It was at 5.12pm when John Terry, the departing Didier Drogba at his side and team-mates coiled to spring at his back, finally hoisted the Premier League trophy. The title had already been theirs for three weeks, although Chelsea’s superiority over allcomers had actually been established during that searing start last autumn and was only fleetingly challenged by Manchester City at the turn of the year. Chelsea have been top for 274 days, the only club of the 92 to remain unbeaten at home. Theirs has been a campaign of utter dominance.
The achievement was rightly celebrated with gusto; players and staff parading with their families amid the ticker-tape as Madness blared out over the public address system and those from the Shed End to the Matthew Harding stand bounced in glee. José Mourinho flung his winner’s medal to his daughter, Matilde, and offered eight fingers to the cameras, the tally of league titles he has secured at four clubs and as many countries. Drogba, crowned by the lid of the trophy, took the microphone and made a point of mentioning the absent Frank Lampard, a scorer for Manchester City on his final appearance in English football at the distant Etihad.
Perhaps all the pomp and circumstance would have been more suited for the immediate aftermath of that victory over Crystal Palace on 3 May, when the title was sealed. At least the joyous delirium gave Drogba and, most likely, Petr Cech fitting sendoffs after glittering careers in these parts. The Ivorian, as befits a player of his charisma, managed to hog the limelight in a last-day win of which he played barely 28 minutes. Chelsea’s captain for the day had been retired from the fray just after Sunderland had taken the lead, the home players propping him on their shoulders – Branislav Ivanovic, Mikel John Obi and Juan Cuadrado took the brunt – and chairlifting him from the field.
It took two minutes for Drogba to depart, the entire coaching staff and the sporting director, Michael Emenalo, waiting on the touchline to clap hands with the striker. The theatre had been pre-arranged, and cleared with Sunderland’s Dick Advocaat before kick-off. It gave the occasion the feel of a testimonial, although some players warrant such adulation.
“He was part of the ‘other’ team,” said Mourinho, a reference to the 2005 Premier League title winners, eight of whose number had joined Cech, Drogba and John Terry on the pitch before kick-off to mark that achievement a decade on. “But he also belongs to this new Chelsea. For these players to know him, train with him, live with him, play with him, share with him is fantastic. He was very, very good for these young people. They learned from a good example.”
His replacement, Diego Costa, duly hauled the hosts level by scoring his 20th league goal of an impressive first campaign in English football from the penalty spot after John O’Shea tripped Cuadrado. Another substitute, Loïc Rémy, scored twice after the interval to ensure the third highest points tally in this club’s history, even if it was Drogba, returning to the pitch post-match, who claimed the match ball as his own. No one was denying him that.
For Cech, an awkward decision awaits. He may already have determined that the time is right to move on, 11 years since he arrived in south-west London, after a frustrating season largely spent playing understudy to Thibaut Courtois. The crowd made clear their desire for him to stay, rejoicing in his denials of Sebastian Larsson, Connor Wickham and Jermain Defoe, even if Steven Fletcher had been able to nod the visitors ahead, having been untracked at a corner beyond the far post.
“He’s a legend of this club but he’s a legend at 33,” Mourinho said of Cech. “And 33 for a goalkeeper is a very young legend. I’m not sure, if Petr was not here to make decisive saves in the seven [league] matches he played, if we could be champions, so his contribution was decisive.” He set Cech’s current team-mates the challenge to secure trophies such as this “on a regular basis”. “This team is just at the beginning,” he added. “It won the Capital One Cup and the Premier League. They have to win more to be better than the side of 2005.”
Sunderland, too, have issues to address. Advocaat’s achievement in staving off relegation was impressive and there is a clamour for him to stay on and instigate the overhaul of the playing staff the Dutchman admitted was necessary. “It’s not up to me because they offered me already two or three years,” he said. “But I have to be honest to myself and to everybody what I will do for the future.”
He will make a decision, in conversation with the sporting director, Lee Congerton, this week at about the same time as Chelsea depart for Thailand and Australia for a post-season tour. The celebrations, to be continued in Monday’s parade through the borough, will be protracted.
Man of the match Loïc Rémy (Chelsea)
