Chelsea
Chelsea's home stadium is called Stamford Bridge and has a history as varied
and unique as the team itself.
When
did Stamford Bridge open?
Stamford Bridge officially opened on 28 April 1877. 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 for football at all. In 1904 the ownership
of the ground changed hands when Mr H A (Gus) Mears and his brother, Mr J T
Mears, obtained the deeds, having previously acquired additional land (formerly
a large market garden) with the aim of establishing a football team there on the
now 12.5 acre site.
When
did Chelsea start playing there?
Initially the stadium was offered to Fulham FC to play there, they turned down
the chance and so instead a new side, Chelsea FC, was born in 1905 and moved
into the new Stamford Bridge stadium.
Who
designed the stadium?
Stamford Bridge was designed by Archibald Leitch and initially included a 120
yard long stand on the East side which could hold 5000 spectators. The other
sides were all open in a vast bowl with thousands of tons of material excavated
from the building of the underground railway provided high terracing on the West
side. The capacity was originally planned to be 100,000 and was the second
largest in country behind Crystal Palace - the FA Cup final venue.
Why
is it called Stamford Bridge?
The name and place of Stamford Bridge is one with great
significance in English history having been the site in Yorkshire of one the
most famous battles of King Harold's reign in 1066 against the Vikings.
However it is believed that this is not connected to the naming of Chelsea's
football stadium which came about less because of historical significance
and more to do with local landmarks and a fair degree of chance.
The 18th century map below the current Fulham Road and Kings Road area
including the current day site of the stadium. It shows a stream called
'Stanford Creek' which runs along the route of the present day railway line
behind the East Stand and flows down into the Thames.
Where the stream crosses the Fulham Road is marked 'Little Chelsea Bridge' which
was originally called Sanford Bridge (from sand ford). While a bridge over the
creek on the Kings Road was called Stanbridge (from stone bridge). It seems that
these two names of the stream and the bridge, 'Stanford Creek' and
'Little Chelsea Bridge', together evolved into the name Stanford Bridge, which
again later evolved into Stamford Bridge as the adopted name of the stadium.
The stadium remained largely unchanged for the next 25 years until in 1930 the Shed End terraced area was erected. A vast bank of terracing behind the southern goal it was to become the mecca for Chelsea' most die hard supporters and would forever be associated with Stamford Bridge.
As the stadium developed the Shed End really came into its own in the 60's,
70's and 80's and was the focal point of the hardcore Chelsea fans and the
originators of most of the singing and atmosphere. Adorned with a rather unique
'roofed' area (which barely covered 1/5th of the whole terrace) there is debate
over how and when it developed the name 'Shed' as it wasn't given a name when it
was built.The Shed was demolished in 1994 following new laws compelling grounds
to be all seater and was replaced with the new Shed End seated stand in 1997.
The final match with the old Shed was Sheffield United at home on 7th May
1994 although sadly no one knew at the time it would be the last game so the
Shed was never given the send off it deserved.
In 1939 the North Stand was built. A curious stand in the north east corner it
was an extension to the East stand and stuck out for being a completely
different design to the rest of the stadium but it did provide extra seating. It
survived until 1975 when it was demolished and the north end was then open
terracing until 1993 when it too was demolished at the start of the modern
redevelopment of the entire stadium.
In
1964/65, during one of Chelsea's best periods on the pitch, saw the vast western
terrace replaced by a seated stand. The stand was 3/4 seating and 1/4 concrete
slabs affectionately known as the 'Benches'. The West stand existed for 25 years
until it was the last of the old stadium to be demolished in 1998 and despite by
that stage being a rickety, crumbling stand it too was a sad day for many when
the old West Stand with it's wooden seats went, and like the Shed, is a source
of nostalgia.
Yet its replacement is quite simply one of the finest stadium stands in the
country costing an estimated £30 million to build, and housing 13,500 people in
luxury surroundings with superb views.
1973/74
In
1973 the East Stand built was built, a marvel of engineering of the time and
still one of the most striking stands in the country there's little doubt it was
ahead of its time. The only part of the current stadium that survived the mass
rebuilding of the 1990's it has though undergone extensive refurbishment and
refitting.
The East Stand, for all its magnificence also has a controversial past. When
Chelsea were at their peak in the late 60's and early 70's the then owners
decided the all star team on the pitch deserved to be playing in the best
stadium in the country. Their plan was hugely ambitious to completely redevelop
Stamford Bridge into a 50,000 all seater circular stadium. It proved too
ambitious and many feel brought the club to it's knees, forced the selling of
the star players, relegation and nearly forced the club into complete ruin by
the start of the 1980's.
It took another 20 years to rebuild not only the stadium and team but the entire
club, yet for all that the East Stand itself remains as impressive today as it
always did.
When
Stamford Bridge nearly became no more!
With the club virtually bankrupt in the late 70's the then owners
made the drastic decision to sell the Stamford Bridge site to property
developers to pay off some of the debts. It was a decision that very nearly saw
Chelsea lose it's ground, be forced to share with Fulham or QPR and the famous
stadium converted into houses or a supermarket.
With Chelsea no longer owning their own ground they were unable to do any more
rebuilding and lagged behind other clubs in that respect. A bitter, expensive
and close run 10 year fight by chairman Ken Bates to fight the property
developers and win back ownership of Stamford Bridge was finally successful in
1992. With a ironic twist is was the property developers who were forced into
bankruptcy and Chelsea FC got it's ground back.
It was a close run thing at times but Stamford Bridge survived its biggest ever
challenge and in 1994 the process of the most extensive
redevelopment of any stadium in the country began. Turning a dilapidated and
crumbling ground with views miles from the pitch into one of the most impressive
in the country.
1994/95
The
rebuilding of Stamford Bridge from the ashes began with the redevelopment
of the North Stand area. The old banked terrace that in recent times had housed
the away fans was demolished and the new stand began to rise. Renamed as the
Matthew Harding Stand in memory of the Chelsea director killed in a helicopter
accident it has now established itself as the home of the most vocal and die
hard Chelsea fans.
1997
Next up in the redevelopment queue was the new Shed End Stand. The old Shed
terrace was replaced with temporary seating for a couple of years before work
began on the new Shed End. At the same time the Chelsea Village Hotel, which
would be the centre piece of the massive Chelsea Village development, was built
at the same time.
Like all the new stands as well as being modern, smart and comfortable they were
also much closer to the pitch something many feel had hindered Chelsea's
atmosphere for some time.
1998
The
final piece of the new Stamford Bridge story proved to have one more hurdle to
overcome. The lower tier of the new West stand was built on schedule but
then problems with the local council over planning permission meant a 2 year
delay before the rest of the stand could be built.
Finally that last battle was won and work began on completing the biggest and
best part of the stadium, the huge 13,500 seater West Stand. It opened for the
first time on 19/08/2001 and marked, at last, the completion of Stamford Bridge
which had begun way back in 1973 with the East Stand.
The
Present
The current capacity stands at 42,522 and the ground has gone from being a huge
oval shape to 4 sides close to the pitch. There is almost no part of the current
stadium that hasn't markedly changed in the past 10 years. Stamford Bridge is
currently the largest football stadium in London and one of the best stadiums in
the country and Europe. As well as all the work on the stadium itself the whole
12.5 acre site has seen the building of Chelsea Village. A leisure and
entertainment complex housing 2 four star hotels, 5 restaurants, conference and
banqueting facilities, nightclub, underground car park, health club and business
centre. It has come a long long way since the original athletics venue was first
built in 1876!