1969–70 Chelsea F.C. season

Chelsea
1969-70 season
Chairman	Brian Mears
Manager	Dave Sexton
First Division	3rd
FA Cup	Winners
League Cup	Fourth round
Top goalscorer	League: ; Peter Osgood (23); All: ; Peter Osgood (31)
Highest home attendance	61,479 vs Manchester United (21 March 1970)
Lowest home attendance	24,904 vs Burnley (17 September 1969)
Home colours	Away colours

The 1969-70 season was Chelsea Football Club's 56th of competitive football, and the club's 43rd in the English top flight.

The club began the season having not signed a single player. Defender Paddy Mulligan, who joined in October for £17,500, was the sole recruit during the campaign. Bobby Tambling, still Chelsea's record goalscorer with 202 goals, had his final season with the club, signing for Crystal Palace on loan in January before leaving permanently in May.

The season proved to be a success, as the club won the FA Cup for the first time in their history with a hard-fought replayed win over Leeds United. The club also finished 3rd in the First Division, their highest placing since 1965. Chelsea were for a time in title contention, although an indifferent start and heavy defeats at the hands of rivals Leeds and Everton ultimately ended their chances.

Midfielders John Hollins and Peter Houseman did not miss a game. Hollins was also voted Chelsea's Player of the Year by the fans. Peter Osgood finished as top scorer, with 31 goals in all competitions, and became the last man to date to score in every round of the FA Cup. The average home attendance for the season was 40,342.

Squad statistics

Pos.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Peter Bonetti	36	0	8	0	4	0	48	0
GK	Tommy Hughes	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
DF	John Dempsey	37	2	8	1	3	0	48	3
DF	Ron Harris	30	0	8	0	3	0	41	0
DF	Marvin Hinton	28	0	2(2)	0	4	0	34(2)	0
DF	Stewart Houston	6(3)	0	0	0	1	0	7(3)	0
DF	Eddie McCreadie	30(1)	0	8	0	2	0	40(1)	0
DF	Paddy Mulligan	8(2)	0	0	0	0	0	8(2)	0
DF	David Webb	35	4	8	3	3	0	46	7
MF	John Boyle	7(1)	0	0	0	3	0	10(1)	0
MF	Charlie Cooke	35	4	6	0	3(1)	1	44(1)	5
MF	Alan Hudson	29	3	6	0	2	0	37	3
MF	John Hollins	42	6	8	1	4	0	54	7
MF	Peter Houseman	42	3	8	6	4	0	54	9
MF/FW	Tommy Baldwin	19(2)	5	5	1	1	0	25(2)	6
FW	Alan Birchenall	15(1)	3	0	0	4	2	19(1)	5
FW	Ian Hutchinson	27(1)	16	8	5	1	1	35(1)	22
FW	Peter Osgood	38(2)	23	7	8	3	0	48(2)	31
FW	Bobby Tambling	7(2)	0	0	0	0	0	7(2)	0

Substitute appearances in parenthesis. Substitute appearances included in totals

Results

First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1969	Liverpool	A	1-4	48,383	Hutchinson
11 August 1969	West Ham United	A	0-2	39,003
16 August 1969	Ipswich Town	H	1-0	29,613	Hutchinson
20 August 1969	West Ham United	H	0-0	43,346
23 August 1969	Southampton	A	2-2	25,935	Osgood (2)
27 August 1969	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1-1	47,395	Webb
30 August 1969	Crystal Palace	H	1-1	41,908	Osgood
6 September 1969	Manchester City	A	0-0	35,995
13 September 1969	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2-2	38,599	Dempsey, Osgood
17 September 1969	Burnley	H	2-0	24,904	Birchenall, Houseman
20 September 1969	Leeds United	A	0-2	33,130
27 September 1969	Arsenal	H	3-0	46,370	Baldwin, Birchenall (2)
4 October 1969	Sunderland	A	0-0	24,216
11 October 1969	Derby County	H	2-2	51,421	Houseman, Hollins
18 October 1969	West Bromwich Albion	H	2-0	34,810	Cooke, Osgood
25 October 1969	Newcastle United	A	1-0	40,088	Osgood
1 November 1969	Coventry City	H	1-0	38,899	Cooke
8 November 1969	Sheffield Wednesday	A	3-1	18,044	Hutchinson, Osgood
15 November 1969	Everton	H	1-1	49,895	Osgood
18 November 1969	Ipswich Town	A	4-1	20,935	Hollins, Osgood (2), Hutchinson
22 November 1969	Nottingham Forest	A	1-1	23,808	Cooke
6 December 1969	Manchester United	A	2-0	49,344	Hutchinson (2)
13 December 1969	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0-3	26,775
20 December 1969	Manchester City	H	3-1	34,791	Webb (2), Hutchinson
26 December 1969	Southampton	H	3-1	41,489	Hollins, Hutchinson (2)
27 December 1969	Crystal Palace	A	5-1	49,498	Osgood (4), Houseman
10 January 1970	Leeds United	H	2-5	57,221	Hollins, Osgood
17 January 1970	Arsenal	A	3-0	51,338	Hollins, Baldwin, Hutchinson
31 January 1970	Sunderland	H	3-1	38,775	Osgood (3)
11 February 1970	Derby County	A	2-2	35,109	Hudson, Osgood
25 February 1970	Newcastle United	H	0-0	35,341
28 February 1970	Coventry City	A	3-0	37,448	Webb, Hudson, Baldwin
7 March 1970	Nottingham Forest	H	1-1	55,227	Baldwin
17 March 1970	Stoke City	H	1-0	28,996	Cooke
21 March 1970	Manchester United	H	2-1	61,479	Hutchinson (2)
25 March 1970	Sheffield Wednesday	H	3-1	29,590	Hudson, Osgood (pen.), Hutchinson
28 March 1970	Everton	A	2-5	57,828	Dempsey, Osgood
30 March 1970	West Bromwich Albion	A	1-3	31,207	Hutchinson
4 April 1970	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1-0	44,925	Baldwin
13 April 1970	Stoke City	A	2-1	22,707	Hutchinson, Skeels (o.g.)
14 April 1970	Burnley	A	1-3	12,030	Hollins
18 April 1970	Liverpool	H	2-1	36,521	Osgood (2)

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Everton (C)	42	29	8	5	72	34	2.118	66	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Leeds United	42	21	15	6	84	49	1.714	57	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
3	Chelsea	42	21	13	8	70	50	1.400	55	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round^[a]
4	Derby County	42	22	9	11	64	37	1.730	53	Qualification for the Watney Cup^[b]
5	Liverpool	42	20	11	11	65	42	1.548	51	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
6	Coventry City	42	19	11	12	58	48	1.208	49
7	Newcastle United	42	17	13	12	57	35	1.629	47
8	Manchester United	42	14	17	11	66	61	1.082	45	Qualification for the Watney Cup^[b]
9	Stoke City	42	15	15	12	56	52	1.077	45
10	Manchester City	42	16	11	15	55	48	1.146	43	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round^[c]
11	Tottenham Hotspur	42	17	9	16	54	55	0.982	43
12	Arsenal	42	12	18	12	51	49	1.041	42	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
13	Wolverhampton Wanderers	42	12	16	14	55	57	0.965	40
14	Burnley	42	12	15	15	56	61	0.918	39
15	Nottingham Forest	42	10	18	14	50	71	0.704	38
16	West Bromwich Albion	42	14	9	19	58	66	0.879	37
17	West Ham United	42	12	12	18	51	60	0.850	36
18	Ipswich Town	42	10	11	21	40	63	0.635	31
19	Southampton	42	6	17	19	46	67	0.687	29
20	Crystal Palace	42	6	15	21	34	68	0.500	27
21	Sunderland (R)	42	6	14	22	30	68	0.441	26	Relegation to the Second Division
22	Sheffield Wednesday (R)	42	8	9	25	40	71	0.563	25	Relegation to the Second Division

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1969–70 FA Cup winners.
^ ^a ^b Derby County and Manchester United qualified for the Watney Cup as the two teams with the most goals that hadn't already qualified for a European competition.
^ Manchester City qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1969–70 European Cup Winners' Cup winners.

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
2 September 1969	R2	Coventry City	A	1-0	24,790	Hutchinson
24 September 1969	R3	Leeds United	A	1-1	21,933	Birchenall
6 October 1969	R3 (R)	Leeds United	H	2-0	38,485	Birchenall, Cooke
15 October 1969	R4	Carlisle United	A	0-1	18,513

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
3 January 1970	R3	Birmingham City	H	3-0	45,088	Osgood, Hutchinson (2)
24 January 1970	R4	Burnley	H	2-2	42,282	Hollins, Osgood
27 January 1970	R4 (R)	Burnley	A	3-1 (a.e.t.)	32,000	Baldwin, Houseman (2)
7 February 1970	R5	Crystal Palace	A	4-1	48,479	Osgood, Dempsey, Houseman, Hutchinson
21 February 1970	QF	Queens Park Rangers	A	4-2	33,572	Osgood (3), Webb
14 March 1970	SF	Watford	N	5-1	55,209	Webb, Osgood, Houseman (2), Hutchinson
11 April 1970	F	Leeds United	N	2-2 (a.e.t.)	100,000	Houseman, Hutchinson
29 April 1970	F (R)	Leeds United	N	2-1 (a.e.t.)	62,078	Osgood, Webb

References

Soccerbase
Hockings, Ron. 100 Years of the Blues: A Statistical History of Chelsea Football Club. (2007)

[table_note_res_CWC1R0.12345730891612-1] Chelsea qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1969–70 FA Cup winners.

[table_note_res_WAC0.12345730891612-2] Derby County and Manchester United qualified for the Watney Cup as the two teams with the most goals that hadn't already qualified for a European competition.

[table_note_res_MCI0.12345730891612-3] Manchester City qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup first round as the 1969–70 European Cup Winners' Cup winners.

[a]

[b]

[c]