50 Years of Chelsea: 1993-94

The Chelsea FanCast looks back, season by season, to 50 Years of Chelsea history from 1970 to the present day.

Stamford Chidge is joined by Jonathan Kydd, Mark Meehan and Tim Rolls and featuring Kerry Dixon to look back at the 1993-94 season.

Tim will shortly be releasing his new book “Sexton for God”, the third book in his trilogy on Chelsea from 1961-1975, following on from “Diamonds, Dynamos and Devils” and “Stamford Bridge is Falling Down”. “Sexton for God” covers the tumultuous, exciting and successful period from Dave Sexton’s arrival as Chelsea manager in 1967 to Ron Harris lifting the European Cup Winners’ Cup in May 1971. Tim discusses his new book with us, due out in the autumn. Signed hardback copies with a named dedication can be purchased via Tim’s Kickstarter page until July 20th.

The 1993-94 season heralded a new era and something of a revolution at Chelsea, ignited by the arrival of Glenn Hoddle as player manager. Bringing radical ideas and a complete overhaul on and off the pitch, Hoddle’s revolution got off to a slow start in the Premier League. This was followed by a dreadful winter where Chelsea lost 10 out of 13 games, failing to score in 8 of them. The players seemed to be having trouble with Hoddle’s 3:5:2 system and found it hard to score and equally hard to keep the ball out of their own net and Chelsea found themselves in relegation trouble, 20th in the league.

A dressing room row after the 3-1 loss to fellow strugglers Southampton, appeared to turn things round. A return to 4 at the back and diamond four midfield and the incredible form of Mark Stein who arrived from Stoke City for £1.5m and scored in 7 consecutive games, a Premier League record at the time, saw Chelsea climb back up the table.

Of greater note was Chelsea’s FA Cup run. After beating Barnet in a replay, Sheffield Wednesday in an epic replay in extra-time, Oxford City away; Chelsea found themselves in a quarter final against Wolves at home. In an electric atmosphere, Gavin Peacock’s goal was enough to get through to the semi-final at Wembley against Luton Town and former Chelsea hero Kerry Dixon. Beating Luton 2-0 with a rousing send off to Kerry Dixon who tells us what that was like, Chelsea then faced Man Utd in the final, their first final for 24 years.

It was to end in rain drenched disappointment, as Utd cruelly beat Chelsea 4-0 with two penalties, one very harsh. But the Chelsea faithful were buoyed by the fact that Chelsea would be playing European football next season and in spite of a 14th place finish in the League, the potential of what Hoddle was doing to change the club was there for all to see.

To help us celebrate 50 Years of Chelsea we've partnered with 3Retro who have a superb collection of Chelsea retro gear and are offering 10% OFF when you use the 3RETRO10 code and if you order over £50 of merch you get FREE UK delivery.

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