The wait for a major trophy at Chelsea crossed the quarter-of-a-century threshold as we prepared to begin the 1996/97 season, having last claimed silverware in the 1971 European Cup Winners’ Cup. That triumph over Real Madrid in Athens felt like a long time ago.

But things had been changing at Stamford Bridge. The universally high regard that managers Glenn Hoddle and then Ruud Gullit were held in across the world, combined with the increasingly international nature of football, had allowed Chelsea to improve the team by attracting a calibre of player not previously available to us.

Making signings from the likes of AC Milan and Juventus would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier.

Gullit had taken over from Hoddle – who couldn’t resist the offer of leading the England national team – in the summer of 1996, looking to continue his predecessor's work in modernising the club while adopting a more continental approach on and off the pitch.

The Dutch player – who also coined the phrase ‘sexy football’ while working as a pundit for Euro 96 the same summer – was moving into management for the first time. By the end of the season, he would be both the first foreign manager and the first black manager to win a major trophy in England.

However, it wasn’t all about what was new. The team also had experienced stalwarts such as Dennis Wise and Steve Clarke, as well as the likes of Eddie Newton and Frank Sinclair, who had grown up together in the Chelsea youth system.

Going into the FA Cup final, those two groups had the added motivation of a well-established emotional bond with the club and the desire to erase painful memories of the 4-0 loss to Manchester United on the same Wembley stage two years earlier. As we prepared to face Middlesbrough in the 1997 final, there was a feeling that this time would be different.

‘The pressure was on us because of the team that we had,’ said captain Wise. ‘Walking into the dressing room in 1997, I looked at the players sitting there and knew we were the favourites. We knew we had a fantastic opportunity to win a trophy.’

It didn’t take long for that to start taking shape on the pitch. After receiving the ball from Wise, Roberto Di Matteo was allowed to run unchallenged from his own half into Middlesbrough territory and, when he was 30 yards out with the defenders still backing off, there was only one thing to do – pull the trigger.

The ball exploded off his foot and over Ben Roberts – now on the coaching staff at Chelsea – leading to a pumped up Di Matteo racing along the touchline in celebration. Only 43 seconds had elapsed and, at the time, it was the fastest goal scored in an FA Cup final at Wembley.

‘I thought to myself, “Maybe I will shoot,” and so I did,' recalled the Italian. ‘Maybe the Middlesbrough players didn’t think I would. To score so early was unexpected, I must say! Very unexpected! I was very happy to put us ahead; I felt over the moon.

‘I shortly lost total connection with what the moment was, I just started running. I didn't even know where to run. Everyone was chasing me. It was just a fantastic feeling; I had goose pimples. The rest, as they say, is history.’

The victory was sealed late on, again demonstrating that combination of foreign stars and local players hungry for success.

Gianfranco Zola flicked a cross back into danger and there was Newton – who had conceded the penalty for the opening goal in the 1994 final and returned from a lengthy spell sidelined by a broken leg – to make it 2-0 and gain his redemption.

The wait for major silverware was over. The Wembley party was just beginning, with some joking that the celebrations on the pitch went on for longer than the game itself. They continued back in London at the team hotel – where the players were joined by none other than Pele – and then on a packed Fulham Road during the bus parade the following day.

‘It was one of the best days of my life,’ remembered Gullit. ‘I knew it had been a long time since we won anything, and I saw the faces of the fans, and I saw the faces of the players, Mark Hughes, Dennis Wise – Mr Chelsea – and it made me happy.’

The reason for such wild celebrations was obvious. Chelsea was a changed club. A winning club once again, and one that could look to the future with real hope of challenging for honours on a regular basis.

It would not be misplaced optimism, either. The next season, the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup were both added to our collection. Having gone 26 years without claiming any major silverware before the 1997 FA Cup final, that day ended with Wise lifting the first of 25 trophies we would win in the following 26 years.

Wise summed it up best: 'The expectations went up, stayed up and continued into the new millennium'.