Season: 1985–86
Football League First Division
- Full Members' Cup
League
John Hollins’s first season in charge ended in a solid 6th of 22 in the First Division — 20 wins, 11 draws, 11 defeats, 57–56, 71 points (20×3+11).
- Division
- Football League First Division (Tier 1)
- Manager
- John Hollins
- Top scorer (league)
- Dixon / Speedie (14)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Kerry Dixon (23)
- Avg. league attendance
- 21,986
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Fourth round
- League Cup
- Fifth round
- Europe
- —
- Other
- Full Members' Cup: Winners
Notes
John Hollins’s first season in charge ended in a solid 6th of 22 in the First Division — 20 wins, 11 draws, 11 defeats, 57–56, 71 points (20×3+11). Home form was 12–4–5 (32–27); away 8–7–6 (25–29). Goal difference +1 kept them above Arsenal (69) and Nottingham Forest (68). Liverpool were champions with 88; Everton 86; West Ham United 84; Manchester United 76; Sheffield Wednesday 73. Ipswich Town (41), Birmingham City (29) and West Bromwich Albion (24) went down. There was no European football — English clubs were banned from UEFA competitions after Heysel. For long stretches Chelsea looked like title contenders: second on New Year’s Day, still in the hunt in March before heavy defeats to West Ham (0–4) and Queens Park Rangers (0–6) knocked the stuffing out of the run-in. Kerry Dixon and David Speedie shared the league scoring lead with 14 apiece; Dixon finished top in all competitions with 23, Speedie 22. Pat Nevin added 7 and 12; Nigel Spackman 7. The season’s glory was the Full Members’ Cup. Portsmouth (3–0), Charlton Athletic (3–1) and West Bromwich Albion (2–2, won on penalties) were cleared, Oxford United were beaten 4–2 on aggregate in the semi-final, and on 23 March at Wembley Chelsea beat Manchester City 5–4 — Speedie’s hat-trick and two from Colin Lee in a nine-goal classic. The FA Cup reached the fourth round (Shrewsbury Town 1–0 away, then 1–2 at home to Liverpool). The Milk Cup went to a fifth-round replay: Mansfield Town, Fulham and Everton were beaten before Queens Park Rangers won 2–0 after extra time at the Bridge. Crowds averaged 21,986 for home league games — high 43,900 against Liverpool on 3 May, low 12,017 versus Watford on 5 May. Hollins managed every match after taking over from John Neal on 11 June 1985. The Le Coq Sportif shadow-stripe home shirt, with blue socks back for the first time since the late 1960s, was the look of the Bridge.
Kits
Blue socks returned at home and the away went all red.
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_F.C.
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/1985%E2%80%9386_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985%E2%80%9386_Football_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985%E2%80%9386_Football_League_First_Division
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985%E2%80%9386_FA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985%E2%80%9386_Football_League_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985%E2%80%9386_Full_Members%27_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hollins
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Dixon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Speedie
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._managers
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.fchd.info/lghist/fl1986.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/1985.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/1985.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Managers.htm
- https://www.englishfootballleaguetables.co.uk/stats/Report/gate/a1985-86.html
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html