Red man sings the Blues at the Bridge

His name is Dave, David White, a bald and bold pot-bellied man with a mellifluous laugh.

White is clad in dark navy trousers and a light blue short-sleeve shirt. Those hues are a clue to which team colours Baldy swears by. Baldy wasn't feeling blue. How could he when it is evidently clear that the man enjoys his job like a preacher in a pulpit. Sporting a grin as wide as the river Nile, White is in a tip-top mood.

The cathedral where the Blue brigade worship is emblazoned with the words: welcome to the home of champions.

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For more than two decades, White has been a stadium tour guide at Stamford Bridge, the home of the 2016-17 English Premier League champions Chelsea. Their coronation takes place today, when the table-topping champs host tail-ending chumps Sunderland, who've been chopped to the Championship.

White welcomed a group of journalists to the Bridge, accompanied by the people from Unilever, who made the trip possible because they, through their Shield products, have penned a three-year partnership with the Roman Abramovich-owned outfit. More on that later.

Well, e.tv's OG Molefe and Mazola Molefe from Independent Newspapers were like children in a candy shop. The duo eagerly raised their fists and shouted Chelsea in unison in response to White's inquiry of a presence of Chelsea fans in our group. Bloody buggers!

Theirs was a continuation of the night-before-celebrations that started on the west stand upper — when they watched John Terry being John Terry — giving Chelsea the lead before gifting Watford a goal when his blooper back pass was intercepted by Etienne Capoue for an equaliser.

It mattered not, since goals from César Azpilicueta, Michy Batshuayi and Cesc Fàbregas secured a 4-3 victory for Antonio Conte's men. How many years without a league title jibed White at meself (iye, I can speak scouse, you know mate!) when I revealed my Liverpool allegiance. Think of Liverpool as the Nelson Mandela of football — Madiba went from prisoner to president after 27 years; the same number of years Liverpool have been imprisoned by lack of title success. Next season is ours!

The dressing room of the visiting team drips with a dime-a-dozen sense of history. The walls are graced by shirts of superstars, past and present, who have showcased their skills at the stadium. There's the red number 10 of Ferenc Puskás, the sensational striker who scored 84 goals in 85 games for his country Hungary.

Next to it hangs the white of legendary German libero Franz Beckenbauer, the Kaiser who holds the distinction of guiding West Germany to World Cup glory both as captain and coach in 1974 and 1990 respectively.

The 14 of Johan Cruyff, the 1971, 1973, and 1974 Ballon d'Or winner, famed as the father of total football who brought Dutch delight to Barcelona and Holland, hangs in the corner. There's the Barca and Juve 10's of Lionel Messi and Alessandro Del Piero, the 14, 8 and 3 of Arsenal's Thierry Henry, Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Paolo Maldini, son of Cesare, who played 649 matches at leftback and centreback for AC Milan for 14 years.

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In the Chelsea dressing room, the mirror is the most used item. "Because the players want to make sure they've got their hairstyle right for the cameras," White told us to raucous laughter. He regaled us on how the superstitious Terry moves the massage stretcher from the sidewall into the centre of the dressing room for reasons no-one had bothered to ask the outgoing Chelsea captain.

We were in London because Shield wants potential footballers to get up and get moving. They are offering a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to one lucky South African to train with Chelsea. This will happen through a nationwide competition open to male and female aspiring footballers. It will see trials being conducted in five regions in the country: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

One hundred trialists will be drawn from each region. Courtesy of the Chelsea Foundation, the club's development coaches, led by international development manager Ian Woodroffe, will make surprise visits to the country to run the rule on the trialists.

Ten episodes of the trials will be broadcast on the soccer review show Soccerzone on SABC1. Keegan Alicks, marketing manager of Unilever South Africa, said the initiative "was aimed at inspiring everyday people with an opportunity to train with the best and move in the direction of becoming a champion". Senior brand manager of Shield South Africa, Gareth Marshall, added: "Soccer is the most loved sport in South Africa and is a key passion-point for our consumers."

You can join the conversation by using the hashtag #ShieldChelseaFC on @Shield_ZA, @ShieldZA, and ShieldZA social media accounts for more info.

PS: We found a lekker curry joint. I swear those guys have no links with the Guptas. But SABC's Mpho Maboi and Media24's Kgomotso Mokoena captured the curry with the skills of children with proper Daveyton DNA.

Twitter: @bbkunplugged99