Now I always say that every team plays 38 games and the team that has the most points deserves to win the title, but sometimes you can't help thinking your team should have won it that year. These are the seasons where I think a case can be made (sometimes at a stretch) that we maybe should have won the league.

1998/99

Position: 3rd

Points: 75 (4 points off Champions Man Utd)

Trophies: Super Cup

This is the one a lot of people point to that we should have won, were it not for that disastrous 2-2 with Leicester, we may have won the thing. Personally though I think it was destined for Man Utd that season. The 1-0 Super Cup victory over Real Madrid earlier in the season and only losing 3 Premier League were great achievements that season.

2003/04

Position: 2nd

Points: 79 (11 points off Champions Arsenal)

Trophies: None

This is the one that I feel may be abit of a stretch but I think Mourinho for example would have won the league with this squad. But there's no doubt Arsenal were ahead of us that season, they happened to have an undefeated league season that year. Highlights that season were beating & knocking Man United off their perch finishing ahead of them and a superb Champions League run. But I think we can all agree that beating Arsenal in the quarter finals of the completion was the major highlight that season,

2006/07

Position: 2nd

Points: 83 (6 points off Champions Man Utd)

Trophies: League Cup and FA Cup

It was in our hands before a trip to Newcastle however we managed to mess it up and United in the end managed to see them (probably) deservedly, However, winning both the League Cup and FA Cup made it a successful season and losing the title a little easier to swallow.

2007/08

Position: 2nd

Points: 85 (2 points off Champions Man Utd)

Trophies: None

The season of nearly's, I truly feel this squad needed a world class addition or two and we may have done the quadruple. Losing out in the FA Cup to Barnsley, losing a League Cup final to Spurs, losing the league by two measly points and losing the Champions League final with a penalty miss was so hard to take. Looking back at the league though, thinking back to games like the 4-4 draw with Villa where we were robbed with a dodgy penalty decision or Sky scheduling our games with Wigan and Everton on a Mon & Thurs night while United had two weekend games in which we drew with Wigan simply because we rested players for the Thurs night game (or so it seemed).

2010/11

Position: 2nd

Points: 71 (9 points off Champions Man Utd)

Trophies: None

We really should have kicked on from our double winning season in this one. After a great start to the season, injuries and losing Ray Wilkins really cost us. We even came close later in the year but ultimately we bottled it with a loss to Man U at Old Trafford. The big factor for me though was not replacing or keeping some of the players that left the previous season, you can't lose players like Ballack, Joe Cole, Ricardo Carvalho and even Juliano Belletti and not replace them. I also had it pointed out to me recently that Carlo Ancelotti wasn't a great manager in terms of changing a game from losing positions. Looking back it seems true and maybe with a manger who was better at that we may have taken the title.

2013-14

Position: 3rd

Points: (4 points off Champions Man City)

Trophies: None

Silly points dropped to teams like West Brom, Crystal Palace and Sunderland (although with a little help from the referee) really destroyed our season. I can't help but think also the injuries to Eto'o and Hazard at crucial points in the season cost us as both were in immense form at the time. It was in our hands right before the Sunderland game, we were 4 wins away from glory but ultimately we slipped up.

I think all in all its a toss up between the 2007-08 and 2013-14 seasons where we really ought to have won the title. There were times it was in our hands and the gaps in these weren't huge either.

Which one was the one you think we should have won for sure?

Steve f**king Guppy.

f**king stupid Steve guppy.....

I was in the Shed Upper for that Leicester game looking right at Mr Guppy... Gutting. 

 

I was more or less in the same place when Kanu hit his lat hat trick against us too, probably two of my worst memories from matches I have attend. 

 

As for the question of which title should/could we have won. 

 

I would probably say the 1998/1999 season. 

 

We bought in Casiraghi and Laudrup in summer and went into the season with a very healthy looking attack but lost both those players very quickly. Casiraghi suffered a career ending injury after only 14 appearances for us and Laudrup threw a strop about the club's rotation policy claiming if he had known about it before signing he probably wouldn't have come to us and he only ended up making 7 league appearances. 

 

Despite that we come very close to winning the league, we only lost three times that season but ultimately drew too many times (15) and the lack of a top quality goal scorer probably cost us. 

I know it's a bit off-topic to the original post, but that 2009 Champions League semi will forever go down in my books as an absolute robbery of the most blatant kind, I doubt there will ever be a trophy we deserve to win but don't more than that.

 

I hope someone nicks one of Xavi's Champions League medals and mails it to Ballack, he probably wouldn't even notice it missing.

Edited April 20, 201511 yr by Jonty

1998/99 for sure.

Steve f*ckin' Guppy

I know it's a bit off-topic to the original post, but that 2009 Champions League semi will forever go down in my books as an absolute robbery of the most blatant kind, I doubt there will ever be a trophy we deserve to win but don't more than that.

 

I hope someone nicks one of Xavi's Champions League medals and mails it to Ballack, he probably wouldn't even notice it missing.

 

See this is what p*sses me off when non-Chelsea fans claim that we didn't deserve to win the thing in 2012. They claim that we got lucky to win it then, but how about all the abysmal luck we had beforehand? Liverpool twice, Moscow, Ovrebo - and we were the 'better' team in all of those games too.

 

I used to shudder thinking about Moscow and what happened. Right after the game I must have chain smoked a whole 20-pack (gave up since). Thankfully we were already on our summer holidays from school, so I shut myself away from the world for about week. But given what happened in Munich, I feel like all the hurt of Moscow and what transpired in consecutive seasons was put right to a certain extent; thoughts of Moscow aren't anywhere near as harrowing any more!

2007/08  ... I have never been very good at remembering stats and the "story" of the season, more to do with my memory being shot.

Was that right that Man Utd won league and premier league ? blimey ! suppose it must be no one else was capable of the league except us If I remember we went on a bit of a run towards the end of the league campaign ?

 

The difference then was clearly Avram Grant, I think the media were saying he did well for us, but a team with Lampard, JT, Drogba, Cech, Cole in their prime probably should have snatched all but we had a manager not good enough for West Ham 

My thoughts:

 

1998/99: I was too young to witness this season, but having a look at Chelsea's squad, it seems solid; names like Petrescu, Zola, Desailly, Lebouf and Di Matteo are not ones to sneeze at (Vialli and Laudrup were past their best). Man U also had to compete seriously on multiple fronts. However, their squad was also clearly better while we lacked a world-class forward; I know Flo is fondly remembered for his super-sub heroics, but he wasn't a world-class forward. 

 

2003/04: Nope. Arsenal's Invincibles were at the peak of their powers, Arsene Wenger himself was at his peak as a manager (before falling into overly ideological thinking) and our squad basically needed time to settle. Also, Claudio Ranieri was IMO too inconsistent to win titles - he could sometimes be brilliant, but he could also make braindead moves (Monaco, anyone?). 

 

2006/07: We had a chance here, but I think injuries played a defining factor.

 

2007/08: Now this IMO is the one that got away. As a squad, Chelsea were still near their peak and with a better manager than Avram Grant I could easily see us winning all three trophies we missed out on. I'm not sure whether Avram was really responsible for this, but none of our signings were instant successes (if they proved successful at all; the likes of Tal Ben Haim and Claudio Pizarro were absolute flops). If just one of those signings adjusted to the PL more quickly, that could have made a difference. However, Man U were again at a peak so it still would have been really tight.

 

2010/11: Man U were poor, we were much worse. Carlo also didn't help himself by running the same tactics/team into the ground despite the fact that things clearly weren't working. 

 

2013/14: With hindsight, this Chelsea squad was not really good enough to win the league. You are always going to be up against it if your best striker is an aging, half-fit Eto'o. The fact that we compiled as many points as we did was down to Jose's skill more than anything else. However, though he was underperforming Mata could have helped push us closer after Oscar faded. 

Edited April 20, 201511 yr by DaRick

Another thing I remember about the Steve f**king Guppy season is that Leboeuf missed a penalty against whoever which meant we drew the game instead of won. If he had converted that penality and Guppy didn't turn into fricking Pele for one shot we would have won the league.

Does Guppy mean that same thing (small baby fish) in English English that it does in American English? 

 

I have always felt sorry for Steve Guppy for having such a horrible name (in my high school, he would have been ribbed to no end), for that reason alone.  If it does not mean that, then I suppose he went through grade school OK without the kind of harrassment that I supposed he would have had.

What I remember about 2006/7 is that we had our squad was too thin defensively. Boularouz was poor and Geremi and Essien played at the back on occasion. Wasn't until next season we strengthened with Ben Haim, Alex & Belletti (who themselves were not quite world class).

Likewise in 2010/11 our squad wasn't as good as it needed to be as you said in the original post.

I think bad transfers (including Shevchenko & Torres) and buying the wrong players held us back a few times. This year has not been perfect but our squad is as good as anyone's and has no serious weaknesses.

 

Overall we've had a fantastic 15 years and a pretty exciting last 20 so despite the near misses we can't complain too much!

The 2007/2008 season was the toughest one to swallow. Finished the year without any trophies because we wanted them all, and could have easily had them all.

 

As far as the Champions League goes, we won it the year I doubt anyone expected us to win, yet we nearly missed it in 2003/2004 (will never forget the mistakes in Monaco), 2004/2005 (beaten in the semis without conceding a goal), 2006/2007 (semis again against Liverpool, horrible penalties), 2007/2008 (Terry's slip), and the one that hurts me the most, 2008/2009, when I thought we were the best team in the world, and should have beaten Barcelona if it weren't for Øvrebø. After losing it on those five occasions, I never thought we would see the trophy.

What I remember about 2006/7 is that we had our squad was too thin defensively. Boularouz was poor and Geremi and Essien played at the back on occasion. Wasn't until next season we strengthened with Ben Haim, Alex & Belletti (who themselves were not quite world class).

Likewise in 2010/11 our squad wasn't as good as it needed to be as you said in the original post.

I think bad transfers (including Shevchenko & Torres) and buying the wrong players held us back a few times. This year has not been perfect but our squad is as good as anyone's and has no serious weaknesses.

Overall we've had a fantastic 15 years and a pretty exciting last 20 so despite the near misses we can't complain too much!

Of course not the trophies we have won have been incredible. I just thought this would be a fun little topic.

Does Guppy mean that same thing (small baby fish) in English English that it does in American English?

I have always felt sorry for Steve Guppy for having such a horrible name (in my high school, he would have been ribbed to no end), for that reason alone. If it does not mean that, then I suppose he went through grade school OK without the kind of harrassment that I supposed he would have had.

Never feel sorry for steve guppy.

Never feel sorry for steve guppy.

 

Have a heart mate, he ended up playing for Stevenage!

Have a heart mate, he ended up playing for Stevenage!

Good.

Good.

 

I suppose it's better than what ended up happening to Andy Impey:

 

 

 

I have no idea whether this is actually anything to do with him, I just walk past it every so often in Leicester town centre and wonder.

Edited April 20, 201511 yr by PloKoon13

I know it's a bit off-topic to the original post, but that 2009 Champions League semi will forever go down in my books as an absolute robbery of the most blatant kind, I doubt there will ever be a trophy we deserve to win but don't more than that.

 

I hope someone nicks one of Xavi's Champions League medals and mails it to Ballack, he probably wouldn't even notice it missing.

agree. Think the even bigger travesty is now some fans actually think that Barca side was one of the greatest ever despite that if it wasn't down to some abhorrent officiating that was consistently in their favour, they probably wouldn't of won a single CL let alone two.

And, to think that aside from a few twists of fortune , 2012 could of actually been #3.

I'd agree with 07/08 and last season as being missed opportunities where the team should of lifted the BPL title end of season. Think some nasty officiating did us at the end ( the pivotal Sunderland game reffed by Dean that was actually quite Overbo-esque) and then collapse in the final few games. If we'd of had a striker I think we'd of prevailed anyways just as is happening this season.

Another thing I remember about the Steve f**king Guppy season is that Leboeuf missed a penalty against whoever which meant we drew the game instead of won. If he had converted that penality and Guppy didn't turn into fricking Pele for one shot we would have won the league.

 

Blackburn. The penalty miss was right in front of me. We completely dominated and somehow drew 1-1. It was lack of firepower that really did for us that year. We lost Casiraghi and Laudrup early on and didn't replace them.

 

Shows how the Premier League has changed though. 79 points was enough to win the title that year. This season we're already on 76 with six games to go.

The 2007/2008 season was the toughest one to swallow. Finished the year without any trophies because we wanted them all, and could have easily had them all.

 

As far as the Champions League goes, we won it the year I doubt anyone expected us to win, yet we nearly missed it in 2003/2004 (will never forget the mistakes in Monaco), 2004/2005 (beaten in the semis without conceding a goal), 2006/2007 (semis again against Liverpool, horrible penalties), 2007/2008 (Terry's slip), and the one that hurts me the most, 2008/2009, when I thought we were the best team in the world, and should have beaten Barcelona if it weren't for Øvrebø. After losing it on those five occasions, I never thought we would see the trophy.

 

Fun fact, today is exactly 11 years since that event. It was 1:1, we were a man up half a game, and lost 3:1.

Edited April 20, 201511 yr by BlueBosnian

I still have a sour feeling about last year. Thought we did enough after defeating le arse 6-0, but that turns out to be our highlight for the season. Also the after the start of the 2012/13 season there is a void. I believe CFC were undefeated in their first 10 or 12 matches. We were Top of the League & having a laugh, then we lost that match vs manure when c**ttberg decided to show his true colors. The season went tits up after that match IMHO & a month later RDM got the sack. I am still in shabbles after that one.

Fun fact, today is exactly 11 years since that event. It was 1:1, we were a man up half a game, and lost 3:1.

 

There's no doubt that we royally f*cked that game up. Claudio's tinkering was something else, didn't we have Veron playing at RB or something? We were even 2-0 up at the Bridge IIRC but then Morientes put us to the sword.

 

Mind you, I think Jose would have done a job on us in the final. He'd have found a way to exploit Claudio's tactical incompetence.

88/89 for sure..
That Leicester game will always haunt me (even more so as people think we were only any good since Roman came along)
Of course Jt's penalty miss was also heartbreaking.