In their first season in the Premier League, the Bluebirds of Cardiff City suffered relegation while Chelsea missed out on silverware despite the return of Jose Mourinho to the club.
Cardiff owner Vincent Tan, in an attempt to avoid a quick return to the Championship, sacked Malky Mackay in late December and appointed former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
However, the change was futile as Cardiff failed to survive, finishing the season rock bottom with 30 points from 38 matches.
There had been promising signs for Cardiff at the start of the season when they beat Manchester City in front of their own fans in the opening league fixture.
But that was as good as it got as the Welsh side struggled for much of the campaign and never looked capable of avoiding the drop.
Tan’s difficult relationship with Mackay didn’t help the club’s cause.
Chelsea also changed managers last summer when Mourinho made his return to Stamford Bridge to replace Rafa Benitez who took over Serie A club Napoli.
The Chelsea fans had high expectations following the return of the ‘Special One’ who guided the Blues to two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cup successes during his first stint between 2004-07.
However, the Blues failed to deliver mostly due to a blunt attack that let the team down on many an occasion in 2013-14.
Mourinho failed to make use of the attacking prowess of striker Romelu Lukaku, who was loaned out to Everton at the start of the season, and Juan Mata who was sold to Manchester United in January.
Lukaku scored 15 goals for Everton and his scoring instincts would have surely benefited Chelsea’s cause.
Good record
Chelsea had a very good record against the elite sides but dropped crucial points against weaker teams.
Mourinho had also pleaded with Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich that he needed a striker before the January transfer window. The return of Nemanja Matic has been another plus for the Portuguese coach.
At the back, John Terry was an inspirational captain and was voted by the fans as their player of the year.
Mourinho must have been proud that Chelsea were the only English team to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The Blues were lauded for their great fightback against Paris St Germain in the quarter-finals but a few weeks later, they failed to live up to expectations as they were knocked out of the UEFA tournament by Spanish champions Atletico Madrid.
In the FA Cup, Manchester City avenged the double inflicted by Chelsea in the Premier League as they advanced to the last eight with a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium. In the League Cup Chelsea lost at Sunderland in the quarter-finals.
Cardiff had a mixed bag of outcomes in the domestic cup competitions.
After they lost at West Ham in the third round of the League Cup, they defeated Newcastle and Bolton away in the FA Cup but came a cropper at home to Wigan who had won the trophy in 2013.