Chelsea FC: 1990/91 Season
Review
Chelsea entered the 1990/91 season in good spirits, people were even
talking about them as potential title contenders.
The two big signings for Chelsea in the summer were two future
captains, Andy Townsend and Dennis Wise.
The season video is distributed by Telstar made with the Football
League, so all the Division One and League Cup goals are there but missing the
FA Cup and ZDS Cup. So, only three games missing in total and since 2 of those
are a 3-1 defeat to Oxford United and a penalty shoot-out loss to Luton Town, I
doubt anyone will be pining their loss. Narration is provided by Matt Lorenzo
who keeps us abreast of all the transfer news (no ‘windows’ back then), injury
updates and international call ups. The match commentary comes almost
exclusively from Martin Tyler, one year off his big money move to Sky.
The video starts with footage of Chelsea fans cheering. I believe there
was a law at this time that all season videos had to start in this manner.
Chelsea didn’t start the season well, conceding five penalties in the
first six games probably didn’t help. David Lee in particular had a shocker.
Chelsea’s big problem this season was inconsistency where a good win was
followed by mediocre performances.
Dave Beasant missed the 1-0 win over Aston Villa in November, bringing
to an end a run of consecutive appearances stretching back over 9 years and 3
different clubs.
The game at Old Trafford was broadcast live on ITV’s The Big Match.
Back then ITV used to sell programmes to newsagents on the day of the match. In
this case, it was just ‘The United Review’ inside an ITV artwork sleeve with a
foreword by Ian St John. It’s a shame Sky never carried this on as these were
cool little bits of memorabilia.
Then there is an extraordinary game against Derby County. Derby had a
horrible time of it this season eventually being relegated and their luck had
been out since day one when they played at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea were given
a goal that was nowhere near crossing the line and then when Derby thought they
had a last minute equaliser, the referee brought it back for a penalty that was
duely saved by Beasant. At the Baseball Ground, Derby and Chelsea played out
one of the most exciting games ever witnessed.
Kerry Dixon opened the scoring early on but Derby equalised within four
minutes. Chelsea retook the lead again through Dixon and Gordon Durie extended
it further shortly afterwards. Half-time and Chelsea led 1-3.
Second half, Derby County score three unanswered goals and now lead
4-3. Then Chelsea hit Derby on the counter-attack and Durie’s cross was headed
in by little Dennis Wise. Chelsea retook the lead through a superb solo goal
from the brilliant Durie. This was Durie’s last season at Chelsea before he
forever tarnished his legacy with his move to Tottenham. The scoring was
wrapped up in the last minute by Graeme Le Saux as Chelsea won a sensational
game 4-6.
When I was researching an article for a Chelsea game against Nottingham
Forest I came across this:
Now, this was 12 years before anyone had heard of the name of ‘Abramovich’,
Chelsea had won two FA Cups (plus two other Final appearances), the European
Cup Winners Cup, the League Cup, European Super Cup, had been to the
Quarter-Finals of the Champions League and had qualified a second time in those
intervening years. But let’s focus on that 1991 team.
Now they were inconsistent no doubt and a 10th place finish
was disappointing based on pre-season expectations. The League Cup semi-final
defeat to Division Two side Sheffield Wednesday was a blow and the 7-0 defeat
at Nottingham Forest undoubtedly a low-light.
BUT they were also the only team to defeat Arsenal in the league that
year; Liverpool’s title challenge was all but ended with a 4-2 defeat at
Stamford Bridge; Tottenham Hotspur (with Gazza, Lineker et al) were eliminated
from the League Cup thanks to a 0-3 win for Chelsea at White Hart Lane and the
Blues done the double over Manchester United.
So, they weren’t a bad side they just lacked consistency.
It’s a good video to watch and is well presented with nice use of
graphics which aren’t as garish as other releases tend to be. There is some use
of stock music but nowhere near as obnoxious as the previous years.
It could have done with a few more talking heads. There are a few
snippets from Wise, Dixon and manager Bobby Campbell but it would have been
nice to hear a bit more, particularly from Campbell in his last season in
charge.
It’s the best season video Chelsea have released so far.
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