'God, this could be something really special'

How I saw it

It didn't take long last season to work out that we were watching something special. People said, early in the season when we were winning games 1-0, that it was boring, but you could just tell that this chap, Jose Mourinho, really knew what he was doing. When he came in and started spending so much money I thought it would take a couple of years to blend the star players together, but he won the league in his first season and a lot of them still haven't fulfilled their potential. God only knows what will happen when they do.

In my day, people used to say that when a manager takes over a side he must first make sure he's got the right goalkeeper. There's no point going out and scoring two goals every game if he's letting in three sloppy ones. At the start of last season we played in a defensive way and you know that if we don't let one in we can't lose, but the way the results went was pretty much perfect. After eight games we'd only conceded one goal; he made sure we had a good start. But I suppose there was a question about whether he could take the next step. Then we went a few games scoring three or four, and I thought: "God, this could be something really special."

The manager has been key in all of this. I've got to say that Mourinho is the best I've ever seen at changing the game at half-time. Sometimes you get to the break and you're thinking, "That was a bit ropey," but he's not afraid to switch things around and his changes always come out remarkably well.

I've been going to Chelsea since I stopped playing. Frankly, it's the only place I wanted to be. I've seen some good sides over the years, but a lot of disappointment, and the last year or so has been wonderful. People sometimes say to me, and this came up a lot last season, "You wouldn't want Chelsea to win the league again would you?" When I ask why they say: "Well, then you wouldn't be the only person to have done it." But that's nonsense. Chelsea aren't just an ordinary club, they're a top club and top clubs need to win the top trophies. And the one thing no one will be able to take away from me is that I was the first.

Last season I finally got to celebrate it with the crowd. When we won the league, I didn't see the trophy until the start of the next season when it was brought in for the team photograph. Last season, after they'd won the Premiership, I was out on the pitch at last. The atmosphere was incredible; the noise just seems to come from above you.

I've got to say it was harder to win the championship in our day. Back then about 10 or 12 teams had a realistic chance; now there's maybe six if you're being generous. But the season after we won the title didn't go well - it started badly and it finished badly. But this lot, they've not finished yet. This fellow now, with the squad he's got, well, it's the type of squad you need if you're going to win pots and pans, as Ted Drake used to say.

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