Sheyi Cole and I roar and double high-five when Chelsea FC's starboy Cole Palmer scores an icecold penalty then the winner in extra time against Manchester United. Given we're in the same epic #ProperChels group chat, meeting to watch a match and talk in person was overdue. The actor arrives at his local pub in Tulse Hill, south London with a wide smile and hug, we settle upstairs with pints and jerk chicken, and he contemplates every question I ask deeply with one eye fixed on the game. The 25-year-old has supported Chelsea since nursery and coincidentally, his mum once did security at Stamford Bridge. Clear on the qualities that Blues fans share – “pure wear-our-heart-on-our-sleeve passion, and we're pompous off the back of our success” – his favourite moment was when Didier Drogba's penalty clinched the club's (and London's) first Champions League title in 2012.
“I know we're not supposed to do VNs in this [group chat] but this is ridiculous circumstances right now,” says Cole, whose own childhood dream of becoming a footballer stalled because the self-professed “man of comfort” had the skill but not the discipline, having played at Sunday League level from the age of seven., released in March.
