1992–93 Chelsea F.C. season

Chelsea F.C.
1992–93 season
Chairman Ken Bates
Manager Ian Porterfield (until 15 February)
David Webb (from 15 February)
Stadium Stamford Bridge
FA Premier League 11th
FA Cup Third round
League Cup Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer League: Harford/Stuart (9)
All: Harford (11)
Average home league attendance 18,787
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours

During the 1992–93 English football season, Chelsea F.C. competed in the inaugural season of the FA Premier League.

The season was the club's 88th year in existence since their foundation in 1905. It was their 58th season within England's highest tier of football and their fourth season of their current top-flight spell following promotion at the end of the 1988-89 season.[1]

Season summary

Chelsea started the season well and stood second after 19 games, but went into freefall after that, going 12 matches without a win, a run that pulled Chelsea down to 12th,[2] replacing hopes of a title challenge with relegation fears. Manager Ian Porterfield paid for the team's poor form by becoming the first manager to be sacked in the new Premier League on 15 February. He was replaced by David Webb, the scorer of the Chelsea winner that won the 1970 FA Cup Final. Webb managed to steer Chelsea to safety, but his contract was not renewed by the board. Instead, they appointed former Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle, who had just taken Swindon Town to their first ever top-flight campaign, as player-manager.

The club ended the season with 56 points, having won 14, drawn 14 and lost 14 matches. By finishing 11th of 22 clubs, it was Chelsea's first top-half finish since coming 5th in 1989-90. With 54 goals conceded, this was Chelsea's best defence in the top flight, a record broken next season as well.[3]

Chelsea went out in the third round of the FA Cup this season, beaten 2-1 by Middlesbrough away at Ayresome Park.

Kit

Chelsea retained the previous season's home kit,[4] manufactured by Umbro and sponsored by Commodore. It featured a geometric pattern on the players' right shoulder, repeated on the left leg of the shorts, an Umbro trademark of the time also used by Everton[5] and Manchester United's [6] home shirts of the same time. For this season, Chelsea re-introduced white socks as first choice for the first time since 1984-85. White socks had been introduced by Tommy Docherty for Chelsea in 1965, to make Chelsea stand out among other clubs wearing blue shirts, white shorts and blue socks.[7]

The away kit was based on football kits of the game's early days as part of a nostalgia craze following the 1990 World Cup.[8] It was a white shirt with red pinstripes, red shorts and socks.[9] Its laces were also worn on the Umbro home kits of Aston Villa [10] and Sheffield United.[11] The Chelsea lion badge was included in a blue shield; the kits for next season retained this style. The kit was the final one in which Chelsea wore a red garment, the colour having been a popular away kit throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[12]

Chelsea wore a third kit of all-yellow with a blue collar and pattern on the front,[13] also worn by Everton.[14] The kit was from an Umbro range called Porto.[15]

Final league table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Manchester United (C) 42 24 12 6 67 31+36 84 1993–94 UEFA Champions League First round
2 Aston Villa 42 21 11 10 57 40+17 74 1993–94 UEFA Cup First round
3 Norwich City 42 21 9 12 61 65−4 72
4 Blackburn Rovers 42 20 11 11 68 46+22 71
5 Queens Park Rangers 42 17 12 13 63 55+8 63
6 Liverpool 42 16 11 15 62 55+7 59
7 Sheffield Wednesday 42 15 14 13 55 51+4 59
8 Tottenham Hotspur 42 16 11 15 60 66−6 59
9 Manchester City 42 15 12 15 56 51+5 57
10 Arsenal 42 15 11 16 40 38+2 56 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup First round 1
11 Chelsea 42 14 14 14 51 54−3 56
12 Wimbledon 42 14 12 16 56 55+1 54
13 Everton 42 15 8 19 53 55−2 53
14 Sheffield United 42 14 10 18 54 53+1 52
15 Coventry City 42 13 13 16 52 57−5 52
16 Ipswich Town 42 12 16 14 50 55−5 52
17 Leeds United 42 12 15 15 57 62−5 51
18 Southampton 42 13 11 18 54 61−7 50
19 Oldham Athletic 42 13 10 19 63 74−11 49
20 Crystal Palace (R) 42 11 16 15 48 61−13 49 Relegation to 1993–94 Football League First Division
21 Middlesbrough (R) 42 11 11 20 54 75−21 44
22 Nottingham Forest (R) 42 10 10 22 41 62−21 40

Updated to games played on 11 May 1993.
Source: Soccerbase
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1Arsenal qualified by winning the FA Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Chelsea's score comes first[16]

Legend

Win Draw Loss

FA Premier League

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
15 August 1992 Oldham AthleticH1–120,699Harford
19 August 1992 Norwich CityA1–215,164Stuart
22 August 1992 Sheffield WednesdayA3–326,338Jones, Stuart, Newton
26 August 1992 Blackburn RoversH0–019,575
29 August 1992 Queens Park RangersH1–022,910Harford
2 September 1992 Aston VillaA3–119,125Fleck, Newton, Wise
5 September 1992 LiverpoolA1–234,199Harford
12 September 1992 Norwich CityH2–316,880Harford, Townsend
20 September 1992 Manchester CityA1–022,420Harford
26 September 1992 Nottingham ForestH0–019,760
3 October 1992 ArsenalA1–227,780Wise
17 October 1992 Ipswich TownH2–116,707Hall, Harford
24 October 1992 Coventry CityA2–115,626Harford, Stuart
31 October 1992 Sheffield UnitedH1–213,763Townsend
7 November 1992 Crystal PalaceH3–117,141Shaw (own goal), Stuart, Harford
21 November 1992 EvertonA1–017,418Fleck
29 November 1992 Leeds UnitedH1–024,345Townsend
5 December 1992 Tottenham HotspurA2–131,540Newton (2)
11 December 1992 MiddlesbroughA0–015,599
19 December 1992 Manchester UnitedH1–134,464Lee
26 December 1992 SouthamptonH1–118,344Newton
28 December 1992 WimbledonA0–014,687
9 January 1993 Manchester CityH2–415,939Stuart, Spencer
16 January 1993 Nottingham ForestA0–323,249
27 January 1993 Queens Park RangersA1–115,806Spencer
30 January 1993 Sheffield WednesdayH0–216,261
6 February 1993 Oldham AthleticA1–311,772Harford
10 February 1993 LiverpoolH0–020,981
13 February 1993 Aston VillaH0–120,081
21 February 1993 Blackburn RoversA0–214,780
1 March 1993 ArsenalH1–017,725Stuart
10 March 1993 EvertonH2–112,739Stuart, Spencer
15 March 1993 Crystal PalaceA1–112,610Stuart
20 March 1993 Tottenham HotspurH1–125,157Cascarino
24 March 1993 Leeds UnitedA1–128,135Donaghy
3 April 1993 MiddlesbroughH4–013,043Donaghy, Spencer, Stuart, Barnard
6 April 1993 Ipswich TownA1–117,444Spencer
10 April 1993 SouthamptonA0–115,135
12 April 1993 WimbledonH4–213,138Wise (pen), Hall, Spencer, Shipperley
17 April 1993 Manchester UnitedA0–340,139
1 May 1993 Coventry CityH2–114,186Spencer, Cascarino
8 May 1993 Sheffield UnitedA2–424,850Lee, Townsend

FA Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R32 January 1993 MiddlesbroughA1–216,776Mohan (own goal)

League Cup

RoundDateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceGoalscorers
R2 First Leg 23 September 1992 WalsallA3–05,510Townsend, Wise, Newton
R2 Second Leg 7 October 1992 WalsallH1–0 (won 4-0 on agg)7,646Fleck
R328 October 1992 Newcastle UnitedH2–130,193Harford, Sinclair
R42 December 1992 EvertonA2–214,457Harford, Stuart
R4R16 December 1992 EvertonH1–019,496Townsend
QF6 January 1993 Crystal PalaceA1–328,510Townsend

First-team squad

[17] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England GK Dave Beasant
England GK Alec Chamberlain (on loan from Luton Town)
Republic of Ireland GK Nick Colgan
England GK Kevin Hitchcock
Russia GK Dmitri Kharine
Republic of Ireland GK Gerry Peyton[18] (on loan from Everton)
England DF Anthony Barness
England DF Paul Elliott
England DF David Lee
England DF Andy Myers
England DF Ian Pearce
England DF Frank Sinclair[19]
Wales DF Darren Barnard[20]
Wales DF Gareth Hall[21]
Scotland DF Steve Clarke
Northern Ireland DF Mal Donaghy
No. Position Player
Norway DF Erland Johnsen
Scotland MF Craig Burley
Scotland MF David Hopkin
England MF Damian Matthew
England MF Eddie Newton
England MF Nigel Spackman
England MF Graham Stuart
England MF Andy Townsend
England MF Dennis Wise (captain)
England FW Mick Harford
England FW Steve Livingstone
England FW Neil Shipperley
Scotland FW Robert Fleck
Scotland FW John Spencer .
Republic of Ireland FW Tony Cascarino[22]

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England DF Graeme Le Saux (to Blackburn Rovers)
England MF Vinnie Jones[23] (to Wimbledon)
No. Position Player
England FW Joe Allon (to Brentford)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.free-elements.com/England/Goals/CheL/CheL5.html
  2. ↑ http://www.statto.com/football/teams/chelsea/1992-1993
  3. ↑ http://chelseafootballclub.net/historytable.htm
  4. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
  5. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Everton/Everton.htm
  6. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Manchester_United/Manchester_United.htm
  7. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea.htm
  8. ↑ 'True Colours' by John Devlin
  9. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
  10. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Aston_Villa/Aston_Villa.htm
  11. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Sheffield_United/Sheffield_United.htm
  12. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
  13. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Chelsea/Chelsea-change-kits.html
  14. ↑ http://historicalkits.co.uk/Everton/Everton-change-kits.html
  15. ↑ 'True Colours' by John Devlin
  16. ↑ http://www.statto.com/football/teams/chelsea/1992-1993/results
  17. ↑ http://www.11v11.com/teams/chelsea/tab/players/season/1993
  18. ↑ Peyton was born in Birmingham, England.
  19. ↑ Sinclair was born in Lambeth, England, but also qualified to represent Jamaica internationally.
  20. ↑ Barnard was born in Rinteln, West Germany (now Germany).
  21. ↑ Hall was born in Croydon, England.
  22. ↑ Cascarino was born in Bromley, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally through his maternal grandfather. It was later discovered that his mother was adopted and he could not qualify through his grandfather, but was still eligible to represent the Republic of Ireland as his mother's adoption gave her Irish citizenship.
  23. ↑ Jones was born in Watford, England, but also qualified to represent Wales internationally.