If Chelsea, back in 2003 when Roman Abramovich bought the club, were destined to become a power in the world game, we would need world-class facilities to prepare for matches.



That, without any doubt, was something we most definitely did not possess 15 years ago. In fact, we did not even own a training ground.



Chelsea had been successful in winning trophies in the late 1990s and become a Champions League club, but people not involved at that time who later experienced the basic, cramped, wind-swept, noisy, student sports ground and pavilion we were hiring from a London university expressed surprise we had been able to compete with the best.



Under the new ownership of Mr Abramovich, money was soon spent on improving Harlington but then in 2004, the longer-term upgrade commenced with the first team and Academy waving goodbye to the strip of land between the M4 Motorway and Heathrow Airport, and moving to the more tranquil Surrey countryside near Cobham.



Initially for the senior players there were high-spec portacabins and for the juniors, another former student building, but importantly the pitches were now under the control of full-time Chelsea groundstaff and were just what the coaches ordered.

