Sunday 11th May.
Stamford Bridge
The score between Chelsea and Liverpool sits at 1-1 after 25 minutes, when the inconsistent Danish Winger Jesper Gronkjaer receives the ball from a throw-in, he takes a touch, turns inside John Arne Riise and lets loose a wonderful curling effort, beating the hand of Jerzy Dudek to nestle in the far bottom corner. The game would go on to finish 2-1, almost as famous for Zola’s amazing trickery in the last couple of minutes, leaving a certain Jamie Carragher looking rather foolish.
The £20m game, as it was known then, has taken on a slightly differing view with hindsight. Qualification for the Champions League that season was paramount in getting an unknown Russian Billionaire to invest in the club and kick start one of my favourite ever summers. Crespo, Mutu, Veron, Makelele, Joe Cole, Duff and Glen Johnson. Just some of the players to come in that summer thanks to Jesper Gronkjaer.
To those avid Championship Manager players back in the day, Gronkjaer was something of a household name even before he joined Chelsea in 2000. He had fantastic pace on the game as well as being genuinely two-footed and was a good signing for almost any Premier League club. I always used to wonder if he was so good, why weren’t his technical stats better on the game. Then he signed for Chelsea and, after missing his first few months with injury, it became clear. The man was an enigma. Occasionally looking a world beater, occasionally looking a park player, the truth was somewhere in between.
At £8m in October 2000, Gronkjaer signified Chelsea’s spending at the time, coming off the back of a summer where we had signed Jimmy Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen, going on to beat United 2-0 in the Charity Shield and solidifying our place as title contenders. This was to be the year we gave it a proper go. Hilarious away form out paid to that. Vialli barely lasted, Ranieri brought his own style of management and we were quite possibly the most inconsistent team there has ever been. No one quite summing it up like Jesper Gronkjaer.
He was Danish under 19 POTY in ’95 and the heir apparent to the Laudrup throne as King of Danish Football. He certainly had his moments, pivotal as we came back to beat Arsenal in the Champions League Quarter Final in 2004, as well as also scoring a screamer against Monaco in the next round. Too often he found himself unable to get a proper run in the team, a victim of the self-proclaimed “Tinkerman”. As a fan of the club and Gronkjaer specifically, you had to feel for the guy. Genuinely talented and capable of world class moments, too often he felt like he was desperate to impress, often rushing his final ball or taking the wrong option, leaving Hasselbaink looking furious in the box.
The Summer of 2004 brought more change at The Bridge. Ranieri was out, Mourinho in. Jose was not one to tolerate players who only offered fleeting moments of quality and the Dane was soon shipped North to Birmingham, suffering a horrific 6 months under the management of Steve Bruce, never really being fair for their defence heavy style. A short stint at Atletico was followed by a miserable time at Stuttgart where he was accused of lacking mental strength by his teammates and coach, leaving Gronkjaer a bit out of love with football. Fortunately, his home country came calling and off he went to Copenhagen in 2007, still only 30 years old!
You would have to think he enjoyed the last four years of his career. Successful both at home and abroad, where he even got to play against Chelsea in the Champions League last 16 in 2011. He was comfortable, popular with both the players and fans and appreciated as a longstanding member of the Danish National Team. He retired in 2011, having fulfilled a dream of playing in West London again. He would make a comeback though and can currently be found at the most Danish sounding club ever. FC Graesrodderne.
To me, Jesper Gronkjaer typified Chelsea in that era. Occasionally brilliant, occasionally awful but always fun to watch.
As a Chelsea fan, I will always be grateful for the £20m/£1bn goal. A true butterfly effectt moment.
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