Happy birthday Petr Cech - 29 years old today and the new Chelsea Player of the Year.
But the reasons to celebrate in the remaining few hours of the season are unlikely to end there. If, as expected, he is selected in goal for the visit to Everton on Sunday, Petr will become the footballer from overseas who has played the most games in Chelsea history. He will also have played all 38 league matches this season.
One of the famous 'spine' of players that has carried the club to unprecedented trophy success in the past seven years, Petr was selected for the first competitive game after his arrival in London SW6 and didn't look back. Only injury, especially the skull fracture suffered in October 2006, has interrupted his run as the keeper of choice for a succession of managers.
Sunday will be his 313th Chelsea appearance, taking him clear of the total recorded by Gianfranco Zola who didn't join Chelsea, or indeed leave his home national of Italy, until he was a year older than Petr is today.
Chelsea has an excellent track record for foreign player settling in well here and Petr, who joined at the age of 22, can be added to that list. For him it was a move made all the more easy by the fact he had done his 'leaving home' when he transferred to France aged 19.
He went there to play in the first team at Rennes in the French top flight and although in football such moves are considered normal, it is a very young age for anyone to change countries and be expected to work well in a man's world, especially one under the spotlight that professional football shines.
'It is a big part of growing up because suddenly when you move to another country you don't know how it works and you don't know the mentality of the people,' Petr agrees
'You don't know the everyday problems and the language is different, and then you have the pressure of coming to the club and you need to do well if you want your career to go in the right way. It really is tough, and not everybody manages to go through because there are always plenty of problems but it just depends on how solid you are and determined to go through. If you are strong you go through and it might make you even stronger and better, and then more comfortable.
'I couldn't say a word in French when I joined Rennes and I had about 12 days before we kicked-off the first league game, so in 12 days I needed to get as many French words as I could regarding football so that I could play the game with no major problems.
'So I was learning it eight hours a day and it was hard because you are still in a pre-season where you need to get fit. So you finish your session and you go for a two-hour French course and then you learn at home and you try to listen on the television. At the same time you need to find your house, find your car, work out how to open a bank account, and the first month was really tough.
'I never gave up and I decided to go at it with everything I could. There were moments when I was thinking oh my god, it is much tougher than I thought but the thought to go home never crossed my mind.'
Petr did have the support of his wife-to-be, Martina, who moved to Rennes with him and his dedication meant he was speaking French well in just three months. He felt an extra pressure as a goalkeeper from abroad moving to a league traditionally full of high-quality homegrown players in his position. The 19-year-old needed to justify his presence.
'I had a good start on the pitch,' he reports, 'and everything became much easier.
'So when I was going to England to join Chelsea I already had the experience of coming into a new country with all this stuff that came with it. So I knew what to do and I also had the massive advantage that I spoke the language.
'In Rennes the whole town is behind one club and it is like a family which I really enjoyed. People said that wasn't the same in the big clubs because everybody is fighting for places but from the first minute I joined Chelsea I felt really welcome and at home which helped me to settle quickly.'
Chelsea reaped the benefit during a first season that saw Petr set a new Premier League record for minutes without conceding a goal and the team winning the league with a record low total of goals conceded. Our new keeper was in the kind of form we have all been enjoying this year, the form that won the fans' poll for the best man in blue that was announced last night, the fifth goalie to win the award.
'This is one of the best seasons I have ever played for Chelsea and I can compare it to the first season,' Petr decides.
'The only difference is that unfortunately we didn't win any trophies, but from a personal point of view I rate this season the same as my first season although I think at times I have played even better than my first season.'
And the reasons why? Back in July our keeper told this website that having enjoyed a summer without football, he was feeling fresh and ready to go. And the fact he has been injury-free cannot be a coincidence either. It is characteristic of the studious Czech that he has the numbers readily at hand.
'If I play on Sunday it will be the first time in my career I have played every league game in a season because with Sparta Prague I didn't start the season, I played from the third or fourth game. Then in France in the first year there were two games when I was injured and in the second year there were seven games I was injured.
'Then in the first year at Chelsea, Carlo [Cudicini] played the last three games after we had won the league. Since then I have never managed to be injury free.
'When you have a long season like last year when we won the Double and you imagine I then went to the World Cup and had extra games, maybe I wouldn't have been as fresh as I was this season. Coming back fresh was definitely a great help.'
Earlier in this interview the many members of Chelsea's foreign legion who settled well at the club were referred to. Plenty loved life in London and its surrounds so much they have never left, even after packing up playing.
It is easy to see Petr being Chelsea's No. 1 for many years to come and maybe even doubling his 312-game tally. But when the day comes for him to leave, will England remain part of his life?
'Definitely,' he insists.
'I have been living here for seven years and the connection with London will always be there and it will always be a place where I will be more than happy to come back to, if I ever leave. In a football career you never know how long you are going to be somewhere or how long you are going to play for and we will see, but I know definitely this is a place I will always remember with great memories.
'It is not only about playing 313 games for the club as an overseas player. I have played already 312 games for one of the leading clubs in Europe and I take that as a great achievement in my career.
'Not everybody can say I have come from Czech Republic and I have played more than 300 games for one of the best clubs in the world, but it is what I have achieved and I am very proud of it.'
But the reasons to celebrate in the remaining few hours of the season are unlikely to end there. If, as expected, he is selected in goal for the visit to Everton on Sunday, Petr will become the footballer from overseas who has played the most games in Chelsea history. He will also have played all 38 league matches this season.
One of the famous 'spine' of players that has carried the club to unprecedented trophy success in the past seven years, Petr was selected for the first competitive game after his arrival in London SW6 and didn't look back. Only injury, especially the skull fracture suffered in October 2006, has interrupted his run as the keeper of choice for a succession of managers. Sunday will be his 313th Chelsea appearance, taking him clear of the total recorded by Gianfranco Zola who didn't join Chelsea, or indeed leave his home national of Italy, until he was a year older than Petr is today.
Chelsea has an excellent track record for foreign player settling in well here and Petr, who joined at the age of 22, can be added to that list. For him it was a move made all the more easy by the fact he had done his 'leaving home' when he transferred to France aged 19.
He went there to play in the first team at Rennes in the French top flight and although in football such moves are considered normal, it is a very young age for anyone to change countries and be expected to work well in a man's world, especially one under the spotlight that professional football shines.
'It is a big part of growing up because suddenly when you move to another country you don't know how it works and you don't know the mentality of the people,' Petr agrees
'You don't know the everyday problems and the language is different, and then you have the pressure of coming to the club and you need to do well if you want your career to go in the right way. It really is tough, and not everybody manages to go through because there are always plenty of problems but it just depends on how solid you are and determined to go through. If you are strong you go through and it might make you even stronger and better, and then more comfortable.
'I couldn't say a word in French when I joined Rennes and I had about 12 days before we kicked-off the first league game, so in 12 days I needed to get as many French words as I could regarding football so that I could play the game with no major problems.
'So I was learning it eight hours a day and it was hard because you are still in a pre-season where you need to get fit. So you finish your session and you go for a two-hour French course and then you learn at home and you try to listen on the television. At the same time you need to find your house, find your car, work out how to open a bank account, and the first month was really tough.
'I never gave up and I decided to go at it with everything I could. There were moments when I was thinking oh my god, it is much tougher than I thought but the thought to go home never crossed my mind.'
Petr did have the support of his wife-to-be, Martina, who moved to Rennes with him and his dedication meant he was speaking French well in just three months. He felt an extra pressure as a goalkeeper from abroad moving to a league traditionally full of high-quality homegrown players in his position. The 19-year-old needed to justify his presence.
'I had a good start on the pitch,' he reports, 'and everything became much easier.
'So when I was going to England to join Chelsea I already had the experience of coming into a new country with all this stuff that came with it. So I knew what to do and I also had the massive advantage that I spoke the language.
'In Rennes the whole town is behind one club and it is like a family which I really enjoyed. People said that wasn't the same in the big clubs because everybody is fighting for places but from the first minute I joined Chelsea I felt really welcome and at home which helped me to settle quickly.'
Chelsea reaped the benefit during a first season that saw Petr set a new Premier League record for minutes without conceding a goal and the team winning the league with a record low total of goals conceded. Our new keeper was in the kind of form we have all been enjoying this year, the form that won the fans' poll for the best man in blue that was announced last night, the fifth goalie to win the award.
'This is one of the best seasons I have ever played for Chelsea and I can compare it to the first season,' Petr decides.
'The only difference is that unfortunately we didn't win any trophies, but from a personal point of view I rate this season the same as my first season although I think at times I have played even better than my first season.'
And the reasons why? Back in July our keeper told this website that having enjoyed a summer without football, he was feeling fresh and ready to go. And the fact he has been injury-free cannot be a coincidence either. It is characteristic of the studious Czech that he has the numbers readily at hand.
'If I play on Sunday it will be the first time in my career I have played every league game in a season because with Sparta Prague I didn't start the season, I played from the third or fourth game. Then in France in the first year there were two games when I was injured and in the second year there were seven games I was injured.
'Then in the first year at Chelsea, Carlo [Cudicini] played the last three games after we had won the league. Since then I have never managed to be injury free.
'When you have a long season like last year when we won the Double and you imagine I then went to the World Cup and had extra games, maybe I wouldn't have been as fresh as I was this season. Coming back fresh was definitely a great help.'
Earlier in this interview the many members of Chelsea's foreign legion who settled well at the club were referred to. Plenty loved life in London and its surrounds so much they have never left, even after packing up playing.
It is easy to see Petr being Chelsea's No. 1 for many years to come and maybe even doubling his 312-game tally. But when the day comes for him to leave, will England remain part of his life?
'Definitely,' he insists.
'I have been living here for seven years and the connection with London will always be there and it will always be a place where I will be more than happy to come back to, if I ever leave. In a football career you never know how long you are going to be somewhere or how long you are going to play for and we will see, but I know definitely this is a place I will always remember with great memories.
'It is not only about playing 313 games for the club as an overseas player. I have played already 312 games for one of the leading clubs in Europe and I take that as a great achievement in my career.
'Not everybody can say I have come from Czech Republic and I have played more than 300 games for one of the best clubs in the world, but it is what I have achieved and I am very proud of it.'
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