The History of Chelsea Football ClubOne of the richest Football Clubs in the World
Established on the 14th March 1905, Chelsea Football Club gained election to the Football League soon after. The meeting to form the club took place at the Rising Sun pub, now known as The Butchers Hook on Fulham Road. This pub stands opposite the present day main entrance to their Stamford Bridge ground.
Stamford Bridge, officially opened on 28th April 1877 was used primarily by the London Athletics Club. Guy Mears acquired the ground in 1904 with his brother J T Mears with the intention to stage football matches there. The facilities were re-designed by the Mears family, with the help of renowned football architect Archibald Leitch.
Once complete, Fulham Football Club were initially offered the stadium, but rejected it, prompting the Mears family to form their own football club to occupy the ground and adopted the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea.
The club, nicknamed The Blues, struggled to make any real impact in their early years of competition, with an appearance in the 1915 FA Cup Final the highlight. They went on to lose the game though to Sheffield United.
The club was gaining a reputation for signing big name players and for playing a brand of entertaining football, but they made very little impression on the English game during the years surrounding the First and Second World Wars.
Ted Drake revolutionises Chelsea Football Club
In 1952, former England centre forward Ted Drake was appointed manager and he began to modernise the football club. He set about improving the training methods of the players and the youth system and rebuilt the side, leading Chelsea to their first major trophy success, the League Championship in 1955.
Under the guidance of manager Tommy Docherty, the club challenged for a unique treble in 1965, but after securing the League Cup with a 3-2 Final win over Leicester, Chelsea went on to lose an FA Cup semi-final to Liverpool and faltered in the League to finish third. The Stamford Bridge side also lost the FA Cup Final of 1967 to Tottenham 2-1.
Chelsea enjoy FA Cup and European success in the early 1970's
However, the club enjoyed FA Cup success in 1970 after an initial 2-2 draw in the Final with Leeds, Chelsea went on to take the cup with 2-1 win in the replay.
Chelsea then gained their first European honour in 1971 with victory over Real Madrid to secure the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Turbulent years were ahead for Chelsea though as an ambitious redevelopment of their Stamford Bridge stadium threatened the clubs financial stability. Star players were sold and consequently the club were relegated to the Second Division. A notorious hooligan element had also latched itself on to the club and Chelsea was at an all time low.
Ken Bates buys Chelsea for £1
In 1982, Ken Bates bought the club for the nominal sum of £1, but they faced becoming homeless as the Stamford Bridge freehold had been sold to property developers.
Chelsea came close to being relegated to the Third Division, but survived and appointed John Neal as manager in 1983 and he led them to the Second Division title in 1984. They stayed in the top flight for 4 years before being relegated again in 1988. However, Chelsea won the Second Division title immediately and returned to the First Division in 1989.
After a long legal battle, Ken Bates reunited the Stamford Bridge freehold with the club in 1992 and Chelsea became founder members of the newly established Premier League.
Chelsea secure trophy success during the 1990's
After reaching the 1994 FA Cup Final, where they lost 4-0 to Manchester United, Chelsea appointed Dutchman Ruud Gullit as player-manager in 1996. Gullit led the club to victory in the 1997 FA Cup Final against Middlesbrough, before being replaced soon afterwards by Italian Gianluca Vialli.
Vialli secured the club the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998 and the FA Cup in 2000. However, Vialli was sacked and replaced by fellow Italian Claudio Ranieri who led Chelsea to FA Cup success in 2002.
The Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho revolution begins at Chelsea in 2003
In 2003, Ken Bates sold the club to Roman Abramovich for £140 million, with the Russian billionaire spending over £100 million on new players. Ranieri failed to deliver the trophies Abramovich demanded and he was replaced by Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho guided Chelsea to back-to-back League Championship success in 2005 and 2006 and helped them win the 2007 FA Cup and League Cup in 2005 and 2007.
Mourinho controversially left the club in 2007 and was replaced by Israeli Avram Grant. Despite leading Chelsea to their first ever European Champions League Final, where they lost on penalties to Manchester United, Grant was sacked days later, making way for Luiz Felipe Scolari in July 2008.
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