Chelsea FC’s 110th Anniversary: A Brief History Part Two
The F.A. Premier League Begins
By Norio NAKAYAMA from saitama, japan (AEROFLOT ManchesterUnited TrophyTour) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsUnder Campbell in the 1989-90 season, Chelsea FC finished in 5th place, but then ended the next season in 11th place, while getting eliminated from both cup competitions by lower league sides, despite making the club’s first million pounds signing in Dennis Wise and Andy Townsend.
He was eventually promoted as the club’s general manager, while Ian Porterfield was employed and helped the club secure a place in the new 20-team format F.A. Premier League in 1991-92 season. He was sacked midway through the 1992-93 season and was replaced by caretaker boss David Webb who helped keep the club in the Premier League with an 11th place finish.
Glenn Hoddle took over for the 1993-94 season which saw Chelsea FC struggle to stay up, as well as getting to the F.A. Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United in controversial circumstances. It ensured that the team competed in the 1994-95 UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup, where Chelsea FC were eliminated in the semi-finals by Real Zaragoza with a 3-2 aggregate score. The team ended that season in 10th place and the next in 11th place (plus an F.A. Cup semi-final), before Hoddle resigned to take over the English national team.
With Chelsea’s future secure, Ken Bates and new director Matthew Harding made funds available which helped Chelsea FC secure the signings of Ruud Gullit (free from Sampdoria), Mark Hughes (from Manchester United) and Dan Petrescu for the 1995-96 season. Ruud Gullit eventually took over as player-manager after Hoddle resigned and continued the club’s spending spree, signing Italian internationals Gianluca Vialli (from Juventus), Gianfanco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo, as well as Frank Leboeuf, Gustavo Poyet and Tore André Flo.
With these players, he took the club to 6th place in the Premier League and won the F.A. Cup with a 2-0 final victory over Middlesbrough (a match that witnessed Di Matteo score what was then the fastest F.A. Cup goal in 43 seconds), the club’s first major trophy in 26 years. Unfortunately, Chelsea were met with tragedy as club director Matthew Harding died in a helicopter crash following a League Cup match against Bolton Wanderers in October 1996.
Gullit was sacked midway through the 1997-98 season due to a contract dispute and Gianluca Vialli took over as player-manager. He eventually won two cup competitions, a 2-0 League Cup final victory against Middlesbrough and a 1-0 UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup final victory against VFB Stuttgart. He also secured the UEFA Super Cup by defeating European champions Real Madrid by 1-0.
He then led the team to a 3rd place league finish the next season (after adding Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps and Ed De Goey to the team) which ensured the club’s participation in its first ever European Champion’s Cup competition in 1999-2000 season, where they were eliminated by FC Barcelona in 2 memorable quarter-final games, winning the first leg at the Bridge by 3-1 before losing the second leg by 5-1 after extra time.
Due to difficulties handling both cup and league comittments, the club could only manage a 5th place finish in the league, although they won the F.A Cup against Aston Villa before securing the Charity Shield by beating the league champions, Manchester United, by 2-0. The squad that achieved this feat was remarkable because it featured a starting 11 composed entirely of foreign players.
Despite spending large sums of money to secure players like strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen, Vialli was eventually sacked 5 games into the 2000-01 season due to poor results and a rumoured rift with key players. Claudio Ranieri took over and helped the club secure a 6th place finish at the end of the season.
He then added players like John Terry, William Gallas and Frank Lampard to the team while letting some older players leave for the new season and achieved another 6th place finish as well as the League Cup semi-final and F.A. Cup final. Due to the club’s poor financial situation, Ranieri was unable to make any signings for the 2002-03 season, but still managed a 4th place finish to help secure a berth for the 2003-04 Champion’s League.
Next: Abramovich Arrives