Unusually for a football club, Chelsea have only ever had one home ground, Stamford Bridge, where they have played since foundation, though it has gone through major changes through the years. Starting with an open bowl-like design and one covered terrace, Stamford Bridge had an original capacity of around 100,000. The early 1930s saw the construction of a terrace on the southern part of the ground with a roof that covered around 1/5th of the stand. It eventually became known as the "Shed end", the home of Chelsea's most loyal and vocal supporters. The exact origins of the name are unclear, but the fact that the roof looked like a corrugated iron shed roof played a part.
During the 1960s, the club's owners embarked on a modernisation of Stamford Bridge with plans for a 60,000 all-seater stadium. Work was begun on the East Stand in the early 1970s but the cost almost brought the club to its knees, which led to the sale of the freehold to property developers. Following a long legal battle, it wasn't until the mid-1990s that Chelsea's future at the stadium was secured and renovation work resumed. The north, west and southern parts of the ground were converted into all-seater stands and moved closer to the pitch, and the current legal capacity of Stamford Bridge is 42,360. Due to its location in a built-up part of London on a main road and next to a railway line, there are obvious constraints on further expansion, something deemed as necessary for Chelsea to compete with their rivals. As a result the club have been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge.[Chelsea plan Bridge redevelopment]. URL accessed 30 April2006
The pitch is now owned by Chelsea Pitch Owners, an organisation that took out a loan to purchase the stadium and also the rights to the Chelsea FC name. This was done to ensure the stadium could never again be sold to developers. It also means that if someone tries to move the football club to a new stadium they could not use the name.
Stamford Bridge officially opened on 28 April1877. For the first 28 years of its existence it was used almost exclusively by the London Athletic Club as an arena for athletics meetings and not at all for football. In 1904 the ground was acquired by H A (Gus) Mears and his brother, J T Mears, who had previously acquired additional land (formerly a large market garden) with the aim of accommodating a football team there on the now 12.5 acre (51,000 m²) site. The Mears family remained the owners of the ground (and subsequently the Club) until the 1970s.
Stamford Bridge was designed for the Mears family by Archibald Leitch. They offered the stadium to Fulham Football Club, but the offer was turned down. As a consequence, the owners decided to form their own football club to occupy their new ground. Most football clubs were founded first, and then sought grounds in which to play, but Chelsea was founded for Stamford Bridge. Since there was already a football club named Fulham in the borough, the founders decided to adopt the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea for the new club, having rejected names such as Kensington FC, Stamford Bridge FC and London FC.
Chelsea F.C. was founded on March 14, 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook), opposite today's main entrance to the ground on the Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards. The club began with established players recruited from other teams and promotion to the top flight was swift, but their early years saw little success, save for an FA Cup final in 1915, where they lost to Sheffield United. Chelsea gained a reputation for signing star players and for being entertainers, but made little impact on the English game in the inter-war years. Former England centre-forward Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and proceeded to modernise the club. He removed the club's Chelsea pensioner crest, improved the youth set-up and training regime, re-built the side, and led Chelsea to their first major trophy success - the League championship - in 1954–55. The following season saw UEFA create the European Champions' Cup, which was contested between the champions of European domestic leagues, but after objections from The Football League and the FA Chelsea were persuaded to withdraw from the competition before it started.[The great Chelsea surrender]. URL accessed 13 May2006
Drake failed to repeat the success and was replaced by Tommy Docherty in 1961 with the club facing relegation, which the latter was unable to prevent. In his first full season as manager, Docherty led Chelsea to promotion again with an impressive new, youth-orientated team featuring players such as Bobby Tambling, Peter Bonetti, Terry Venables and Barry Bridges. The swinging sixties had ushered in an era that saw football and inimitable style merge in the heart of London; with the fashionable King's Road at the heart of the swagger. The new Chelsea side, epitomised by cult hero Peter Osgood - talented, stylish and occasionally self-destructive - oozed charisma and class and soon built up a major following, but ultimately failed to match its swagger with on-field triumphs, enduring several near-misses in the process. No major domestic titles were won, except for the League Cup in 1965, though the side narrowly missed out on adding the league title and the FA Cup in the final weeks of the same season. This was followed by an FA Cup final loss in 1967.
Following that high, the team declined dramatically. Manager Dave Sexton's relationship with some of his players, notably Osgood and Hudson, broke down and they were transferred. Sexton, too, left shortly afterwards. An over-ambitious redevelopment of the stadium (which only got as far as the pioneering East Stand, which retains its place even in the modern stadium) threatened the financial stability of the club, leading to the sale of key players and later the sale of the Stamford Bridge freehold. The team were relegated and various managers came and went, all of whom were hamstrung by the club's financial woes and unable to turn around the team's fortunes. Further problems were caused by a fearsome reputation for violence amongst a section of the supporters (the boundary between passion and hooliganism being dangerously narrow in those days) and the club started to fall apart both on and off the field.
Chelsea were, at the of their fortunes, acquired by businessman Ken Bates for the sum of £1, and Bates proved to be a real fighter as the new Chairman, although his opponents included supporters (who did not take kindly to his suggestion of electrified fences to keep them off the pitch) as well as the property developers who now owned the freehold. On the pitch, the team had fared little better, finishing 18th in the Second Division in 1982–83. But in the summer of 1983 manager John Neal put together an impressive new team, which included players such as Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin, David Speedie and Nigel Spackman. The new-look Chelsea won the Second Division in 1983–84 and then finished sixth in the First Division. Neal stood down in 1985 due to ill health and was replaced by John Hollins.
Despite an impressive start, with Chelsea challenging for the title in 1985–86 they wallowed away after Easter to finish sixth. Following that, the club declined again and were relegated in 1988. Hollins was replaced by Bobby Campbell, who guided Chelsea to the Second Division championship after a great season in which they collected 99 points. Chelsea's First Division comeback was their best league campaign since 1970 as they finished 5th in the league. Campbell stepped down in June 1991 and handed over the managerial duties to former Reading manager, Ian Porterfield. But Chelsea were unconvincing in the new Premier League and he was sacked in January 1993. David Webb, Chelsea's 1970 FA Cup final hero, was appointed on a short-term contract. Webb guided the team to an 11th place finish, but was not offered a new deal. Off the pitch and after a decade-long legal battle, Bates finally reunited the stadium freehold with the club by doing a deal with the banks of the property developers, who had been bankrupted by a market crash.
Glenn Hoddle, 36, who had just guided Swindon Town to promotion to the top flight, was appointed player-manager of Chelsea for the 1993–94 season. Though their Premiership form was unconvincing, they reached the final of the FA Cup, losing 4–0 to Manchester United, but they still qualified for the Cup Winners Cup as United had done the double. 1995 saw the arrival of two players of international renown: Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes, who were to play an important role in the club's future. They reached the semi finals of the Cup Winners' Cup and in 1995–96 reached the FA Cup semi-finals. Hoddle quit at the end of the season to take charge of the English national side.
Gullit was appointed player–manager for the 1996–97 season, and added several top class players to the side, including Italian international trio Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola, who blended well with players already at the club, such as Hughes, Dan Petrescu and inspirational captainDennis Wise, as the club won the FA Cup, Chelsea's first major trophy for 26 years. Gullit was surprisingly sacked in mid-February after a dispute with Bates over transfer funds. The 33-year-old Vialli was installed as player-manager and he led the team to victory in the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1998. Chelsea challenged for the title in 1998–99, ultimately finishing third and a year later made their UEFA Champions League debut, reaching the quarter-finals. In 2000, Chelsea were winners of the last FA Cup final to be contested at the old Wembley Stadium with a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa. A disappointing start to the 2000–01 season saw Vialli sacked in favour of another Italian, Claudio Ranieri.
Ranieri guided Chelsea to two more sixth place finishes and also took the side to the 2002 FA Cup final, which they lost to Arsenal. 2002–03 saw Chelsea improve to finish 4th in the Premiership and qualify for the Champions League. In June 2003, Ken Bates sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £60 million — thus completing the biggest-ever sale of an English football club. Over £100 million was spent on players including Claude Makélélé, Joe Cole, Damien Duff and Hernan Crespo. The spending saw an upturn in the club's form, but they had to settle for runners-up spot in the Premiership, and were eliminated from the Champions League in the semi-finals. Ranieri was sacked in favour of successful Portuguese coach José Mourinho, who had just guided FC Porto to UEFA Champions League success.
2005 was Chelsea's centenary year. Led by captain John Terry and high-scoring midfielder Frank Lampard, they celebrated it in style by becoming Premiership champions in a record-breaking season (most clean sheets, fewest goals conceded, most victories, most points earned), League Cup winners with a 3–2 win over Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium and reaching the Champions League semi-finals. The following year, they were again League Champions, equalling their own Premiership record of 29 wins set the previous season. They also became the fifth team to win back-to-back championships since the Second World War and the only London club to do so since the 1930s. They signed a five-year (starting from the 2005-06 season) £10 million a year shirt sponsorship deal with Korean electronics company Samsung. At the time, this was the largest annual shirt sponsorship agreed by an English football club. Chelsea also agreed a new kit deal with Adidas, worth approximately £12 million a year to the club, and effective from the 2006–07 season.
Title-winning seasons
Season
Position
Pts
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Chelsea (2005–06)
1
91
38
29
4
5
72
22
50
Chelsea (2004–05)
1
95
38
29
8
1
72
15
57
Chelsea (1954–55)
1
52
42
20
12
10
81
57
24
Crest
Chelsea's first crest
Club crest 2005-2006
Since the club's foundation, Chelsea have had four main crests, though all underwent minor variations. In 1905, Chelsea adopted as its first crest the image of a Chelsea pensioner, which obviously contributed to the pensionernickname, and remained for the next half-century, though it never appeared on the shirts. As part of new manager Ted Drake's modernisation of the club from 1952, he insisted that the pensioner badge be removed from the match day programme in order to change the club's image and that a new crest be adopted. As a stop-gap, a temporary emblem comprising simply the initials C.F.C. was adopted for one year. In 1953, the club adopted what is arguably its most famous crest - that of an upright blue lion looking backwards and holding a staff - which was to endure for the next three decades.
Club crest 1986-2005
The crest was based on elements in the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea (discussed and illustrated [on this website]) with the "lion rampant regardant" taken from the arms of then club president Viscount Chelsea and the staff from the Abbots of Westminster, former Lords of the Manor of Chelsea. This was also the first club badge to appear on shirts, since the policy of putting the crest on the shirts was only adopted in the early 1960s.
In 1986, with new owners now at the club, Chelsea's crest was changed again as part of another attempt to modernise and to capitalise on new marketing opportunities, because new Chairman Ken Bates was advised he had not acquired any copyright in the existing crest. The new badge featured a more naturalistic non-heraldic lion, yellow and not blue, standing over the C.F.C. initials. It lasted for the next 19 years, though with some modifications such as the use of different colours. With new ownership, and the club's centenary approaching, combined with demands from fans for the club's traditional badge to be restored, it was decided that the crest should be changed again in 2004. The new crest was officially adopted for the start of the 2005-06 season and marks a return to the older design of the blue heraldic lion holding a staff.
Colours
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Chelsea have always worn blue shirts, though they initially adopted a lighter shade than the current version, and unlike today wore white shorts and dark blue socks. The lighter blue was taken from the racing colours of then club president, Earl Cadogan (Lord Chelsea). This light blue kit was short-lived, however, and soon replaced by a royal blue version. When Tommy Docherty became manager in the early 1960s he changed the kit again, adding blue shorts (which have remained ever since) and white socks, believing it made the club's colours more distinctive, since no other major side used that combination.
Chelsea's traditional away colours are all yellow or all white with blue trim but, as with most teams, they have had some more unusual ones. The first away strip consisted of black and white stripes and for one game in the 1960s the team wore Inter Milan-style blue and black stripes, again at Docherty's behest. Other memorable away kits include a mint green strip in the 1980s, a red and white checked one in the early 90s and a graphite and tangerine addition in the mid-1990s, which is widely seen by fans as one of the worst ever. All kits are discussed on Chelsea's [official site].
Chelsea's kit is currently manufactured by adidas.
Rivalries
Chelsea fans have a strong rivalry with various clubs. The club's nearest neighbours are Fulham (Chelsea FC is itself based in the Hammersmith and Fulham borough), but they are generally not seen as big rivals by Chelsea fans, because the clubs have spent the greater part of the last 40 years in separate divisions. However, the West London derby may have been rekindled somewhat following crowd trouble after a recent match between the sides. Fans of other teams, owing to Abramovich's Russian heritage, have given the team the derisive, and somewhat inaccurate, name "Chelski" in response. ('ski' is a suffix usually associated with the Slavs).
The club Chelsea fans regard as their biggest rival is partially a generational issue. A strong rivalry with Leeds United dates back to their heated and controversial FA Cup final in 1970, which coloured all future matches between the sides, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. Chelsea are rivals with numerous London clubs, particularly West Ham United and Millwall (west and east London), with matches against those two always passionate and in the past often marred by crowd trouble. However, as neither side regualary challenge Chelsea in the league, they may be discounted. One of Chelsea's fiercest rivalries is that with North London side Tottenham Hotspur, which has been exacerbated by some memorable matches between the sides and the sale of Gus Poyet.
In recent years, the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal could be added to the list, with Chelsea challenging for major honours in direct competition with those clubs and, again, having been involved in some contentious matches with them.
Record Cup Victory: 13-0 v Jeunesse Hautcharage, Cup Winners' Cup, 1st Round 2nd Leg, 29 September1971 followed by an 8-0 win in the away leg, Chelsea FC still hold the record for the highest aggregate score in a European competition, 21-0
Highest home attendance: 82,905 v Arsenal, Division 1, 12 October1935 (an estimated crowd of over 100,000 attended a friendly match against Dynamo Moscow on 13 November, 1945) The turnstiles for the Dynamo match were closed with 74,496 in the ground, but thousands continued to enter illegally. The attendance is invariably put at around 100,000. See [here]. URL accessed 5 June2006
Trivia
Chelsea gained admission to the Football League in 1905 despite having never played a competitive fixture.
Chelsea, along with Arsenal, were the first club to play with shirt numbers on 25 August1928 in their match against Swansea Town.
Chelsea have been invited to compete in the 2006 MLS All-Star Game against a team of MLS All-Stars.
Chelsea's highest league attendance - 82,905 - in a home match against Arsenal on 12 October, 1935 is also the highest ever for an EnglishFootball League match.
Chelsea's points ratio in their 1954-55 title-winning season (1.71 per game) is the lowest ever for an English Championship-winning side. Conversely, their points total of 95 for their 2004-05 title-winning season is the highest.
Chelsea have an interesting record in defeating English European Cup holders, beating Manchester United 3-2 in March 1969 and 5-0 in October 1999; and Liverpool 4-2 in January 1978, 2-0 in February 1982, 3-1 in December 1984 and 4-1 in October 2005.
Chelsea are one of an elite group of 7 clubs that has played in every Premiership season, They are: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
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