Season: 1975–76
Football League Second Division
League
Chelsea finished 11th of 22 in the Football League Second Division with 40 points — 12 wins, 16 draws and 14 defeats (53–54) — in their first season back after relegation.
- Division
- Football League Second Division (Tier 2)
- Manager
- Eddie McCreadie
- Top scorer (league)
- Ray Wilkins (11)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Ray Wilkins (12)
- Avg. league attendance
- 18,896
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Fifth round
- League Cup
- Second round
- Europe
- —
Notes
Chelsea finished 11th of 22 in the Football League Second Division with 40 points — 12 wins, 16 draws and 14 defeats (53–54) — in their first season back after relegation. Home they were 7–9–5 (25–20); away 5–7–9 (28–34). Eddie McCreadie, appointed the previous April, took charge of a young Bridge side that spent most of the campaign in mid-table: early home wins over Carlisle and Oxford briefly lifted them as high as second, before a mid-autumn wobble (including a 1–4 reverse at Southampton, where Peter Osgood was among the scorers) settled them into the middle of the pack. A late surge — wins at Plymouth and over Blackburn — could not push them into the promotion places, and the season closed with a run of draws. Ray Wilkins led the scoring with 11 in the league and 12 in all competitions, the teenage midfielder emerging as the face of McCreadie’s rebuild. Ian Britton scored 8; Bill Garner 6 (8 all competitions); Teddy Maybank and Steve Finnieston 5 apiece; Ian Hutchinson 4 (5 all comps); Ken Swain 4 (5); Garry Stanley 3; and singles for Brian Bason, Tommy Langley, Micky Droy, Gary Locke, Charlie Cooke and David Hay, plus one own goal. Steve Kember had left for Leicester in July; John Dempsey’s last league appearance came on Boxing Day. The FA Cup ran to the fifth round: Bristol Rovers were beaten after a Bridge draw and an Eastville replay, York City 2–0 away in the fourth, then Crystal Palace won 3–2 at Stamford Bridge on 14 February before 54,407 — the season’s biggest gate. The League Cup ended at the second round with a 0–1 defeat at Crewe Alexandra on 10 September. Biggest league win was the 3–0 at Plymouth on 6 March; heaviest reverse the 1–4 at Southampton on 11 October (matched for margin by 0–3 at Luton and 0–3 at home to Oldham). Home league gates averaged 18,896 — a sharp drop from First Division years — with a high of 29,011 against Southampton and a low of 10,254 against Hull City. Umbro’s first named Chelsea kit era began this season on the all-blue home look.
Kits
Under reviewUmbro became the first named kit manufacturer in 1975.
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_F.C.#Kit_manufacturers_and_shirt_sponsors
Illustration from hex colours (not official kit photography).
On this day (related years)
History
Eras, trophies, and great matches in the History section.
Explore history →Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._seasons
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975%E2%80%9376_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975%E2%80%9376_Football_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975%E2%80%9376_Football_League_Second_Division
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975%E2%80%9376_FA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975%E2%80%9376_Football_League_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_McCreadie
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Wilkins
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.fchd.info/lghist/fl1976.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/1975.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/1975.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Managers.htm
- http://free-elements.com/England/Goals/CheL/CheL5.html
- https://www.englishfootballleaguetables.co.uk/stats/Report/gate/a1975-76.html
- https://www.englishfootballleaguetables.co.uk/final/f1975-76.html
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html