After reaching the milestone of 200 games as captain, Cesar Azpilicueta is a shoo-in for our skippers’ selection – but who else would make it into a team made up of those who have worn the armband with distinction?

It’s quite some achievement for the Spaniard, who first captained the Blues in an FA Cup semi-final win over Tottenham Hotspur in 2017. Now, a little more than five years on, he’s done it more often than almost any other player since the Second World War.

John Terry skippered us 580 times, Ron Harris 324 and Dennis Wise 298; all three of them obviously make this team, along with Azpi. Read on to find out who joins them in a 5-4-1 formation – unsurprisingly, it was rather tougher to pick defenders than attackers…

Willie Foulke

It is pretty rare for goalkeepers to be named as captain, but Foulke skippered us in our first-ever competitive game, which was against Stockport County in September 1905. At 6ft 4in and 22 stone, he was quite the imposing presence between the posts. He spent just the solitary campaign at the Bridge, but his name still crops up from time to time more than 100 years later.

Ron Harris

Chelsea’s all-time leading appearance maker captained the club in 324 of his 795 appearances, and he was the man who led us to FA Cup and European glory for the first time. His loyalty to the cause was summed up by the fact he remained long after the glory years of the early 1970s had passed by and he no longer had the captaincy.

Colin Pates

For a lot of these entries, the phrase ‘wearing the armband’ isn’t applicable – Pates was the first Chelsea skipper who had a physical representation of the role, initially with a bandage and then later a bit of red sock! The centre-half first took on the captaincy late in our 1983/84 promotion campaign and he also lifted the Full Members’ Cup at Wembley in 1986.

Micky Droy

There are not many in this or indeed any Chelsea XI who could physically get the better of Droy, who was a hulking centre-half during the dark days of the late Seventies and early Eighties. He was captain for much of that time, but he was not the type of leader you may have expected – Micky was the club’s PFA representative, so he was as much a diplomat as he was a bruiser.

John Terry

Do we really need to say anything more than: Captain, Leader, Legend? JT came through the ranks to captain the club in more matches than any other player, as well as lifting more trophies than anyone else in our history full stop. Enough said.

Cesar Azpilicueta

Azpi is approaching 10 years at the club, but he had to wait six years to wear the captaincy regularly, initially during Maurizio Sarri’s first season – when Gary Cahill rarely featured – before taking on the role on a more formal basis under Frank Lampard. He has won the lot as a Blue, leading by example both on and off the pitch, and he is the only man to lead us to Club World Cup glory.

Dennis Wise

As Chelsea approached things in a more cosmopolitan way, shall we say, during the Nineties, Wise was the glue in the dressing room who made it all come together in a beautiful marriage of styles. The end result was spectacular, as we ended a near-three decade wait for major silverware – and the trophies kept coming. And despite what you might have heard, he could play a bit, too!

Terry Venables

Having skippered Chelsea to FA Youth Cup glory for the first time in 1960, it was not long before Terry was leading Tommy Docherty’s Diamonds in the first team. As much as he inspired his team-mates, it was his eye for tactics which was perhaps most startling. However, his on-field tinkering did not go down with his manager and a parting of ways became inevitable.

Ray Wilkins

The late, great Wilkins holds the record as Chelsea’s youngest permanent captain, as he was only 18 years old when Eddie McCreadie entrusted him with the role. ‘It raised a few eyebrows, but he was mature for his age and I thought he was very special,’ said the Scot. His judgement proved spot on – Ray was not only a great player, he was a leader of men.

John Hollins

The reason for the word ‘permanent’ in the Wilkins entry is because Hollins was four months younger than Wilkins when he deputised at the age of 18 years and three months. He also stands alone in this team, as he is the only one who went on to be appointed Chelsea manager on a full-time basis. His enthusiasm was infectious and he was the very definition of a lead-by-example skipper.

Roy Bentley

Only two players have ever captained Chelsea to the English top-flight championship: Roy Bentley and John Terry, although we should add that Gary Cahill wore the armband for much of our triumphant 2016/17 Premier League campaign. Bentley scored the goals which led us to the title in 1955, a season in which he was both the spearhead and standard-bearer.