Chelsea

1999–2000 season
Chairman	Ken Bates
Manager	Gianluca Vialli
Premier League	5th
FA Cup	Winners
League Cup	Third round
UEFA Champions League	Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Tore André Flo Gus Poyet (10) All: Tore André Flo (19)
Highest home attendance	35,113 (vs. Everton, 11 May 2000)
Lowest home attendance	21,008 (vs. Huddersfield Town, 13 October 1999)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
←  1998–99 2000–01 →

The 1999–2000 season was Chelsea F.C.'s 86th competitive season, eighth consecutive season in the FA Premier League and 94th year as a club.

Season summary

After a very good third-place finish last season, Chelsea qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round, and were expected to go one better and win the title. France captain Didier Deschamps was signed for £3 million from Juventus to add even more quality and experience to a Chelsea midfield that already boasted Dennis Wise, Roberto Di Matteo and Gustavo Poyet. Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton was also signed for £10 million, but he proved to be a flop with only one league goal all season, which came in a 5-0 drubbing of Man Utd at Stamford Bridge. His strike partner, Gianfranco Zola, had a poor league season by his standard, scoring just four goals, but he made up for that by again setting up many more goals for the team. Chelsea opened the season with 4–0 win over newly promoted Sunderland with Gus Poyet scoring a stunning scissors kick goal. Zola, in contrast to his average league form, made Europe sit up and notice as he led Chelsea's Champions league debut appearance in the group stage. Chelsea were drawn against AC Milan, Hertha Berlin and Galatasary with their first game being against AC Milan at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea topped Group H with 11 points after some standout performances, particularly an impressive 5–0 win in Turkey and two creditable draws home and away with AC Milan.

Zola scored a spectacular free kick in a 3–1 win over F.C. Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea were eliminated in the second leg at the Nou Camp. On the Premier league front, Gianluca Vialli's side finished a solid fifth place in the final table but were too inconsistent to mount anything like a title challenge. Chelsea won their fourth cup in four seasons with a 1–0 win over Aston Villa at Wembley, after David James dropped the ball from a Chelsea corner allowing Di Matteo to score. Chelsea had the last cup final triumph at the old Wembley stadium before it was rebuilt. ^[1] Gus Poyet was key during Chelsea's FA cup run, scoring a hat trick against Hull at Boothferry Park in a 6–1 win and netting twice against Newcastle at Wembley.

On 26 December 1999, in their 1–2 away win over Southampton, Chelsea became the first team in the Football League history to field a starting eleven without an English player. The squad was made up of: Ed de Goey, Albert Ferrer, Franck Leboeuf, Emerson Thome, Celestine Babayaro, Deschamps, Dan Petrescu, Di Matteo, Poyet, Gabriele Ambrosetti and Tore André Flo.

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Leeds United	38	21	6	11	58	43	+15	69	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
4	Liverpool	38	19	10	9	51	30	+21	67	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round [a]
5	Chelsea	38	18	11	9	53	34	+19	65
6	Aston Villa	38	15	13	10	46	35	+11	58	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
7	Sunderland	38	16	10	12	57	56	+1	58

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	18	11	9	53	34	+19	65	12	5	2	35	12	+23	6	6	7	18	22	−4

Results by round

Results

FA Premier League

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

First group stage

Second group stage

Quarter-finals

Football League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13 October 1999	R3	Huddersfield Town	H	0–1	21,008

FA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
11 December 1999	R3	Hull City	A	6–1	10,279	Poyet (3), Sutton, Di Matteo, Wise
19 January 2000	R4	Nottingham Forest	H	2–0	30,125	Leboeuf, Wise
30 January 2000	R5	Leicester City	H	2–1	30,141	Poyet, Weah
20 February 2000	QF	Gillingham	H	5–0	34,205	Flo, Terry, Weah, Zola ( pen.), Morris
9 April 2000	SF	Newcastle United	N	2–1	73,876	Poyet (2)
20 May 2000	F	Aston Villa	N	1–0	78,217	Di Matteo

First team squad

Squad at end of season ^[2]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   NED Ed de Goey 2 DF   ROU Dan Petrescu 3 DF   NGA Celestine Babayaro 4 DF   DEN Jes Høgh 5 DF   FRA Frank Leboeuf 6 DF   FRA Marcel Desailly 7 MF   FRA Didier Deschamps 8 MF   URU Gustavo Poyet 9 FW   ENG Chris Sutton 11 MF   ENG Dennis Wise (captain) 13 GK   ENG Kevin Hitchcock 14 DF   ENG Graeme Le Saux 15 DF   NED Mario Melchiot 16 MF   ITA Roberto Di Matteo 17 DF   ESP Albert Ferrer

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 MF   ITA Gabriele Ambrosetti 19 FW   NOR Tore Andre Flo 20 MF   ENG Jody Morris 21 DF   FRA Bernard Lambourde 22 FW   ENG Mark Nicholls 24 MF   ITA Samuele Dalla Bona 25 FW   ITA Gianfranco Zola 26 DF   ENG John Terry 28 MF   ENG Rob Wolleaston 29 DF   ENG Neil Clement 30 DF   BRA Emerson Thome 31 FW   LBR George Weah (on loan from Milan) 32 FW   FIN Mikael Forssell 33 DF   ITA Luca Percassi 34 DF   ENG Jon Harley 36 FW   ENG Leon Knight

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. Pos. Nation Player 12 MF   DEN Bjarne Goldbæk (to Fulham)

Statistics

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		FA Premier League		UEFA Champions League		FA Cup		Football League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	NED	Ed de Goey	59	0	37	0	16	0	6	0	0	0
2	DF	ROU	Dan Petrescu	47	5	24+5	4	13+2	1	2+1	0	0	0
3	DF	NGA	Celestine Babayaro	41	2	23+2	0	14+1	2	1	0	0	0
4	DF	DEN	Jes Høgh	17	0	6+3	0	2+3	0	2	0	1	0
5	DF	FRA	Frank Leboeuf	46	4	28	2	13+1	1	4	1	0	0
6	DF	FRA	Marcel Desailly	43	1	23	1	16	0	4	0	0	0
7	MF	FRA	Didier Deschamps	47	1	24+3	0	14	1	6	0	0	0
8	MF	URU	Gustavo Poyet	53	18	25+8	10	11+3	2	6	6	0	0
9	FW	ENG	Chris Sutton	39	3	21+7	1	3+4	1	3+1	1	0	0
11	MF	ENG	Dennis Wise	50	9	29+1	4	14+1	4	5	1	0	0
12	MF	DEN	Bjarne Goldbæk	9	0	2+4	0	1+1	0	0	0	1	0
14	DF	ENG	Graeme Le Saux	13	0	6+2	0	3+1	0	0	0	1	0
15	DF	NED	Mario Melchiot	6	0	4+1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
16	MF	ITA	Roberto Di Matteo	31	4	14+4	2	3+6	0	3	2	1	0
17	DF	ESP	Albert Ferrer	41	1	24+1	0	14	1	2	0	0	0
18	MF	ITA	Gabriele Ambrosetti	23	1	9+7	0	1+4	1	0+1	0	1	0
19	FW	NOR	Tore André Flo	57	19	20+14	10	14+2	8	2+4	1	1	0
20	MF	ENG	Jody Morris	46	4	19+11	3	6+5	0	1+3	1	1	0
21	DF	FRA	Bernard Lambourde	21	2	12+3	2	0+2	0	3	0	1	0
22	FW	ENG	Mark Nicholls	2	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0+1	0
24	MF	ITA	Samuele Dalla Bona	3	0	0+2	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
25	FW	ITA	Gianfranco Zola	53	8	25+8	4	15	3	4+1	1	0	0
26	DF	ENG	John Terry	9	1	2+2	0	0	0	2+2	1	1	0
28	MF	ENG	Rob Wolleaston	2	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
29	DF	ENG	Neil Clement	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
30	DF	BRA	Emerson Thome	21	0	18+2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
31	FW	LBR	George Weah	15	5	9+2	3	0	0	4	2	0	0
32	FW	FIN	Mikael Forssell	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
33	DF	ITA	Luca Percassi	1	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0
34	DF	ENG	Jon Harley	26	2	13+4	2	1+3	0	5	0	0	0

Statistics taken from. ^{[3] [4] [5]} Squad details and shirt numbers from ^[6] and. ^[7]

Transfers

In

• Didier Deschamps – Juventus, 13 June, £3,000,000
• Mario Melchiot – Ajax, 14 June, free
• Chris Sutton – Blackburn Rovers, 5 July, £10,000,000 ^[8]
• Jes Høgh – Fenerbahçe, 8 July, £300,000
• Gabriele Ambrosetti – Vicenza, 13 August, £3,500,000 ^[9]
• Stuart Reddington - Lincoln United, 26 August, £75,000
• Emerson Thome – Sheffield Wednesday, 23 December, £2,500,000 ^[10]
• George Weah – Milan 11 January, Loan

Out

• Brian Laudrup - Ajax, 14 June, £2,000,000
• Dmitri Kharine – Celtic, 22 June, free
• Eddie Newton – Birmingham City, 2 July, free
• Andy Myers – Bradford City, 8 July, £800,000
• Michael Duberry – Leeds United, 9 July, £4,500,000
• Steve Hampshire - Dunfermline Athletic, 7 January, free
• Bjarne Goldbæk – Fulham, 15 January, £650,000
• Joe Sheerin - AFC Bournemouth, 26 February, free
• Paul Hughes - Southampton, 23 March, free

References

External links

• Chelsea FC Official Website
• Chelsea FC on Soccerbase Archived 2007-06-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Chelsea FC on BBC