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CHELSEA
FC - HISTORY |
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Chelsea Football Club (also known as the Blues, previously also
known as the Pensioners), founded in 1905, is a Premier League
football team that plays at Stamford Bridge football ground in
west London. Despite the club's name, it is not based in the
Chelsea neighborhood, or even in the Chelsea borough, but
instead lies in nearby Hammersmith and Fulham.
In early 2003, Gianfranco Zola was voted as the best ever player
of the team by the Chelsea fans.
Chelsea currently have the seventh longest unbroken membership
of the top division, having being there since the 1989-90 season.
Before that, the club had spent 15 years sliding between the top
two divisions without threatening to achieve any real success.
In 1989-90, Chelsea finished fourth under Bobby Campbell but
were denied a place in the UEFA Cup because only the runners-up
(Aston Villa) qualified for the competition. Campbell quit as
manager the following season to be replaced by Reading manager
Ian Porterfield, a former Chelsea player. Chelsea finished 11th
in the inaugural Premier League (1992-93), but in the January of
that season Porterfield had resigned to be replaced by
Southend's David Webb, who like Porterfield had once been a
Chelsea player. Webb lasted until the end of the season when he
made way for 35-year-old player-manager Glenn Hoddle. Hoddle, a
former England international, had just won the Division One
playoffs at the end of his second season as Swindon Town
manager.
In Hoddle's first season their league form dipped slightly and
they finished 14th as well as losing 4-0 to Manchester United in
the F.A Cup final. But as Manchester United had won the
Premiership/F.A Cup double, Chelsea would be England's
representatives (along with holders Arsenal) in the 1994-95 Cup
Winners Cup. Chelsea lost by a single goal in the Cup Winners
Cup semi final and were thus denied a chance to take on London
rivals Arsenal in the final. Their Premiership finish of 11th
place was not brilliant but it was acceptable by Chelsea
standards. The 1995-96 season brought Chelsea's third 11th place
league finish in four seasons. At the end of June, Hoddle left
Chelsea to manage the England team. He was replaced by
33-year-old Ruud Gullit, the legendary Dutch midfielder who had
joined the club a year earlier on a free transfer from
Sampdoria.
Ruud Gullit made history in 1996-97 when his Chelsea side beat
Middlesbrough 2-0 in the F.A Cup final, and he became the first
foreign manager to win the F.A Cup. Chelsea's league form also
improved, their sixth place finish was their best yet in the
Premiership.
In February 1998, Gullit was suddenly sacked as manager
following a dispute with the board of directors over transfer
funds. Italian striker Gianluca Vialli took over as
player-manager and quickly established himself by winning two
major competitions - the League Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. By
now the Chelsea squad was mostly made up of foreign players. The
likes of Gareth Hall, Mark Stein, Paul Furlong, David Rocastle
and John Spencer had been transferred to other clubs. In their
place were the likes of Dutch goalkeeper Ed de Goey, Nigerian
defender Celestine Babayaro, Italian striker Gianfranco Zola and
French midfielder Bernard Lambourde. A few English players
remained in the side, including defender Graeme le Saux and
midfielder Dennis Wise.
Chelsea lifted the European Super Cup at the start of 1998-99,
by beating European Cup Winners Real Madrid - who had ironically
been their opponents in their Cup Winners Cup triumph of 1971.
Vialli guided Chelsea to success in the 2000 F.A Cup (the last
at Wembley before its redevelopment) and the following August's
Charity Shield, before he was suddenly sacked in September 2000.
Another Italian, Claudio Ranieri, was drafted in as his
replacement.
Claudio Ranieri was Chelsea manager for four years. In 2000-01
and 2001-02, they achieved UEFA Cup qualification and were on
the losing side to Arsenal in the 2002 F.A Cup final at
Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Chelsea finally qualified for the
Champions League after navigating the qualifying stages of the
2003-04 competition. In the quarter finals they overcame
neighbours Arsenal but lost in the semi finals. Chelsea also
finished runners-up to Arsenal in the Premiership - their
highest league finish for half a century.
Despite this, Ranieri was sacked by the club's new owner Roman
Abramovich - who had already ploughed almost £300million into
the club. His successor was Jose Mourinho, who had just quit as
coach of Portugese champions FC Porto despite winning the
European Cup.
In July 2003, Chelsea was acquired by Roman Abramovich, a
Russian billionaire. British tabloids immediately dubbed the
club Chelski. Abramovich used his fortune to wipe out the club's
substantial debts at a stroke, and then directed funds towards
the acquisition of new players. New signings for the start of
the 2003/04 season included the Irish left winger Damien Duff,
the Cameroon international right-sided midfielder Njitap Geremi,
French midfielder Claude Makelele who joined from Real Madrid
the Argentinian striker Hernán Crespo, promising English
youngsters Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole and the
Argentinian midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, who was out of
favour at Manchester United. During the christmas transfer
period the young English midfielder Scott Parker joined after
having impressed during the first half of the season at Charlton
Athletic. Despite finishing runners-up in Premier League during
the 2003-2004 season, and reaching the semi finals of the
Champions League, manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked on 31 May
2004.
José Mourinho was appointed as Manager and Coach on 2 June 2004,
one week after managing FC Porto to the Champions League title.
With the recent signings of Didier Drogba, Mateja Kezman, Paulo
Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Arjen Robben, Petr Cech and Tiago,
among others, Abramovich's spending on players since purchasing
the club has now exceeded £200 million. As of this writing (17
December 2004), Chelsea are top of the Premier League and are
ahead of the English champions, Arsenal, by 5 points. They have
also advanced to the knockout phase (round of 16 teams) of the
UEFA Champions League where they have drawn the highley rated FC
Barcelona.
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