played one of the most anticipated matches of the season with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. By the 50th minute we were 3-0 up which was a great sign considering what a mess we were in (those were the final days of AVB’s reign). The score included David Luiz’ goal who I wanted to put a £10 on but didn’t. But I don’t think anyone saw this coming: the final result was 3:3. Yes, they managed to screw things up.

I spent the rest of my holiday in London, meeting friends I’ve met through mutual passion for Chelsea Football Club. They included Miss SW6′s dear friends from Chelsea Football Fancast, among others. We were invited to their show right after the match, where they had a famous guest – the legendary Mickey Thomas. It was quite an honour meeting one of the former Chelsea players (and I’m yet to meet a current one).

The day after the frustrating draw with Manchester United Danielle and I did something we’ve never done before – the platinum tour at Stamford Bridge. It’s much more convenient to pester the tour guide with questions when there’s only two of you. But the best thing of the day was meeting Roman Abramovich himself. He wasn’t very happy that day but who could blame him after his football team threw away a 3-0 lead. I was in such a great shock that I started speaking in Estonian which humoured Danielle a lot.

Those were the highlights of my first football trip of the season. The rest doesn’t deserve an honourable mention.

The lows

This season Chelsea finished 6th in the Premier League, which is the lowest result since 2002 and outside top 4 for the first time during Roman Abramovich’s era. We got to see some pretty frustrating matches (Manchester United home game being an example) and below par performances. I’ll bring out a few that really made me boil with anger.

Getting beaten by Arsenal is in my opinion the ultimate humiliation, and it becomes an absolute nightmare when you get beaten by 5 goals with a hat-trick coming from one of the most irritating men from the red part of London. Irritating because Robin Van Persie is an absolute whinge with a big mouth. Rant over. It’s no secret that the result humbled us and Arsenal have something to feed on until we do the same or until they win something really important.

Our first league visit to Loftus Road since 1996 was the most frustrating, no, anger-infusing match of the season. The 9-man Chelsea was clearly the stronger team, but sadly not strong enough to play against 11 players, Chris Foy showing 7 yellow cards (not including the 2 to QPR) and sending off Bosingwa and Drogba.

The match against QPR brought Chelsea more problems than just a fine for “failure to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion”. An on-pitch incident between Anton Ferdinand and John Terry shadowed the latter’s reputation ever more and he will face trial after the European Championships. Until he’s proven guilty or not guilty, he is not guilty.

Those were just a few lowlights of the season, although I would also like to mention the 3-1 defeat in Naples which nearly cost us the Champions League, drawing at home to Birmingham City which nearly cost us the FA Cup (the only competition we had a fair chance of succeeding in) and Drogba’s theatrics in the Champions League semi final first leg at Stamford Bridge which were simply embarrassing. But those were the results that didn’t do any harm in the end. The highs that followed covered them all.

The return of the heroes

Not only am I talking about the managerial partnership of Robbie Di Matteo and Eddie Newton, the Chelsea legends who took charge of the Blues, but the current players that had been underperforming made a comeback as well. I believe it was Drogba who said that after AVB was dismissed they realised it was their fault and they had to do something to get back to winning ways. The change in the players’ attitudes was instant.

Under RDM’s management things started going smoothly. His first fixture against Birmingham City, which Chelsea managed to win comfortably, kept us in the FA Cup competition. More positive results followed, including a miraculous 4-1 comeback in the 2nd leg against Napoli with a heroic winner from Branislav Ivanovic. Although Chelsea never managed to get back into the top 4, they only lost 3 of 21 fixtures under RDM’s management.

More heroics followed: a comfortable FA Cup win against Leicester, a memorable 5-1 victory over Spurs in the semifinal and the grande finale: lifting the FA Cup after beating our great rivals Liverpool who are a difficult opponent even when they’re terrible (and they’ve had the worst squad in a very long time). Didier Drogba became the first player to score in 4 FA Cup finals, JT the first player to win the FA Cup four times as captain with one club I believe, and Cole the first player to win 7 FA Cups (3 with Arsenal) – something to add into history books. Our goal was reached – one competition was won, and that was enough to forget our terrible league position.

However, the FA Cup wasn’t the most important victory of the season, although it is a competition very dear to Chelsea fans. On 19th May 2012 Chelsea Football Club became the first London club and only the 5th English club to win the Champions League, and they did it beautifully – wins against Napoli, Benfica, Barcelona (the best team in the world) and Bayern (who played the final in their home ground) make Chelsea’s victory convincing.

Petr Cech and Didier Drogba gave some of their best performances of their careers (but other boys – Ash, JT, et al deserve their praise too) -  that’s how these heroes returned. Lifting the Holy Grail was Didier Drogba’s swansong – the 34-year-old hero who decided to leave his home club did it the best way possible. Farewell, you legend!

I’ve witnessed history

When I got an unexpected bonus from work I decided it was time to go to Europe with Chelsea – it was now or never (because it could have been our last season in the Champions League for a while). So when Domir Skomina blew the full-time whistle in the quarter final 2nd leg, I booked a flight to Barcelona and I will never regret that decision.

I went to Barcelona knowing it was probably our last game in Europe, so my expectations weren’t high. I just went for the experience, the atmosphere, the company and with the hope of seeing something unforgettable. What I didn’t expect is a 10-man Chelsea (and my booking record still stands with JT being sent off) coming back from a 2-0 defeat with a wonderful strike from Ramires which got him the Goal of the Season award and his own chant, and an equalizer from Fernando Torres who, although he likes scoring against Spanish opponents, has failed to overcome his barren spell with Chelsea. His sprint towards the goal was the most exciting moment of the night and the culmination was incredible. I believe I was hugged by 10 people at the same time.

I don’t care that my first night in Barcelona is something I would like to forget, or that I got my phone nicked outside Camp Nou (so I have no photo evidence of myself there) – I have seen history and that memory lasts a lifetime. Pep Guardiola still hasn’t beaten Chelsea, and we have never seen Lionel Messi score, so everything stayed the way it should be. Chelsea fans were singing loud and proud for 3/4 hours until Camp Nou was empty, then all the way down and on route to the city to celebrate.

Who delivered and who didn’t

Every year there are players who underperform, and when summer comes and the question arises “who should leave?” we can spit out names like Joey Barton spits out venom. The names in my mind are Bosingwa who has been frustrating for the majority of the season, and Kalou, who joined the Blues as a promising youngster who didn’t develop into a world-class force. I believe Malouda is also past his best and even towards the end of the season he didn’t pull himself together, so I don’t see him getting a contract extension next summer. Sadly, at the moment Essien looks the same, but I still have faith in him.

Cech has already received a contract extension and rightly so - he along with Ivanovic have been our top players this season (Alan Davies, a massive Arsenal fan and the presenter of The Tuesday Club podcast, even called Ivanovic the best defender in the league) and show no signs of getting out of form. I even voted for Ivanovic as the Player of the Year, having also considered David Luiz who pulled out some wonderful performances, and is a natural talent who can tackle and throw long balls (and is the love of my life, duh), and JT – the unsung hero whose self-sacrificing saves make him a true inspiration. I chose Ivanovic because he really is the best and since I was choosing between him and Cech last year he had to get the honour this time.

Unless a rival fan reminds us of Chelsea’s league position, we wouldn’t even remember it. The FA Cup and Champions League double made 2011/2012 the best ever season. Long live the Blues!

Enjoy the summer and keep the blue flag flying high!

Written by Annely