'I thought it was ridiculous what Chelsea fans sang at me after I left - It really hurt'

Steve Sidwell has confessed he was hurt by the cruel chant Chelsea supporters aimed at him following his departure from Stamford Bridge. The ex-midfielder arrived at the Premier League club in 2007 on a free transfer from Reading, which was regarded as an odd acquisition at the time by some.

With Jose Mourinho's collection of outstanding midfielders, including Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, and Michael Essien, Sidwellwas confronting a tough challenge to secure regular minutes.

The England international managed only seven league starts in what proved to be his sole campaign at Stamford Bridge. He was offloaded to Aston Villa that summer for a reported £5million fee.

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It was during his return to west London as a Villa player the subsequent season that he discovered he was targeted by hurtful songs from the Blues faithful, confessing it left him saddened.

Speaking on The Dressing Room Podcast earlier this year, Sidwell revealed: "The one that hurt me the most, this is ridiculous, the season after I left Chelsea and I went to [Aston] Villa, we played [Chelsea] at Villa Park. All the Chelsea fans were singing 'Chelsea reject' to me."

Following his arrival at Chelsea, Sidwell was bizarrely given the number nine shirt by Mourinho, a jersey that had previously been worn by the likes of Gianluca Vialli, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Hernan Crespo. Sidwell confessed he questioned whether the shirt number offer was a mental test, as he revealed to The Athletic: "Mourinho was sitting there at the front, and he says, 'Steve, you're going to wear No. 9 this year.'

"Every player who joins a new club looks at the numbers available, and I'd seen the numbers 9, 14 and others that went upwards from there. I just assumed I may get the No. 14 at a push.

"I didn't know whether he was just testing me. If I said, 'No thanks,' it would look like I had a weakness in my mentality. If I say 'Yes', it may have been that he was only joking. But I thought at least I'd then show him I had the balls to wear it.

"So I said 'Yes' and it turned out he was being serious. When I told people, my mates and family, everyone was just laughing. Obviously, the number has a lot of history relating to top centre-forwards and that wasn't me. I went on to score one goal for Chelsea."

Sidwell, who also turned out for Brentford and Fulham in his career, reached the conclusion that Mourinho's choice may have been his method of signalling to the board to provide greater backing in the transfer market after spending just over £41m during the summer.

"Looking back on why he may have made that decision now, I think he was sending a statement upstairs, to the board. That summer, he had wanted more money to spend on transfers, but he brought in me, Tal Ben Haim and Claudio Pizarro on free transfers.

"The only big buy was Florent Malouda. Why didn't he give Pizarro, a striker, the No. 9? I reckon he was making a point by giving it to a free transfer from Reading." Sidwell would have undoubtedly been glued to Saturday's pulsating 2-2 stalemate between Brentford and Chelsea at the Gtech Community Stadium.

The Bees took the lead through Kevin Schade before Chelsea responded in the second half via Cole Palmer, with Moises Caicedo's thunderbolt in the 85th minute appearing to secure maximum points for the visitors.

But Fabio Carvalho's far-post effort in the 93rd minute ensured Keith Andrews' side salvaged a share of the spoils in this west London clash.

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