1996–97 Chelsea F.C. season

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
No.	Nat	Pos	Player	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

Wise (C)

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)

Chelsea F.C. seasons

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1996–97 in English football

« 1995–96 1997–98 »

FA competitions	FA Cup (Qualifying Rounds · Final) · Charity Shield · FA Trophy (Final)

Premier League and Football League	Premier League · Football League (First Division · Second Division · Third Division) · League Cup (Final) · Football League Trophy (Final) · Play-offs (First Division Final · Second Division Final · Third Division Final)

Football Conference	Football Conference · Conference League Cup

Lower leagues	Northern Premier League · Southern Football League · Isthmian League

European competitions	Champions League · UEFA Cup · Cup Winners' Cup

Related to national team	1998 FIFA World Cup (UEFA Qualification Group 2) · Glenn Hoddle

Club seasons

Premier League	Arsenal · Aston Villa · Blackburn Rovers · Chelsea · Coventry City · Derby County · Everton · Leeds United · Leicester City · Liverpool · Manchester United · Middlesbrough · Newcastle United · Nottingham Forest · Sheffield Wednesday · Southampton · Sunderland · Tottenham Hotspur · West Ham United · Wimbledon

First Division	Barnsley · Birmingham City · Bolton Wanderers · Bradford City · Charlton Athletic · Crystal Palace · Grimsby Town · Huddersfield Town · Ipswich Town · Manchester City · Norwich City · Oldham Athletic · Oxford United · Portsmouth · Port Vale · Queens Park Rangers · Reading · Sheffield United · Southend United · Stoke City · Swindon Town · Tranmere Rovers · West Bromwich Albion · Wolverhampton Wanderers

Second Division	Blackpool · Bournemouth · Brentford · Bristol City · Bristol Rovers · Burnley · Bury · Chesterfield · Crewe Alexandra · Gillingham · Luton Town · Millwall · Notts County · Peterborough United · Plymouth Argyle · Preston North End · Rotherham United · Shrewsbury Town · Stockport County · Walsall · Watford · Wrexham · Wycombe · York City

Third Division	Barnet · Brighton & Hove Albion · Cambridge United · Cardiff City · Carlisle United · Chester City · Colchester United · Darlington · Doncaster Rovers · Exeter City · Fulham · Hartlepool United · Hereford United · Hull City · Leyton Orient · Lincoln City · Mansfield Town · Northampton Town · Rochdale · Scarborough · Scunthorpe United · Swansea City · Torquay United · Wigan Athletic

Southern League	Newport

Summer 1996 transfers · Winter 1996–97 transfers