'Chelsea fans hurt me with what they sang after I left the club - it was ridiculous'

Steve Sidwell admitted he was hurt by the disparaging chants Chelsea fans sang about him after he left Stamford Bridge.

The former midfielder joined the Premier League side in 2007 on a free transfer from Reading, which was billed as a strange signing at the time. Given Jose Mourinho's cache of supreme midfielders, such as Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, and Michael Essien, Sidwellwas facing an uphill battle to earn playing time.

The Englishman started just seven league games in what turned out to be his only season at Stamford Bridge. He was sold to Aston Villa in the summer for a reported fee of £5million.

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It was upon his return to west London as a Villan the following season that he realised he was subject to insulting chants by the Blues supporters, admitting it left him hurt.

Speaking on The Dressing Room Podcast earlier this year, Sidwell said: "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."

Upon his arrival at Chelsea, Sidwell was strangely handed the nine shirt by Mourinho, a number that was previously worn by the likes of Gianluca Vialli, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Hernan Crespo.

Sidwell admitted he wondered whether the number offering was a test of his mentality, as he explained 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 played for Brentford and Fulham, came to the conclusion that Mourinho's decision may have been his way of telling the board to further back him in the transfer window after spending just over £41m in 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 surely been a keen viewer ofBrentford's thrilling 2-2 draw with Chelsea at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

After taking the lead through Kevin Schade, Chelsea hit back in the second half through Cole Palmer before Moises Caicedo's thunderous shot in the 85th looked to have wrapped up all three points for the away side. However, Fabio Carvalho's far-post strike in the 93rd minute saw the Bees claim a point in the west London derby.