Picking Chelsea's Mount Rushmore
It's a bastion of American culture. Mount Rushmore is an iconic symbol that has come to represent all of what the USA is about, with the faces of four ex-presidents carved into the Black Hills mountain face in South Dakota.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln were already synonymous for their achievements while in office. Having their faces sculpted into Mount Rushmore immortalised them even more, leaving an everlasting mark on the American landscape.
Now, there are barely steep hills to climb in west London, let alone mountain ranges to decorate with the likeness of icons, but were Chelsea to ever create something similar to Mount Rushmore to pay homage to the club's heroes, they would have a task on their hands.
How do you separate Peter Osgood from Ron Harris? Frank Lampard from John Terry? Didier Drogba from any leading man?
Chelsea's history is a rich and varied one, with heroes dating right back to the club's inception that played a part in delivering what fans identify with today. So bearing that in mind, we've selected our candidates for Chelsea's very own Mount Rushmore.
Joe and Gus Mears
Without the Mears brothers, Joe and Gus, there wouldn't be a Chelsea Football Club. They are the founding fathers, and when we're talking what the club represents, that legacy can't be ignored in the same way those defining U.S. presidents that adorn Mount Rushmore can't be ignored.
Indeed, the Mears family name is stitched into Chelsea's fabric, as the ownership of the club was passed down through the generations, from 1905 right through to 1982 when Chelsea was eventually sold to Ken Bates.
And it all started with Joe and Gus, who had purchased the Stamford Bridge Athletics Grounds in 1896 with the intention of transforming it into the finest football stadium in Britain.
The intention at first was to move in nearby Fulham FC, who were having a few issues with their Craven Cottage home. But when they rejected the idea, Gus eventually came around to the notion of creating his own football club to be a permanent tenant at Stamford Bridge.
He had been considering selling the grounds to the Great Western Railway Company when his associate, Fred Parker, who had been pushing the idea of forming a new football team, was bitten by a Scotch Terrier during their conversation. So impressed with Parker's reaction, Mears took up his advice.
"You took that bite damned well. Most men would have kicked up hell about it," Mears said to Parker, as reported in Rick Glanvill's 2005 book Chelsea: The Official Biography.
The rest is history—all 112 years and counting of it.
The Mears brothers bankrolled Chelsea, signing some major stars of the day, too. They included William "Fatty" Foulke, who had been England's No. 1 goalkeeper.
A club was born.
Ron Harris
The legend of Ron Harris can't be denied. Until more recent times, the man they call "Chopper" was Chelsea's most successful captain, although his appearance record of 795 matches still stands strong and seemingly unattainable.
Harris came through the Chelsea youth system in the 1960s before going on to captain the club to FA Cup glory and European Cup Winners' Cup success over Real Madrid.
He epitomised everything that was appealing about Chelsea during that time. He was homegrown, a symbol of the direction the club was taking with an emphasis on youth that was introduced by manager Tommy Docherty.
Before then, Chelsea had been struggling. League champions under Ted Drake in 1955, the team had been in a gradual decline, and it took Docherty to breathe new life into it when the Blues were relegated in 1961. The Doc had cleared out the older faces, replacing them with fresh-faced youth-team stars.
Bouncing back to the top flight immediately, Chelsea's new generation set about re-writing the club's history. It heralded a new dawn, a new era and a team that would become known as the Kings of the King's Road.
Harris was their leader; he was a man feared up and down the country, with his "Chopper" moniker meaning supporters could smell the fear of forwards across the land whenever they visited Stamford Bridge.
When we think of what captains are and represent, Harris is it.
Roman Abramovich
The history of Chelsea can tell be told in two parts; there's Before Roman and After Roman. And for all the success and history Chelsea enjoyed in the century before the Russian's arrival, nothing can quite compare to what he has helped bring about in west London.
While the Mears brothers gave birth to the giant, it was Abramovich who awoke it from a deep slumber in 2003. Until then, the Blues hadn't quite fulfilled their potential. From having the finest stadium in England in those early days—FA Cup finals were staged at Stamford Bridge until 1923—to being located in one of the most glamorous parts of London, success on the pitch hadn't always backed up the widespread appeal.
It had been feast and famine. Winning silverware and challenging for major honours had never been consistent, other than in the 1960s and 1970s when the Blues were led by Harris and boasted other stars such as Peter Osgood and Charlie Cooke.
There had been times the club was stirring and threatened to wake up, realise the potential and dominate. But Chelsea never quite did. Then Abramovich arrived, and not only did he change Chelsea, he's helped transform football in the process.
Investing his own personal fortune—to date that is over £1 billion and counting—Abramovich has cemented Chelsea's place among Europe's elite.
In the past 14 years of his ownership, Chelsea have won five Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League. An incredible array of talent and managers has helped deliver that.
Remove Abramovich from the equation, though, and it would never happen.
John Terry
In the same way we can talk about Chelsea's history as BR and AR, it's the same with the club's captains. There have been the likes of Roy Bentley, Harris and Dennis Wise, but none of them can compare to all that John Terry has achieved in the modern era.
Harris was the embodiment of Chelsea in the BR era; Terry has become the symbol of AR Chelsea.
For all the trophies the Blues have won since Abramovich's arrival, Terry has been captain for each and every one of them. He was the driving force, the voice on the pitch that connected the boardroom to the dressing room and delivered the message to the fans on the terraces.
His Chelsea career was glorious, and what made it all the more special was that he was one of their own. In a time when Chelsea were able to spend millions on acquiring the world's biggest names, they did so while building the foundation around a player who had come through the ranks.
For that to happen in the modern game is incredible; for it to happen at a club like Chelsea makes it even more so.
Terry outlived them all. He was there when Roman arrived to build a new era, and when that eventually came to an end last season, Terry was the last man standing.
There have been better players in the history of Chelsea, but icons? Don't look any further than JT.
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