The 1960–61 season was
Chelsea Football Club
Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football. The ...
's 47th of competitive football, and their 35th in the
English top flight.
Chelsea's performances and results were erratic throughout the season, typified by large victories over
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
and
West Bromwich Albion and heavy defeats against
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
,
Wolverhampton Wanderers and
Burnley, culminating in a sixth consecutive mid-table finish since their Championship success in
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
. The club were also victims of an upset in the
FA Cup, losing 2–1 at home to
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
side
Crewe Alexandra.
The season was nonetheless a watershed in the club's history; frustrated at the club's lack of direction, Chelsea's star player
Jimmy Greaves joined
AC Milan at the end of the season. Manager
Ted Drake, his position weakened by the Crewe result in particular, would also leave the club early into the next season.
Despite the lack of tangible success, the season produced a series of records. Chelsea scored 98 league goals, a record that stood until Chelsea's record breaking
2009–10 season and conceded 100 goals – another club record. Greaves scored 41 league goals, plus another two in the
League Cup for a seasonal total of 43, which has never been bettered by another Chelsea player. Greaves also notched six hat-tricks (another club record for a single season), and during the campaign scored his 100th career league goal; at the age of 21, still the youngest ever player to do so.
Results
First Division
FA Cup
League Cup
References
Soccerbase*Hockings, Ron. ''100 Years of the Blues: A Statistical History of Chelsea Football Club''. (2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:1960-61 Chelsea F.C. season
Chelsea FC Season, 1960-61
Chelsea F.C. seasons