A dash of Ballack, a pinch of Essien and a smidgen of Grant in SW6 on Sunday

One of the great things about supporting Chelsea is how welcome the club makes current and former staff feel.

Players love playing here. Managers may have acrimonious departures, but many come back after the sting has eased.

And for retired players, it seems like almost every Chelsea home match is a homecoming for one or another of them.

Take Sunday, which wasn’t a particularly special fixture, really, despite Everton’s run of good form.

And yet we had Golden Age players Michael Ballack and Michael Essien in the stands.

And tucked away from the television cameras — but not able to escape Ballack — was the manager who led Chelsea to our first Champions League final, Avram Grant.

This is the sort of thing that gives me the warm fuzzies about my club.