When I think back to Chelsea during the 1995-1996 season, I wonder about the players brought in and sold and if Ruud Gullit OR Gianluca Vialli had been brought in earlier as player-manager, and so, without further ado, the following players represented club around the time and how BOTH the Chelsea and Middlesbrough teams of those times were almost equally as good at attending cup finals for the occasion whether the games were either lost or won:-
Chelsea FC
GK: Nick Colgan/Ed de Goey, DF: Celestine Babayaro, DF: Frank Leboeuf, DF: Bernard Lambourde, MF: Gus Poyet, FW: Gianluca Vialli, DF: Graeme Le Saux, DF: Danny Granville, FW: Tore Andre Flo, MF: Paul Hughes, FW: Mark Nicholls, FW: Gianfranco Zola and DF: Laurent Charvet?
Dmitri Kharine/Kevin Hitchcock, Erling Johnsen, Terry Phelan, Scott Minto, Gareth Hall, Andy Dow, Ruud Gullit, Roberto Di Matteo, Craig Burley, Nigel Spackman, David Rocastle, John Spencer, Gavin Peacock, Paul Furlong, Mark Stein.