In each of his five seasons as a Chelsea player between 2003 and 2008, Claude Makelele’s performances rarely dipped below excellent.

He was the battery of our midfield in more than 200 games and is fondly remembered by Blues fans, his former team-mates and the wider footballing fraternity. After all, no other Chelsea player had a position named after them!

It's why singling out a campaign of his that stood above the rest is no easy task, but if we had to, the choice would probably be 2005/06.

That was the season that Makelele was voted the Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year. He started 31 of the 36 games we needed to retain the Premier League title and navigated the fresh challenge opposition teams posed by man-marking him, taking his all-round game to an even higher level.

Twenty years on, speaking to us in the West Stand at Stamford Bridge, it is clearly a campaign and an era he looks back on with fondness.

‘It’s always difficult to win the Premier League and winning it for a second time in a row really demonstrates you are the best team,’ Makelele says.

‘For me, it’s not about trophies. It’s about putting my name in the history books. Time is the best trophy. I left something for young players to understand how to play in this position.

‘The relationship I had with the fans was electric and I appreciate it a lot. They gave me back what I gave them every single game. And I think this team will always be in the mind of Chelsea fans.’

We only suffered three league defeats before the final dead rubbers away to Blackburn and Newcastle, when the title was won. Of those, Makelele missed the surprising 3-0 reverse at Middlesbrough and then, in a feisty local derby at Craven Cottage, Fulham manager Chris Coleman received plaudits for targeting Makelele.

‘Stop Makelele and you stop Chelsea,’ Coleman said, having deployed Steed Malbranque to stay tight to our dynamic No.4. ‘Everything goes through Makelele; he starts the attacks.’

By this point, the French international was 33 years old, but what had made him such a talented and innovative player throughout his career was a willingness and ability to adapt.

‘It gave me an extra job, but it made me more concentrated and more focused,’ he says. ‘I analysed games more closely. I would speak with Jose Mourinho before games about where I could move to get away from the middle and to open space for others.

'Sometimes I made the decision on my own during the game and told my team-mates. They believed in me because they saw me taking responsibility and knew I had a clear understanding of the situation.

‘I knew it was happening and I had the same thing when I was at Real Madrid. There were a lot of good teams in La Liga and they would always be marking me. I’m not scoring goals, why are they marking me?!

‘I remember in the Premier League I was starting the play and the opposition striker would come and stay with me. I came to realise why they marked me. To play good football, with possession starting from the back, if you don’t have that creativity at the back, it’s difficult to win games.

‘I remember during one game speaking to my friend Thierry Henry. He said, ‘The manager has told me to stay with you and I’m not happy because I want to play!’ So I said, ‘Thierry – move! Leave me alone!’

Makelele was supported in midfield that season by Frank Lampard and new signing Michael Essien, with Geremi, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Maniche also occasionally filling in.

Makelele says the ‘connection’ of that midfield was central to our title triumph. He recalls our 4-3-3 shape providing stability, while the cohesiveness and unity within the squad paved the way for sustained success.

‘We were competitors and we always wanted to learn. At half-time, we talked about the situation, we changed, we adapted to the qualities of our team-mates. That was the way we got good results.

‘We wanted to win and we would sacrifice anything to do that. We wanted to progress together, to win trophies. We had dinners together; we would go out together with our families. This created a positive atmosphere. We would bring that to the game, and in those years, we created something really special.’