In Chinese culture, the zodiac cycle lasts for 12 years with each year represented by a different animal. The ox is the second animal in the cycle and previous editions of the Year of the Ox have marked some significant events in the proud history of Chelsea Football Club.

2009 – FA Cup glory

The last time the Year of the Ox was celebrated in 2009 proved eventful for the Blues as we suffered a disappointing setback and another glorious success while laying the foundation for a major triumph the following year.

We parted company with manager Luiz Felipe Scolari in February after a string of poor results but the appointment of Guus Hiddink as caretaker manager gave the Blues a huge lift as we won 11 of our last 13 league games to secure a Champions League spot and made deep runs in two cup competitions

Chelsea missed out on the Champions League final after losing on away goals to Barcelona in a controversial last-four encounter but won the FA Cup for the fifth time after coming from behind to beat Everton 2-1 in the final.

Carlo Ancelotti became Chelsea’s new manager that July and the Italian would go on to lift the Blues to greater heights during the course of the 2009/10 campaign.

1997 – Success returns to the Bridge

Our FA Cup victory in 2009 came 12 years after another triumph in the competition which marked a big turning point in the club’s recent history.

Prior to 1997, Chelsea had gone 26 years without winning a major honour but the appointment of Ruud Gullit as player-manager at the start of 1996/97 brought a new swagger to the club which would be backed up by success on the pitch.

While the Blues lacked the consistency to challenge for the Premier League title, we found our form in the FA Cup as we saw off the likes of Liverpool and Leicester City on our run to the final where Roberto Di Matteo struck after 43 seconds set up a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

The long drought ended, Gullit set about enhancing our squad in the summer of 1997, signing goalkeeper Ed de Goey, midfielder Gustavo Poyet and forward Tore Andre Flo, who would all help bring further success to the club in the years which followed.

1985 – Dixon fires up the Blues

After a five-year exile in Division Two, Chelsea returned to the top flight in 1984/85 and the side built by John Neal proved we belonged at that level as we finished in the top six in our first season back.

The step up from the second tier to the elite of English football did not prove a problem for the likes of Pat Nevin, Eddie Niedzwiecki, Nigel Spackman and David Speedie, but the Chelsea star who shone brightest in that campaign was our hot young striker Kerry Dixon.

His 36 goals that season included 24 in the league which made him the division’s joint top scorer with Leicester City’s Gary Lineker. It also gave Dixon the unique achievement of topping the scoring chart in three different divisions in consecutive seasons after he had netted 26 for Reading in Division Three in 1982/83 and 28 for the Blues in Division Two the following year.

1973 – Wilkins makes Chelsea debut

After a fine decade for the Blues following promotion in 1963, our fortunes began to wane in the 1972/73 season as Dave Sexton’s aging side finished in the bottom half of the table for the first time in 10 years.

The high cost of redeveloping Stamford Bridge and building the new East Stand limited the club’s ability to sign new players so the onus was on bringing through young talent from our Academy.

The likes of Gary Locke, Kenny Swain and Micky Droy would make their mark on the club but the biggest star to emerge from that crop was Ray Wilkins, who made his Chelsea debut against Norwich in October 1973, just a month after his 17th birthday.

Such was his outstanding talent that the teenager was soon playing regularly for the Blues and became our youngest club captain in 1975 at the tender age of 18. Wilkins went on to play 198 games for the club, scoring 34 goals, and returned to Stamford Bridge for a couple of spells as a coach before his untimely death in 2018.

1961 – The Doc takes charge

Having arrived at Chelsea as a player in 1961, Tommy Docherty was called on soon afterwards to replace Ted Drake as our manager at the age of 33.

Docherty’s five-and-a-half year reign at Stamford Bridge was eventful as the sharp-witted and innovative Scot shaped a squad which featured the likes of Chelsea youth products Peter Bonetti, Ron Harris, John Hollins and Bobby Tambling into one of the top clubs in England.

While he couldn’t save us from relegation in 1962, promotion quickly followed a year later and the team known as Docherty’s Diamonds went on to become contenders for domestic honours as well as taking on the cream of Europe in the Fairs Cup.

A League Cup in 1965 was the sole trophy won under his watch but the blueprint laid by Docherty brought us more success under his successor Dave Sexton and his imprint on the club remains to this day in the all-blue shirt and shorts combination which he first introduced.