The History of Chelsea: Battles at Stamford Bridge

Aug 13, 2010
Steve Rogerson

Stamford Bridge, Home of Chelsea - Photo by Steve Rogerson

Chelsea FC have had a history of ups and down that have seen them close to going out of business but rise to become a leading club in the world of football.

Despite the name, Chelsea do not reside in the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea but in the neighbouring Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, which is also the home of west London rivals Fulham. And it is not as if they were once in Chelsea, they have always been in Fulham since they were founded in 1905 at the Rising Sun pub opposite the Stamford Bridge stadium; the pub is still there but now called the Butcher’s Hook.

The stadium is actually older than the club, having been opened as an athletic stadium in 1877. The brothers Gus and Henry Mears bought the ground in 1896 and tried unsuccessfully to convince Fulham to move in. Thus Gus Mears decided to form his own football club.

Birth of Chelsea

The newly found club went straight into the Football League after Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur opposed their entry to the Southern League. From the start, unlike most other clubs, there was no local base of fans or players, instead the club recruited established players, a formula that still exists today even though now Chelsea have a large fan base.

Their first season in the second division saw the club finish third and the following season promotion to the first division. In 1915, Chelsea reached their first FA Cup final but were beaten easily by Sheffield United. Relegation followed in 1924 and they had to wait six years before returning to the top flight. There then followed nearly a quarter of a century of the club spending money on players but achieving little success on the field.

Ted Drake Era

Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and become the first manager to bring real silverware to Stamford Bridge. The former Arsenal striker modernised the club and changed the club’s nickname from the Pensioners to the Blues. He also introduced the lion to the club’s badge.

It took him three seasons, but the changes worked and Chelsea were crowned league champions in 1955. That earned Chelsea entry into the first ever European Champions Cup the following season and they were drawn against Djurgårdens from Sweden but under pressure from the Football League, who didn’t approve of the new competition, Chelsea withdrew and the match was not played.

Disappointment followed as they struggled in the league and suffered the humiliation of being knocked out of the FA Cup by Crewe Alexandra in 1961. Ted Drake was sacked shortly afterwards.

Tommy Docherty and Dave Sexton

Tommy Docherty took over as manager and had a clear out of old players but they were relegated to the second division. It took him one season to get Chelsea back into the top flight with a young side that included the likes of goalkeeper Peter Bonetti, and future England manager Terry Venables. He led them to their next trophy, the League Cup in 1965 but lost the plot in his bid for the league championship. Sitting top with just four games to go, he suspended eight players for breaking a curfew and the result was a poor run-in and a third place finish.

The following season saw Chelsea playing in Europe in the Inter-City Fairs Cup and they reached the semi-final where they lost to Barcelona. Docherty’s next full season was his last despite taking them to an FA Cup final that they lost to Tottenham Hotspur. Dave Sexton took over and brought them FA Cup glory in 1970, needing a cup final replay to beat Leeds United. This got them into the European Cup Winners Cup the following season, which they won, beating Real Madrid in the final.

Chelsea Struggle

Chelsea went into decline after that and were relegated in 1975, taking two seasons to get back into the first division but only to be relegated again two years later. Financial problems matched the difficulties on the pitch and in 1982 with the team in danger of going out of business, former Oldham Athletic chairman Ken Bates bought the club for just £1.

As the 1980s wore on, the news from Chelsea was more about the battle to save Stamford Bridge, which was now owned by a property company that wanted the site for development. The struggle continued until 1992 when Ken Bates managed to return the freehold of the ground to the club.

On the pitch, the club were promoted to the first division in 1984, but success was short lived and another relegation followed four years later. They returned the next season and have been in the top flight since, but it took them until 1997 to win another trophy – the FA Cup. The following year, they won the League Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup. They won the FA Cup again in 2000.

The Roman Abramovich Era

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea for £60 million in 2003 and promptly started pouring big money into the club. He brought in José Mourinho as manager who took them to back-to-back league titles in 2005 and 2006 with a League Cup win in 2005 thrown in for good measure. The following year, they lost the league title but secured League Cup and FA Cup wins. This was not enough though for Abramovich, and Mourinho was shown the door.

Avram Grant became the new manager and took them to their first Champions League final in his first season, but they lost on penalties to Manchester United. Grant was thus sacked and replaced by Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had won the World Cup as Brazil manager and Euro 2004 in charge of Portugal. He lasted just half a season before being sacked and Guus Hiddink took charge until the end of the season when he was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti who took Chelsea to a League and FA Cup double in 2010. His failure to build on that in 2011 led to him too being shown the door to be replaced by André Villas-Boas.