Season: 1996–97
Premier League
- FA Cup
League
Ruud Gullit’s first season as player-manager ended the drought.
- Division
- Premier League (Tier 1)
- Manager
- Ruud Gullit
- Top scorer (league)
- Gianluca Vialli (9)
- Top scorer (all comps)
- Mark Hughes (14)
- Avg. league attendance
- 27,617
Cups & Europe
- FA Cup
- Winners
- League Cup
- Third round
- Europe
- —
Notes
Ruud Gullit’s first season as player-manager ended the drought. Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League — 16 wins, 11 draws, 11 defeats, 58–55, 59 points (16×3+11) — and, more indelibly, lifted the FA Cup at Wembley for the first time since 1970. Home form was 9–8–2 (33–22); away 7–3–9 (25–33). Goal difference +3 left them two points behind Aston Villa on 61 and clear of Sheffield Wednesday on 57. Manchester United were champions with 75; Newcastle United, Arsenal and Liverpool finished on 68. Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest went down. The summer arrivals remade the Bridge. Gianluca Vialli arrived from Juventus, Roberto Di Matteo from Lazio and Frank Lebœuf from Strasbourg; Gianfranco Zola followed from Parma in November. Vialli led the league scoring with 9; Mark Hughes finished top across all competitions with 14, Zola 12, Di Matteo 9 and Vialli 11. Highlights included a 2–1 of Manchester United at Old Trafford, Di Matteo’s winner against Liverpool at the Bridge on New Year’s Day, and a 6–2 of Sunderland. The Coca-Cola Cup was brief after a nervy Blackpool tie: Chelsea won 5–4 on aggregate, then fell 1–2 at Bolton Wanderers in the third round — the night director Matthew Harding died in a helicopter crash returning from the match. The FA Cup carried everything. West Bromwich Albion were beaten 3–0; Liverpool, two goals down at the Bridge, were swept aside 4–2; Leicester City forced 2–2 at Filbert Street before a 1–0 replay; Portsmouth fell 4–1 in the sixth round; Wimbledon were brushed 3–0 in the semi-final at Highbury. On 17 May at Wembley, Di Matteo scored after forty-three seconds — then the quickest goal in a Wembley FA Cup final — and Eddie Newton sealed a 2–0 win over Middlesbrough. Gullit became the first foreign, and first Black, manager to win a major English trophy. Zola was named FWA Footballer of the Year. Europe waits next season in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Crowds averaged 27,617 for home league games — high 28,418 against Everton on 7 December, low 24,027 versus Sunderland on 16 March. Umbro’s royal blue with white socks, a yellow-and-sky-blue away, and Coors across the chest framed the Cup-winning year.
Kits
Yellow and sky-blue away kit in the FA Cup-winning season.
- 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/1996%E2%80%9397_Chelsea_F.C._season
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_FA_Premier_League
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_FA_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_FA_Cup_final
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996%E2%80%9397_Football_League_Cup
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruud_Gullit
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluca_Vialli
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Hughes
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianfranco_Zola
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Di_Matteo
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chelsea_F.C._managers
- https://www.fchd.info/CHELSEA.HTM
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Summaries/1996.htm
- https://bounder.friardale.co.uk/Results/1996.htm
- https://www.bounder.friardale.co.uk/Managers.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
- https://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
- https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/fa-cup-final-memories-1997