John Terry (left) and Frank Lampard lift the Cup
May 15, 2010: The FA Cup Final is held at the new Wembley Stadium in London. West London team Chelsea Football Club become the 7th English club to “do the Double,” winning both the Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season.
They defeat Portsmouth, the Hampshire team already in administration and relegation. The (then) richest team in the country had been held to a standstill for nearly an hour by a bankrupt one, before luck turned: Didier Drogba, the big forward from Africa's Ivory Coast, scored in the 59th minute.
Carlo Ancelotti, who had both played on and managed a European Cup winner at AC Milan, had led Chelsea to both English domestic titles. Prince William, as President of the Football Association, handed the FA Cup to Chelsea's Captain, centreback John Terry.
Terry was a despicable individual, leading others. On September 12, 2001, the day after the 9/11 attacks, he and midfielder Frank Lampard drunkenly insulted American tourists at a hotel on the grounds of London's Heathrow Airport, stranded there because restrictions meant they couldn't yet fly home. A hotel manager stated: "They were utterly disgusting. They just didn't seem to care about what had happened."
Terry was cited for racist remarks on several occasions. In 2009, he had an affair with French model Vanessa Perroncel, then the girlfriend of teammate Wayne Bridge, breaking them up. In 2010, in their 1st game against each other after the revelation of the scandal, Bridge, then playing for Manchester City, shook hands with every Chelsea player except Terry.
In addition, many players for Chelsea, during the 2003-2022 ownership of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, were guilty of "diving" in the penalty area, so that referees would award them penalties. Drogba was the worst of the lot: He even, after leaving Chelsea and playing for Turkish team Galatasaray, dove against Arsenal FC in a preseason friendly. Other Chelsea players noted for diving include Arjen Robben, Michael Ballack, and Juan Mata.
Other Chelsea players were guilty of dirty tackles: Branislav Ivanović, José Bosingwa, Nemanja Matić, Raul Meireles, Ramires (Santos do Nascimento). So Chelsea were unworthy champions.
It's not just the players, it's the fans. Chelsea's hooligans, including their main "firm," the Chelsea Headhunters, have long been associated with England's far right, with the National Front, the UK Independence Party and the British National Party (the NF, the UKIP and the BNP). Infamously, after a Champions League match with Paris Saint-Germain on February 17, 2015, they pushed a black PSG fan off a Metro train, and sang, to the tune of Little Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him," "We're racist, we're racist, we're racist, and that's the way we like it, we like it, we like it!"
Funny thing: Despite their team's success over the last dozen years or so, their hooligans weren't very good at fighting. They usually get their heads handed to them by the big English firms. Fellow Londoners West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur have firms that routinely beat them, and tough guys from Newcastle and Leeds tend to "run" them as well.
So what the Chelsea lads do is find a pub about a mile from the ground, wreck the place, scare a few women and old men inside, then go on their mobile phones and "claim a result," asking where the other team's famous firm was. This usually doesn't end well.
Prior to Abramovich buying the team in 2003: This was Chelsea's major trophy record: They had won the old Football League Division One in 1955; the FA Cup in 1970, 1997 and 2000; the Football League Cup in 1965 and 1998; and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (which no longer exists) in 1971 and 1998.
After "The Mad Russian" bought them, and started pumping his billions into the club, they won Premier League and the League Cup in 2005; the League again in 2006; both domestic cups, the FA Cup and the League Cup, in 2007; the FA Cup in 2009; The Double, the League and the FA Cup, in 2010; the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League in 2012; the UEFA Europa League in 2013; the League and the League Cup in 2015; the League again in 2017; the FA Cup again in 2018; the Europa League again in 2019; and the Champions League again in 2021.
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May 15, 2010, like all FA Cup Final days, was a Saturday. There were 6 games in North America's soccer league, Major League Soccer:
* The New York Red Bulls lost to the Seattle Sounders, 1-0 at Red Bull Arena (now Sports Illustrated Stadium) in Harrison, New Jersey. I was at this game. Colombian forward Fredy Montero scored the winning goal in the 85th minute.
* The New England Revolution and the San Jose Earthquakes played to a draw, 0-0 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
* The Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas played to a draw, 1-1 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
* The Colorado Rapids beat D.C. United, 1-0 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. The Rapids went on to win the MLS Cup that season.
* The Columbus Crew beat Los Angeles team Chivas USA, 1-0 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
* The Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City) and the Chicago Fire played to a draw, 2-2 at CommunityAmerica Ballpark (now Legends Field) in Kansas City, Kansas.
* And the LA Galaxy and Toronto FC played to a draw, 0-0 at the Home Depot Center (now Dignity Health Sports Park) in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California.
American football was out of season. The NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs were between rounds. And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-1 at Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher. Mark Teixeira and Jorge Posada hit home runs. Derek Jeter went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
* The New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, 7-5 at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. David Wright hit a home run for the Mets.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-1 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers, 6-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Ricky Romero pitches a 5-hit shutout.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-6 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Ramón Ramírez walked Ramón Santiago with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-6 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Colorado Rockies swept a doubleheader from the Washington Nationals, 6-2 and 4-3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 4-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 12-3 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco.
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