1996–97 Chelsea F.C. season

Chelsea

1996–97 season
Chairman	Ken Bates
Manager	Ruud Gullit
FA Premier League	6th
FA Cup	Winners
Coca Cola Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: Vialli (9) All: Hughes (14)
Highest home attendance	28,418 (vs. Everton, 7 December 1996)
Lowest home attendance	11,732 (vs. Blackpool, 25 September 1996)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

During the 1996–97 English football season, Chelsea F.C. competed in the FA Premier League.

Season summary

With Glenn Hoddle leaving to become England manager, Chelsea gave the managerial role to midfielder Ruud Gullit, who used his continental connections to bring in world class international players such as France center-back Frank Leboeuf, and Italian superstars such as midfielder Roberto Di Matteo, stikers Gianfranco Zola and the Champions League winning Gianluca Vialli. Gullit had a dream start to his managerial career as Chelsea won the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, ending Chelsea's 26-year trophy drought and making him the first foreign manager to win a major trophy with an English club. Zola was voted PFA Player of the Year after a brilliant first season at Stamford Bridge in which he scored 8 (often spectacular) league goals and contributing many assists, while fellow countryman and record £4.5 million signing Roberto Di Matteo scored one of Chelsea's goals in the triumphant Wembley final.

The club suffered a tragedy in late October when director Matthew Harding was killed in a helicopter crash in Cheshire when returning home from the club's Coca-Cola Cup exit at Bolton.

Statistics

No.	Nat	Pos	Player	Total		FA Premier League		FA Cup		Football League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1		GK	Dmitri Kharine	5	0	5	0	0	0	0	0
2		DF	Dan Petrescu	41	4	34	3	5	0	2	1
3		DF	Terry Phelan	4	0	1+2	0	0	0	1	0
4		MF	Ruud Gullit	14	1	6+6	1	1	0	1	0
5		DF	Frank Leboeuf	34	7	26	6	6	1	2	0
6		DF	Steve Clarke	40	0	31	0	6	0	3	0
7		FW	John Spencer	7	2	0+4	0	0	0	3	2
8		DF	Andy Myers	18	1	15+3	1	0	0	0	0
9		FW	Gianluca Vialli	33	11	23+5	9	4	2	1	0
10		FW	Mark Hughes	43	14	32+3	8	6	5	2	1
11		MF	Dennis Wise	40	6	27+4	3	7	3	2	0
12		DF	Michael Duberry	17	1	13+2	1	0	0	2	0
13		GK	Kevin Hitchcock	16	0	10+2	0	2	0	2	0
14		MF	Craig Burley	37	3	26+5	2	3	1	3	0
15		DF	David Lee	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	0
16		MF	Roberto Di Matteo	44	9	33+1	7	7	2	3	0
17		DF	Scott Minto	32	5	24+1	4	5	0	2	1
18		DF	Erland Johnsen	22	0	14+4	0	3	0	1	0
19		DF	Paul Parker	4	0	1+3	0	0	0	0	0
20		DF	Frank Sinclair	25	1	17+2	1	6	0	0	0
21		MF	Jody Morris	14	1	6+6	0	0	0	2	1
22		FW	Mark Nicholls	10	0	3+5	0	0	0	2	0
24		MF	Eddie Newton	20	1	13+2	0	5	1	0	0
25		FW	Gianfranco Zola	30	12	22+1	8	7	4	0	0
26		DF	Neil Clement	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
27		MF	Paul Hughes	13	2	8+4	2	1	0	0	0
28		DF	Danny Granville	5	0	3+2	0	0	0	0	0
29		GK	Nick Colgan	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
30		GK	Frode Grodås	26	0	20+1	0	4	0	1	0

Statistics taken from [1]. Squad details and shirt numbers from [2] and [3].

Starting 11

Only considering Premiership starts.

No.	Pos.	Name	Starts
30	GK	Frode Grodås	21
2	RWB	Dan Petrescu	34
6	CB	Steve Clarke	31
4	SW	Ruud Gullit	12
5	CB	Frank Leboeuf	26
17	LWB	Scott Minto	25
11	CM	Dennis Wise (Captain)	31
16	CM	Roberto Di Matteo	34
25	AM	Gianfranco Zola	23
10	CF	Mark Hughes	35
9	CF	Gianluca Vialli	28

Grodås Petrescu Clarke Gullit Leboeuf Minto Wise (C) Zola Di Matteo Hughes Vialli

Results

FA Premier League

1 18 August 1996	Southampton	0–0	Chelsea
				Attendance: 15,186

2 21 August 1996	Chelsea	1–0	Middlesbrough
	Di Matteo  86'			Attendance: 28,272

3 24 August 1996	Chelsea	2–0	Coventry
	Leboeuf  29' Vialli  74'			Attendance: 25,024

4 3 September 1996	Arsenal	3–3	Chelsea
	Merson  44' Keown  64' Wright  77'		Leboeuf  6' (pen.) Vialli  30' Wise  90'	Attendance: 38,132

5 7 September 1996	Sheffield Wednesday	0–2	Chelsea
			Burley  28' Myers  83'	Attendance: 30,983

6 15 September 1996	Chelsea	1–1	Aston Villa
	Leboeuf  45'		Townsend  18'	Attendance: 27,729

7 21 September 1996	Liverpool	5–1	Chelsea
	Fowler  15' Berger  42, 49' Myers  45' (o.g.) Barnes  57'		Leboeuf  85' (pen.)	Attendance: 40,739

8 28 September 1996	Chelsea	1–1	Nottingham
	Vialli  51'		Lee  90'	Attendance: 27,673

9 12 October 1996	Leicester	1–3	Chelsea
	Watts  44'		Vialli  48' Di Matteo  64' Hughes  80'	Attendance: 20,766

10 19 October 1996	Chelsea	2–4	Wimbledon
	Minto  9' Vialli  84' (pen.)		Earle  3' Ardley  16' Gayle  64' Ekoku  78'	Attendance: 28,020

11 26 October 1996	Chelsea	3–1	Tottenham
	Gullit  27' D. Lee  52' (pen.) Di Matteo  80'		Armstrong  42'	Attendance: 28,373

12 2 November 1996	Manchester United	1–2	Chelsea
	Poborský  81'		Duberry  31' Vialli  61'	Attendance: 55,198

13 16 November 1996	Blackburn	1–1	Chelsea
	Gallacher  56'		Petrescu  82'	Attendance: 27,229

14 23 November 1996	Chelsea	1–1	Newcastle
	Vialli  24'		Shearer  41'	Attendance: 28,401

15 1 December 1996	Leeds	2–0	Chelsea
	Deane  8' Rush  10'			Attendance: 32,671

16 7 December 1996	Chelsea	2–2	Everton
	Zola  12' Vialli  55'		Branch  17' Kanchelskis  28'	Attendance: 28,418

17 15 December 1996	Sunderland	3–0	Chelsea
	Duberry  30' (o.g.) Ball  47' Russell  67'			Attendance: 19,683

18 21 December 1996	Chelsea	3–1	West Ham
	Hughes  6, 35' Zola  10'		Porfirio  11'	Attendance: 28,315

19 26 December 1996	Aston Villa	0–2	Chelsea
			Zola  66, 70'	Attendance: 39,339

20 28 December 1996	Chelsea	2–2	Sheffield Wednesday
	Zola  9' Hughes  23'		Pembridge  23' Stefanović  90'	Attendance: 27,467

21 1 January 1997	Chelsea	1–0	Liverpool
	Di Matteo  43'			Attendance: 28,329

22 11 January 1997	Nottingham	2–0	Chelsea
	Pearce  40' Bart-Williams  53'			Attendance: 28,358

23 18 January 1997	Chelsea	3–1	Derby
	Wise  36' Leboeuf  44' (pen.) Hughes  85'		Asanović  25'	Attendance: 28,293

24 1 February 1997	Tottenham	1–2	Chelsea
	Howells  82'		Campbell  1' (o.g.) Di Matteo  81'	Attendance: 33,027

25 22 February 1997	Chelsea	1–1	Manchester United
	Zola  2'		Beckham  68'	Attendance: 28,336

26 1 March 1997	Derby	3–2	Chelsea
	Minto  51' (o.g.) Asanović  62' (pen.) Ward  90'		Minto  16' Leboeuf  54'	Attendance: 18,039

27 5 March 1997	Chelsea	1–1	Blackburn
	Minto  63'		Pedersen  62'	Attendance: 25,784

28 12 March 1997	West Ham	3–2	Chelsea
	Dicks  55' (pen.) Kitson  68, 90'		Vialli  26' Hughes  87'	Attendance: 24,502

29 16 March 1997	Chelsea	6–2	Sunderland
	Zola  38' Sinclair  43' Petrescu  51' Hughes  78, 90' Vialli  90'		Stewart  58' Rae  60'	Attendance: 24,027

30 19 March 1997	Chelsea	1–0	Southampton
	Zola  22'			Attendance: 28,079

31 22 March 1997	Middlesbrough	1–0	Chelsea
	Juninho  53'			Attendance: 29,811

32 5 April 1997	Chelsea	0–3	Arsenal
			Wright  22' Platt  53' Bergkamp  80'	Attendance: 28,182

33 9 April 1997	Coventry	3–1	Chelsea
	Dublin  49' Williams  51' Whelan  58'		P. Hughes  43'	Attendance: 19,917

34 16 April 1997	Newcastle	3–1	Chelsea
	Shearer  12, 35' Asprilla  30'		Burley  62'	Attendance: 36,320

35 19 April 1997	Chelsea	2–1	Leicester
	Minto  13' Hughes  73'		F. Sinclair  47' (o.g.)	Attendance: 27,723

36 22 April 1997	Wimbledon	0–1	Chelsea
			Petrescu  14'	Attendance: 14,601

37 3 May 1997	Chelsea	0–0	Leeds
				Attendance: 26,277

38 11 May 1997	Everton	1–2	Chelsea
	Barmby  77'		Wise  14' Di Matteo  36'	Attendance: 38,321

Pos	Club	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
5	Aston Villa	38	17	10	11	47	34	13	61
6	Chelsea	38	16	11	11	58	55	3	59
7	Sheffield Wednesday	38	14	15	9	50	51	−1	57

Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
18 September 1996	R2	Blackpool	A	4–1	9,666	Petrescu, Morris, Spencer, M. Hughes
25 September 1996	R2	Blackpool	H	1–3	11,732	Spencer
22 October 1996	R3	Bolton Wanderers	A	1–2	16,867	Minto

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
4 January 1997	R3	West Bromwich Albion	H	3–0	27,446	Wise, Zola, Burley
26 January 1997	R4	Liverpool	H	4–2	27,950	M. Hughes, Zola, Vialli (2)
16 February 1997	R5	Leicester City	A	2–2	19,125	Di Matteo, M. Hughes
26 February 1997	R5 (R)	Leicester City	H	1–0 (a.e.t.)	26,053	Leboeuf (pen.)
9 March 1997	QF	Portsmouth	A	4–1	15,701	Wise (2), Zola, M. Hughes
13 April 1997	SF	Wimbledon	N	3–0	32,674	M. Hughes (2), Zola
17 May 1997	F	Middlesbrough	N	2–0	79,160	Di Matteo, Newton

Transfers

In

#	Pos	Player	From	Fee	Date
16	MF	Roberto Di Matteo	Lazio	£4,900,000	??-06-1996
9	FW	Gianluca Vialli	Juventus	Free	??-06-1996
5	DF	Frank Leboeuf	Strasbourg	£2,500,000	??-06-1996
25	FW	Gianfranco Zola	Parma	£4,500,000	??-11-1996

Total spending: £11,900,000

References

• Chelsea 1996/1997 results and fixtures at Soccerbase
• Hockings, Ron. 100 Years of the Blues: A Statistical History of Chelsea Football Club. (2007)