Darren rage as doctor joins Chelsea

"To be honest, it's totally frustrating and upsetting for all British athletes. Bryan's a great man who played a massive part in me getting through the Olympics with my injury and eventually coming away with a gold medal. Chelsea's gain is very much the loss of British athletics.

"I don't blame Bryan for going. Of course, I understand that he wants to move on but to be honest I just don't think the people running our sport have done enough to keep him. It's just a shame that everything we've built up for the last few years has gone and we're back to square one.

Holmes is also a great fan of English. After her double gold medal-winning performance in Athens, she said: "Bryan was wonderful. I would be in so much agony, I would be delirious and sick but he helped me through it."

English also jumped to Campbell's defence with a fierce criticism of Michael Johnson when the US great appeared to imply the Briton was faking injury at the Games. lt is a second time in the past year that British athletes have lost one of their key medical personnel to the Premiership after top physio Dean Keneally, a great friend of English, left to go to Tottenham last year.

Meanwhiile, Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is winning his fight to be fit for his side's Champions League clash against Spanish giants Barcelona next week.

Drogba has missed five matches with a thigh strain but is back in full training and should be available, both for the match in Barcelona next Wednesday and the Carling Cup Final four days later in Cardiff.

Wayne Bridge has vowed to fight for his Stamford Bridge future following reports linking the club with a move for Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole.

Bridge said: "John Terry has been bigging me up a bit, but that's a nice thing to hear from a player like that. We'll have to wait and see who the boss brings in. There's nowhere better to be at the moment than Chelsea and I won't be going anywhere. It's always possible-I could play with Ashley here. We've played a few times together for England this season."

Meanwhile, the pressure on former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri eased after his Valencia side beat Steaua Bucharest 2-0 at home last night in the first leg of their last-32 UEFA Cup tie.

A poor run of results in the Primera Liga, coupled with a Champions League exit, had put Ranieri under the spotlight. However, goals from Marco Di Vaio and Pablo Aimar helped last year's winners take control.