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29 League apps (+11 as sub), 2 goals.
Having arrived at Stamford Bridge during the summer of 1997, at a time
during which the likes of Ed De Goey, Gustavo Poyet, Tore Andre Flo and
the returning Graeme Le Saux were recruited, it is probably fair to say
that the supporters were expecting a lot more from the unknown Bernard
Lambourde than he was ultimately capable of delivering. Ruud Gullit paid
£1.6m. to Bordeaux to sign the French defender or defensive
midfielder, and gave him his debut in the most daunting of
circumstances, a visit to Old Trafford to face the previous season's
champions, Manchester United.
Lambourde played in midfield and acquitted
himself well in a 2-2 draw but less than a fortnight later he was
sent-off by Chelsea's nemesis-in-black, David Elleray, after just 25
minutes of a 4-2 defeat at Liverpool where he became the latest in a
short line of opponents to have difficulty coping with the pace and
trickery of Steve McManaman. An outstanding performance in the centre of
midfield in a 3-1 victory over Coventry in January was his most notable
contribution of the campaign but a final tally of just nine starts in
all competitions, in a season during which Chelsea played 55 competitive
matches, was a disappointing return. The signings of right-back Albert
Ferrer and centre-half Marcel Desailly in the summer of 1998 gave
Chelsea previously unseen quality in those positions and their arrivals
further hindered Bernard's progress.
He replaced the injured Ferrer for
the early season visit of Arsenal but was substituted after an
unconvincing performance and again found himself playing the role of
interested observer for much of the remainder of the season, rarely
letting himself down when called upon but, significantly, occasionally
failing to match the high standards of his peers in an impressive
1998/99 season for Chelsea, who were beaten just three times in the
Premiership that year. After failing to find the net in his two previous
seasons, Lambourde was positively prolific in 1999/2000, twice scoring
the only goal of the game in wins at Middlesbrough and Tottenham. It was
another busy season for the Stamford Bridge club, with an ultimately
triumphant run in the FA Cup and an impressive Champions League campaign
culminating in the Blues playing 61 competitive matches throughout
1999/2000. Bernard made a total of 21 appearances in all competitions
but, again, the majority of those came in matches where Gianluca Vialli
chose to rotate his squad.
He was given an unexpected opportunity to
impress after Albert Ferrer was injured during the Blues' ill-fated
Champions League quarter-final second-leg clash in Barcelona but failed
where many others have succeeded in shackling Boudewijn Zenden as
Chelsea collapsed to a 5-1 extra-time defeat. His final season with the
club was a virtual write-off - so bad that even Winston Bogarde played
more games. Lambourde spent a brief spell on loan at Portsmouth early in
the season but appeared just once in the Chelsea first team, a
two-minute substitute appearance in a 1-1 draw at home to Manchester
United. The following July he returned to France to join Bastia for just
£300,000. (Kelvin Barker).
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