Despite playing in the pre-Premier League era, when fighting relegation seemed to be more common than winning silverware for the Blues, Kerry Dixon is a Chelsea legend.

In his nine years at the club, between 1982 and 1993, our beloved No.9 put the ball in the back of the net 193 times, and finished as the top scorer in Division Two and the top flight in consecutive years – for good measure, he also won the Division Three Golden Boot while at Reading the season before he arrived at Stamford Bridge.

Now a popular matchday host at the Bridge, Kerry has personally signed every copy of the new book Chelsea: The Official History that is available through the Chelsea Megastore or online store.

During a break between signing books at the publisher’s warehouse near his home in Luton, he sat down with us to reflect on his own part in the Chelsea story...

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One of the club’s most famous matches was away to Bolton Wanderers in May 1983, when defeat could have seen us relegated to the Third Division. Instead, we won 1-0 and you joined us from Reading that summer. If Chelsea had lost that game, would you have come here?

'I was aware of interest from clubs during my last season at Reading, but Chelsea were not one of the ones mentioned. To be honest, I was just happy playing my football. Even after Reading got relegated [to the old Fourth Division], I wasn’t desperate to leave, but then Ken Bates turned up one morning in pre-season and invited me for a day’s training.

'The only catch was the team was at a training camp in Aberystwyth in Wales, so he drove me there in his Rolls-Royce! When we finally got there, they had me running up sand dunes and it was brutal. It nearly killed me! I agreed to sign a contract the next day just because it would mean I’d have to go back to London and it got me out of another day on the dunes!'

How big a part did the history of Chelsea play in your decision to join the club?

'It played a big part. I was aware of all the history, especially the 1970 FA Cup final, when they beat Leeds with the likes of Ossie [Peter Osgood], Ian Hutchinson and Dave Webb. I knew they were a huge club.

You made an immediate impact, scoring twice on your debut against Derby County, and it carried on from there as you finished as top scorer and we won promotion back to the top flight…

'The whole season was magical. There were a lot of good sides in the Second Division, like Man City and Sheffield Wednesday, and then there was Kevin Keegan up at Newcastle. We’d signed six new players – me, Pat Nevin, Joe McLaughlin, Nigel Spackman, John Hollins and Eddie Niedzwiecki – so no one knew what to expect.

'The crowd for that Derby game was about 15,000, but I think there were more than 30,000 fans at the Leeds game when we secured promotion, and we had thousands and thousands following us away. I finished top scorer in the league and the whole season was like a fairytale.'

That Leeds match is famous for your hat-trick and then a massive pitch invasion. Did you make it into the dressing room before being mobbed?!

'All I can remember is the crowd being right on the edge of the pitch at the end, ready to pour on, and the referee telling us to get near the tunnel because he was going to blow his whistle. The fans ran onto the pitch and had a party; we joined in from the middle tier of the East Stand, and then Ken Bates got thrown in the bath!

'That game got us promoted, but we wanted to win the league and we still had to beat Man City away and Barnsley at home before going to Grimsby on the last day, when we just needed to match Sheffield Wednesday’s result at Brighton.

'We had unbelievable support that day. There were Chelsea fans everywhere and Grimsby couldn’t really cope. I scored and Pat missed a penalty, but we hung on to win 1-0, and the fans were on the pitch again!

Even with all the success in the modern era, many Chelsea fans who were around for that season still talk about it as their favourite time following the club. Why do you think that is?

'I think it's because it was so unexpected. The fans couldn’t believe it and I’m not sure Ken Bates or John Neal could either. It meant there was this incredible connection between the players and the fans. Then we carried it into the following season in the First Division, beating Liverpool along the way. The whole club was united and it was just a great time.'

In 1986 we won an epic Full Members’ Cup final 5-4 against Man City, but you were injured for it. Is missing out on that a big regret?

'I don’t really have regrets. If you are injured, you are injured. I tore my stomach muscles in 1986, but I was picked for England, so I played through it when maybe I shouldn’t have. But then I made it into the Mexico ’86 World Cup squad and I am very proud of that.

'The history books will always say that I came on for Gary Lineker in the group game against Poland, even if it was only for six minutes and I got three touches. I went to a World Cup. How can I have any regrets?'

You had a great partnership at Chelsea with David Speedie. Why do you think that you worked so well together?

'David was a great player and we just clicked together. But football was a simpler game in those days. Basically, our wingers, Pat Nevin and Mickey Thomas, got the ball, crossed it in and we headed it into the net!'

After another relegation, in 1988, was followed by immediate promotion, Chelsea went top of Division One in the 1989/90 season – although it didn’t last – and you scored your 150th goal for the club. Was that the best Chelsea team you played in?

'By now, Bobby Campbell was in charge and had put together a really well-organised and professional team with Gordon Durie, Graham Roberts – who made a big difference – Kevin Wilson, Peter Nicholas and Micky Hazard. But I think the team between 1983 and ’85 was the better side.

'Don’t get me wrong, we did great to bounce back up – and I will never forget my 150th goal at Tottenham when I latched onto a Graham Roberts long ball and lobbed the keeper. I thought I’d hit it too hard and it was going over!'

Which of your 193 goals was your favourite?

'That’s easy. I scored a volley in a 1-1 draw away to Arsenal on the opening day of the 1984/85 season. It was an early kick-off and as we made our way to the ground, the streets around Highbury were a sea of blue. I scored our equaliser at the famous Clock End, where most of our fans were packed in – and they went completely wild.

'It was then that we realised that actually our fans were in all four corners of the ground, including the North Bank. There must have been 20,000 in there! There’s a video of it on YouTube and it still gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.

You left the club in 1992, just before the start of the Premier League. When you look around the club, and the trophy cabinet, is it hard to believe how far we have come since that time?

'No, it’s not hard to believe. Chelsea is a big club and always was. I think Ken Bates and Matthew Harding had the vision, then Roman Abramovich came along and turned the potential into reality. Now that is being continued, and we don’t have to ever worry about getting relegated to the Third Division any more!

'I’m just happy that, along with my team-mates, we played a part in the club’s history and I’m grateful that we are still remembered today.

How involved are you with Chelsea these days, and do you still get a good reception at Stamford Bridge?

I am privileged that I work for the club as a matchday host and I have a unique relationship with the fans, who have always been great with me. I strongly believe that you get out what you put in. I did – and always will – give everything for this club.

If you could relive one moment in your Chelsea history, what would it be?

It would be the moment I left the club in 1992 – I’d try to talk myself out of it! Times were difficult and I made a decision to move that was not based on football. In hindsight, I wish I could have stayed for another three years.

'I was nine goals away from breaking Bobby Tambling’s club record of 202 and, no disrespect to Frank [Lampard], I would have loved to have set a record that could never have been beaten!'

Chelsea FC: The Official History tells the story of the Blues in more than 300 pages of a coffee table-style book with many first-time-published photographs, stories and historical details. Order your copy now by clicking here.