Rewriting The Record Books

Chelsea Football Club is 105 years old today and to mark Founders' Day, the Official Chelsea Website is publishing the results of extensive research that correct statistical records for players from the first half-century of the club's existence.

One notable finding is a discrepancy in the goalscoring figures for George 'Gatling Gun' Hilsdon, our first star striker whose Chelsea career began in the second season (1906/07) and ended in 1912.

Until now Hilsdon is believed to have scored 107 goals during his Chelsea years. His record is corrected to 108 goals from his 164 games. He remains ninth in the club's all-time scorer list.

In total the records of 50 players are officially amended. That 50 includes George Mills, another of the top 10 scorers, whose changes were announced in January 2009.

Also changing are the numbers of games played by four pre-war players who have made more than 300 appearances for Chelsea.

Jack Harrow, first choice left-back for over a decade, played 334 games rather than the previously recorded 333. Tommy Law, who took over from Harrow at left-back, has his total reduced by one to 318.

Bob McNeil, part of the side that appeared in Chelsea's first FA Cup Final, also loses a game and is down to 306 games while Harold Miller, an inside-forward or wing-half up to the Second World War, gains two to 365 games.

Nils Middelboe, a Dane who was Chelsea's first overseas player, is now credited with one goal. He had not broken his duck in previous records.

The research was initiated by Derek Webster, a Chelsea supporter with a keen interest in the club's statistics, and was verified by club statistician Paul Dutton and club historian Rick Glanvill.

The previously accepted records were cross-referenced with matchday programmes and yearbooks as well as newspaper reports and other sources, including the Football League's records, to iron out discrepancies.

There is also a change to the spelling of William Morison (previously Morrison), who played for Chelsea between 1924 and 1927. This follows research by Glanvill following correspondence with Morison's relatives via the Ask Statman feature on the website.

Pat Nevin: Making Sacrifices

The potentially tricky tie against Stoke was safely dealt with and I suspect JT rather enjoyed the second goal considering the 'light-hearted' banter from a section of the travelling fans. Certainly in the newspapers that was the headline story, boy do they know how to stretch out a drama to breaking point…Get over it and get on with the job of reporting the football please, certainly that is what I want to read about.

Lecture over, there was another subplot I noticed beginning to rear its head in a number of journalistic outlets, why has Nicolas Anelka's influence on games became much less marked over the past little while, specifically since Didier Drogba returned back for the African Cup of Nations?

I suspect it is not because Nic is in a big huff at getting moved into wider areas from being the focal point of the Chelsea attack, though part of the answer is in there. Just consider Wayne Rooney for a while. The Man United and England striker has been, as they say in the trade, on fire this season.

He is scoring regularly, involved in everything and grabbing the headlines for the right reasons. Everyone is wondering whether it is the new found maturity of being a father, his building up for a World Cup or a hundred other things. Actually it is almost certainly little more than the fact that he has been moved into the centre of the pitch from the wide area this season.

From a career of painful knowledge I am aware that you can become a peripheral figure on the wing if nobody passes to you. You could be in the form of your life but if team mates can't get the ball out to you regularly, then the game can go along merrily without you.

I always preferred playing more centrally quite simply because you get the ball more and you also have more options in front of you. Even someone as talented as Rooney can be overlooked in the team, especially if the striker is as high profile as Ronaldo was last season. Now the Portuguese poser has flounced off to Real Madrid, Rooney is allowed to flourish. He hasn't improved immeasurably in just a few months, he was always that good. He is just more involved, more central to the play now.

And so Nicolas Anelka finds himself in a similar position and though it probably pains him to some extent that he has to play second fiddle to Didier now and again, like any other player he probably understands why this is happening. It was ever thus. In my time I wanted to play as second striker to Kerry Dixon and I sometimes did when David Speedie was injured or suspended, usually scoring in the process. But as soon as Speeds was fit again, there was I waiting out on the wings for the odd pass again.

I understood the manager's wisdom, he said I could create and score from wide anyway, but the real point was that sometimes there are personal sacrifices that have to be made for the team, and right now Anelka is doing that.

The very worst thing in this situation is when fans, journos and pundits suggest your form has gone as well or that you don't seem to be trying as hard. Then the stats come out that you aren't getting as many touches, dribbling as much or completing as many passes.Not only are you sacrificing yourself but you are then roundly abused in the meantime. So let me just say that I know you are doing a good job Nic and that some of us applaud you for doing it, no matter what the OPTA stats suggest. He will still have an impact and hopefully it will be appreciated when he does.

So last week was the tough old question of what I put on a sausage sandwich. Now let me underline that as a former athlete I very rarely eat a sausage sandwich, one has to keep an eye on one's waistline. The answer is that although I prefer brown sauce on just about everything else, I actually prefer red sauce on a sausage sandwich. What did shock me was that more than 80% of you plumped for the brown sauce option, some for nothing, a few for mustard, but only 3% thought that red sauce should be the right choice.

Because of this important information I am going to try a brown sauce, sausage sandwich next time…surely all of you must have a point!

There was a surprisingly large number who entered the competition this week, even if there were only a few correct but there can only be one winner and Sofia Yukhneva from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, was chosen by the flighty feline type of the family (my nickname for me daughter is The Cat).

On a much more sensible and intelligent note this week, for a chance to win a copy of the Chelsea Here, Chelsea There book, can you tell me which Chelsea player is most likely to say the phrase 'perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim' to John Terry. Answers as ever to pat.nevin@chelseafc.com and as ever the winner will be picked at random by someone who in no way looks like Peter Bonetti in case you were wondering.

Oh and if anyone wants to listen to me DJing in London, playing some obscure indie music in a scruffy and friendly little club on the 19th March, let me know and I will send you the details.

Shaun Wright-Phillips And Chelsea Face Questions Over Unlicensed Agent

The Football Association is considering whether Shaun Wright-Phillips and Chelsea could face charges for dealing with an unlicensed agent, Mitchell Thomas, when Wright-Phillips moved to Stamford Bridge from Manchester City in July 2005. The investigation by the FA follows the outcome of a case brought by the Law Society against a solicitor, Timothy Drukker, who signed off the paperwork in the Wright‑Phillips deal but paid Thomas part of the £1.2m fee which Chelsea paid him.

If the FA does find that Thomas, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Luton Town defender, was involved in negotiating the deal, they could bring charges against Wright-Phillips and Chelsea. Penalties range from warnings to fines and even points deductions.

The Wright-Phillips transfer is the 17th deal, previously unidentified, handed over to the FA by Quest, the investigators the Premier League hired to conduct the so-called "bungs inquiry" into transfers by its clubs between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2006. Quest cleared all the other deals, but said more inquiries should be made into No17. At the time, the Wright-Phillips deal was not identified because the Law Society had begun proceedings.

They only reached their conclusion in January, with a finding by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal that Drukker was guilty of "conduct unbecoming a solicitor" during the transfer and in "misleading" Quest when they made inquiries. He was fined £15,000, the tribunal having decided there was no dishonesty on his part but that Drukker's actions "had resulted in the undermining of the Fifa regulations".

Drukker himself told the tribunal he had been asked by "parties close to Shaun Wright-Phillips" to act as his agent when the details of the move to Chelsea had been agreed. Drukker was paid a fee understood to be £1.2m, did not keep any of it and paid it to others including Thomas.

The FA has been taking a strong stance against unlicensed agents in recent years, because it sees licensing as crucial to its ability to regulate the multimillion-pound flows of money in transfers. Chelsea paid City £21m for Wright-Phillips, a huge sum that summer and vital for City who were struggling financially.

Any FA charges would be brought against Wright-Phillips and Chelsea, not Thomas, since the FA cannot take action against unlicensed agents because they are operating outside football's rules. An FA spokesman said: "We are aware of the outcome of these proceedings and are considering what action, if any, may be appropriate in relation to football rules."

Chelsea and Wright-Phillips both denied that Thomas had been involved in the transfer and said that Drukker himself had conducted the negotiations. "We believe we acted appropriately at all times," a Chelsea spokesman said.

Chelsea Offer Nicolas Anelka & Joe Cole One-Year Contract Extensions On Reduced Wages

Chelsea forwards Nicolas Anelka and Joe Cole look to set to learn about the new, more stringent economic policy at Stamford Bridge very soon, with a report from The Sun claiming that the pair will be offered only one-year extensions to their current contracts by the club hierarchy.

Those one-year extensions, with the option of another year only available if both club and player agree, will also be on substantially reduced wages, according to the report.

The new policy is apparently part of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's plan to cut costs at Stamford Bridge, after players such as Juan Veron and Andriy Shevchenko cost tens of millions of pounds in wages whilst on loan at other clubs.

The two Blues stars are said to have been somewhat surprised by the offer.

However, their pointing to the fact that Didier Drogba, John Terry and Frank Lampard, all older than Anelka, 30, and Cole, 28, have all recently inked new long-term deals, each worth more than £6 million a year, cut no ice with the Blues' hierarchy as football adjusts to a new economic climate.

Anelka is currently the fourth highest ranked Chelsea player in the Castrol Rankings, at No.27 overall, while Cole is 18th in the Chelsea team and No.1324 overall.

Chelsea Comment: Michael Ballack Ushers In New Era Of Sense And Responsibility

They say you learn more about a man in adversity than you ever can in success.

The jury might still be out on how John Terry has responded to his recent publicity but it cannot be doubted that the general public have a better idea of his character now than they ever did when he was lifting trophies with Chelsea.

In contrast, team-mate Michael Ballack has been offered a new contract extension that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2011, with an option for both club and player to agree to extend that by another year.

Interestingly, and perhaps controversially, the deal will see the German midfielder’s wage more than halved. But even more interestingly, Ballack looks likely to agree to it.

Back in 2006, Ballack signed for the club on a free transfer after a successful career at Bayern Munich, and agreed a £121,000-a-week contract that made him the highest paid player at the club.

The move came at the zenith of Roman Abramovich’s ownership, where the twin factors of insatiable Champions League ambition and the Russian's vast wealth perfectly aligned to net certain lucky players (Andriy Shevchenko being another) huge paydays.

But now, four years on, the increasingly pragmatic Abramovich - via current club chief executive Ron Gourlay - wants the club to attain self-sufficiency and that means a pay-cut for the previously handsomely rewarded 34-year-old midfielder.

The deal on offer will reportedly see Ballack earn £60,000-a-week, with that rising to £80,000 if he plays 20 games in a season (he has played 24 of 28 league matches this term). And Ballack is about to bulk the traditional view that says footballers are all about the money by gladly agreeing to it.

“It’s about what both sides want. We’ll sit down together soon and there’s no pressure,” Ballack revealed to The Times in an interview late last year.

“I like the club and I like London, and it would be perfect if I could stay.”

Reaching the twilight of his career, Ballack no longer ranks earnings as the priority - it is now more about what his family wants, what he still wants to achieve in the game, and how he sees his life developing after football.

If Chelsea give him certain reassurances that they will exercise their option to extend his contract through to 2012 (Ballack wants to retire after that year’s European Championships) then he will have little hesitation about agreeing to the deal.

“You have to use London,” he said. “It’s really good for everything. It’s an amazing possibility to play for such a big club and live in such a city."

And, having failed to win either the Premier League or Champions League since arriving at Stamford Bridge, the German still has a hunger to achieve something great with the club.

“You don’t step back and have less motivation when you get older, the opposite is true," he said.

“You become more focused, more professional in terms of things like looking after your body and more determined because you can see all the younger players coming up, looking for your place.”

Both Nicolas Anelka and Joe Cole - the club’s other players with pressing contract issues - have been offered similar deals, and both have responded to recent offers with a mixture of shock and outrage that (presumably) would have team-mate Ashley Cole nodding his head approvingly.

News broke on Tuesday that the Blues have re-opened constructive negotiations with Anelka over a new deal, and it will be interesting to see whether the notoriously greedy player is pressured by his club to adopt a similar stance to Ballack.

Because, despite his age, the 30-year-old is arguably in a stronger negotiating position than Cole. The club are notably short of world-class strikers (Drogba is the only other, with Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge and Fabio Borini still developing) and as such the club cannot really afford to let him leave.

Gourlay and Abramovich might want to be fiscally responsible, but both they and everyone else at the club recognise that £10 million over two years for an established squad member (with a respectable goalscoring record) will be more cost-effective than the £20-30m transfer fee needed to ensnare a signing of equal talent.

Cole, on the other hand, is in a tougher quandary. The 28-year-old plays in a position where Chelsea already have an enviable amount of depth (Nemanja Matic and Gael Kakuta, both highly rated by the Chelsea management, have barely played this season) and his performances this campaign really haven’t warranted the rumoured £120,000-a-week (a £40,000 hike) he is demanding.

With rumoured interest from the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City, it is not hard to anticipate the former West Ham United prodigy leaving the club come the season’s end. But the club are keen to retain his services, and as a self-confessed Chelsea fan who has come back from similar set-backs at Stamford Bridge before, the emotional attachment cannot be overlooked.

After the money thrown at Terry, Alex and Salomon Kalou late last year it is tempting for Cole, Anelka and Ballack to view their modest offers as a slight on their ability and importance. But in reality, considering the changing economic landscape around football these days, the club are simply working to a different financial model.

Ballack, to his credit, has recognised and accepted that fact - doing what is best for his family rather than his bank balance. With his first child on the way, Cole now has to evaluate the same factors.

Ballack believes that considering his family’s needs will give Cole greater perspective and help him make a better choice.

“It comes with age. When you’re young it’s football, football, football,” Ballack reflected.

“Then you get a family, kids come into things and you find you have a broader view of life. You get your inspiration from many different places.”

That choice might still be to leave the club. Carlo Ancelotti is showing no signs of entrusting Cole with more first-team responsibility, and with his England career waning the chance to re-establish himself elsewhere - and, in the process, pick up the wage he wants - might indeed be the best thing for him and his young family.

As a player he is a risk-taker, a mercurial talent, and rolling the dice at a crucial stage in his career might prove the most effective course of action.

Ballack is much more of a pragmatist (being German probably helps in that respect), but he believes transferring his playing approach to his off-field decisions has served him well in what has been a stellar career.

“For me, football it this level is about making the right decisions on the pitch,” he notes.

“You can’t do it all the time, of course, but if you make the right decisions nearly every time you will usually win the game. That’s what I’ve found, anyway.”

If Ballack signs his new contract, it will have the feel of yet another right decision. The deal will free up valuable funds for the club that can be redirected towards new signings (or towards achieving that magical self-sufficiency target) and, equally importantly, the deal will establish a precedent for diminishing wages as other aging Chelsea stars reach negotiations (Terry, Lampard, Drogba will all find the precedent affecting negotiations in future seasons).

Both moves will aid the long-term stability of the club, ensuring vital resources can be re-distributed to the future of the club, rather than being hoarded by former star players who are past their peak.

All in all, it should prove an important step towards ensuring Chelsea remain competitive in England and Europe, even as the purse strings continue to be tightened.

Back in the summer of 2006, Ballack’s signing was yet another reinforcement of Roman Abramovich’s ability and willingness to throw around all the money he believed was required to guarantee success.

Five years on, the same player's modest contract renewal should firmly usher Chelsea into a new era of fiscal sense and responsibility.

Three Chelsea Cult Heroes

What does the term ‘cult hero’ mean to you? Perhaps it invokes memories of an honest tryer with wayward shooting but a loveable face. Or that surly bloke from the continent who only stayed for a season but scored the winner against your local rivals that one time. Or even that ridiculously talented bit-part player whose omission from the side you always resented the manager for.

The characteristics that qualify a player as a cult hero are plentiful, diverse and often intangible; and, in recognition of these life-affirming souls, Sport.co.uk picks three Chelsea FC players who once graced Stamford Bridge yet live on in the hearts of the Blues fans, wherever they may be…

Petar Borota – The Serbian goalkeeper was well known for nearly bringing Chelsea FC fans out in panic attacks with his frequent forays up the field to try and dribble past opposing outfield players, not to mention his predilection for throwing the ball against the crossbar when he was about to take a goalkick! Brought in by Danny Blanchflower as a replacement for Peter Bonetti, he was named as Chelsea FC’s player of the season in 1981 but his risky yet crowd-pleasing antics as proved too much for Bonetti’s successor John Neal. Despite his eccentricities, he kept an impressive 36 clean sheets in 114 appearances for the Blues. Borota passed away last month aged just 56.

Erland Johnsen – Chelsea FC bought the Norwegian centre-half from Bayern Munich suspiciously soon after he scored from the half-way line against Scotland for his country – surely they weren’t expecting him to repeat the trick? – but he turned out to be solid performer and was named the club’s player of the season in 1995. As the Ruud Gullit/Gianluca Vialli revolution got going in earnest, Johnsen found himself out of the frame but he excelled during the side’s run to the European Cup Winner’s Cup semi-finals in the 1994-1995 season and remains a popular figure at Stamford Bridge.

Paul Canoville – The left-winger was the first black player to play for Chelsea and did so at a time (the early-to-mid 80s) when racism was still too prominent a feature of football. As such, he was subjected to abuse by elements of Chelsea’s support and, according to the man himself in his autobiography ‘Black and Blue’, even one or two high profile teammates. His book deals with how he overcame these obstacles, as well as cancer (twice), crack addiction and the death of his baby son.

Ashley Cole's Hopes Of Reconciliation Dashed As Cheryl Throws Herself Into Work

Ashley Cole's hopes of a meeting with estranged wife Cheryl seems ever more distant today as the singer instead threw herself into work commitments in London.

As she spent the morning at a rehearsal studio in south-west London, it emerged that Ashley may need a further week rehabilitating an ankle injury at a clinic in the south of France.

Ashley had hoped for an audience with Cheryl in London today to desperately try to explain away his infidelities.

Sources close to Cheryl have however told MailOnline that the best he can hope for is a frank one-to-one with her about how they should divide their assets in a divorce.

However neither seemed likely today as Cheryl left her home before lunch and headed straight to a recording studio in Putney, south-west London to rehearse for upcoming performances to promote her debut solo album.

Miss Cole arrived at Ritz Studios, a venue specialising in rehearsals for band before they begin live tours, at around 11am and left a couple of hours later, headed back home.

A few moments later, her chauffeur-driven Mercedes limousine left, empty, signalling that she was preparing to spend the rest of the day at home.

It has now emerged that Cole may be staying on for a further week for treatment.