10 CHELSEA PLAYERS WITH THE HIGHEST APPEARANCES FOR THE CLUB.
PART I;
In this post we are going to discuss about the Chelsea player with the highest appearances for the club. There are 10 Chelsea players with the highest appearances for the club, but in this part 1 of 10 Chelsea players with highest appearances for Chelsea football club we are going to start with the player that holds the highest record appearances for the club.
RONALD EDWARD HARRIS, is the player with the most appearances for the club. He played a record 795 games for Chelsea. The defender was born in London, England on 13th november 1944. He played for Chelsea in the 1960's and 1970's. He was regarded as one of the toughest defenders of his time.
Harris was part of the Chelsea team that won the youth FA CUP in 1961. On february 1962, he made his senior team appearance in a match against Sheffield Wednesday . His debut game was a one he would be proud to remember because, Chelsea won the game 1-0. Within a year , he established himself as a regular in the Chelsea team. He formed an integral part of the then Chelsea manager Tommy Docherty's youth oriented rebuilding of the club after they were relegated from the first division.
Upon the club's return to top division, he improved his game so much with a series of strong performances. The League Cup win against Leicestery City in 1965 was his first major trophy with Chelsea. The same season Chelsea finished 3rd in the League after a poor run of one win in their final five matches.
Harris became the club captain in 1966 and in 1967 he became the youngest ever captain to lead out a side in FA CUP finals, though they lost 2-1 to Tottenham. Three years later Harris led Chelsea to another FA CUP final, this time against Leeds United. Chelsea won that FA CUP 2-1 in a replayed final at Old Trafford.
The following season Harris led Chelsea to their first major European honour- the UEFA CUP WINNERS CUP against Realmadrid in Athens. Chelsea also reached a second LEAGUE CUP final in 1972, but were surprisingly beaten by Stoke. That match was Harris last major final for the club.
During the 1970's many of Chelsea's star players departed for various reasons, but Harris remained an ever present in the side throughout the decade, though he lost the club captaincy to the 18 year old Ray Wilkins(now Ancellotis's assistant at Chelsea). In 1980 Harris finally left Chelsea to become a player-manager at Brentford .He later had a brief stint as player-manager of Aldershot.
