with the club on the verge of relegation from the First Division. Brought in by manager Danny Blanchflower as a replacement for legendary goalie Peter Bonetti, Borota made his debut against champions-elect Liverpool on 4 March 1979 and impressed in a 0–0 draw. However, the next five league matches all ended in defeat, culminating in a 6–0 thrashing by Nottingham Forest as Borota ultimately could not prevent relegation to the Second Division. He continued with his flamboyant and somewhat eccentric style – on occasions, he would dribble up the field and attempt to get past opposition players or throw the ball against the crossbar when taking a goal kick – which endeared him to the Chelsea fans and helped make him a cult hero at the club. As the 1979–80 season in Second Division began, manager Blanchflower resigned in September 1979 and England legend Geoff Hurst was brought in as replacement. Borota continued as a regular under Hurst as the team finished fourth in the standings, missing the promotion on goal-difference. Ahead of the 1980–81 season Hurst named Borota to be the squad captain. Borota was voted Chelsea Player of the Year in 1981 after keeping 16 clean sheets that season; he made 114 appearances for the club. However, his erratic behaviour sometimes backfired and led to the team conceding goals, which did not endear him to his managers. After a fall-out with John Neal he joined Brentford in 1982 (with Chelsea still in the Second Division) and later Portuguese sides Boavista and FC Porto. He made 114 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea and kept 36 clean sheets. International career As he came into his own with FK Partizan during the league-winning 1977–78 season, Borota started getting national team callups as well. The 26-year-old Hajduk Split's keeper Ivan Katalinić had been the national team's first choice goalie at the time under 3-man head coaching commission (consisting of Marko Valok, Stevan Vilotić, and Gojko Zec) as well as under previous head coach Ivan Toplak, however, the team's faltering 1978 World Cup qualifying campaign with two opening losses that led to Toplak's removal prompted a need to look at other options in goal as well. The coaching triumvirate of Valok, Vilotić and Zec gave 25-year-old Borota a debut as second-half substitute for Katalinić on 5 October 1977 in the away friendly versus Hungary. 1978 World Cup qualifying One month after his