The duo who sowed the seeds ahead of the Chelsea Revolution
Many point towards Roman Abramovich as being the main (only) reason behind Chelsea’s recent success, but I think a revival in the club’s fortunes have deeper routes than that and Glenn Hoddle’s signing of Ruud Gullit set the club into the ascendancy.
The Dutchman arrived at Stamford Bridge from AC Milan in July of 1995 on a free transfer alongside important players like Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu. Gullit was initially used by Hoddle as a sweeper, but was moved into a more familiar midfield position where he excelled for the club and was runner-up to Eric Cantona for the Footballer of the Year award in his first season.
Although Chelsea did pretty poorly in the Premiership in the Dutchman’s first season at the club finishing in a disappointing 11th place they did get to the FA Cup semi final, only to lose 2-1 to Manchester United.
When Hoddle left to become the manager of the England team in the summer of 1996 Gullit was appointed by the club as a player manager. He had a great start to his Chelsea managerial career by ending the club’s 26-year drought without a trophy when he won the FA Cup with the club in 1997 and became the first non-British manager to win the honour, as well as leading Chelsea to an improved 6th place position in the Premiership.
One of the Euro 1988 winner’s biggest successes as Chelsea boss was when he signed the diminutive attacking talent in Gianfranco Zola along with a number of other continental signings changing the face of the club and turning them into a force in both the league as well as in cup competitions as Hoddle had done previously. Zola became a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge and was voted as the club’s best ever player.
Gullit was then shockingly sacked in the February of 1998 after an alleged disagreement over compensation with the club’s board, but he has always denied this and was eventually replaced by Gianluca Vialli, who he had helped in bringing to the west London club.
Vialli successfully took over from where the former AC Milan star had left off, 2nd in the Premiership and into the quarter finals of two cup competitions (Coca-Cola Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup) and the Italian won both of the cup competitions as well as finishing in an impressive 4th spot in the league.
The following season the club finished 3rd and won the European Super Cup with a win over Real Madrid. Their league finish was their highest since 1970 finishing just four points behind the champions but everyone is quick to forget how good Chelsea were that year, especially as Manchester United won the treble that season.
In the 1999/00 season Vialli took the club into their Champions League debut and managed to reach the quarter finals as well as winning the FA Cup against Aston Villa, the last final to be staged at the old Wembley Stadium. The Italian was unfortunately sacked early into the next season after falling out with a number of the playing staff.
Another Italian followed in the former Chelsea number nine’s footsteps as Claudio Ranieri took charge and successfully maintained the cash-strapped west London club’s standing as a top six side before beating Liverpool to fourth place in the 2002/03 season and earning Chelsea the right to compete in the UEFA Champions League for a second time.
It’s unlikely that Roman Abramovich would have come in and saved the club from their debt if they had not managed to achieve that final feat before the Russian owner’s era began. Many attribute Abramovich as being the only reason the Blues have gone from being a mid-table Premier League outfit to a top four club, but it was the likes of Glenn Hoddle who got the ball rolling by starting to attract the quality of people like Gullit to the club.
The Chelsea fans will forever be grateful to those who helped turn the club around during difficult finacial woes in the mid-to-late 1990s and helping them on their way to become the successful outfit they are today.
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