How Chelsea’s Italian Job Helped Make the Club Great Again

It’s the Serie A derby at Stamford Bridge on October 15 in Week 8 of the Premier League season. It’s Italy versus Italy, ex-Juventus against ex-Juventus; Chelsea’s past facing Chelsea’s present and future.

Blues boss Antonio Conte and Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri have plenty in common, not least the fact they are connected by an affiliation with Chelsea. Ranieri may have different loyalties these days with the Foxes, but his affection for Chelsea still runs deep.

It’s fitting that two Italians should come head-to-head at Chelsea in this season of all seasons. It was 20 years ago this year that Chelsea’s fortunes really changed for the better, and it was done with an Italian influence at its core.

The Blues had hit hard times for well over a decade. Bad business deals had put Stamford Bridge at risk, and on the pitch, they were more used to relegation battles than fighting for titles.

By the mid-1990s, they were desperate for some inspiration to lift them from a slump that had come to define a generation. Then three Italians arrived in 1996, and it changed the club’s history for good.

In truth, the revolution at Chelsea had already started 12 months earlier when Glenn Hoddle signed Ruud Gullit from Sampdoria. Having been a team made up largely of unglamorous names, suddenly the Blues had a superstar in their midst.

Gullit was in his twilight years, but that mattered little. His arrival gave Chelsea a significant boost to their ego; the swagger was properly returning to west London for the first time since those halcyon days of the 1960s and 1970s.

Gullit wigs became a common sight on the terraces as Chelsea fans revelled in having him at the club; his effortless displays from central midfield would mesmerise fans who were more used to watching this sort of thing on Channel 4’s Football Italia than they were their own football stadium.

It didn’t change things much in terms of results. The Blues had finished 11th in the season before Gullit’s arrival, and in 1995/96, it was where they remained. It was more about the perception of Chelsea as a club; they had just attracted one of the world’s biggest names. It was big news. To put it into context now, it’s akin to a 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo joining Stoke City.

With Hoddle becoming England manager at the end of 1995/96, Gullit took charge of managerial duties and was able to use his profile to attract the sort of player to Chelsea that had been unattainable before. In his first summer, Gullit signed Italian midfielder Roberto Di Matteo from Lazio, with another Italian, striker Gianluca Vialli, joining him.

Similar to when Gullit had joined the club a year earlier, Vialli was the wrong side of 30. He had just won the Champions League with Juventus, though, showing he was far from being finished. Yes, Chelsea had a reigning European Cup …

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