chealsea history

8/6/2019 Chealsea History

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Chealsea history

Introduction

Chelsea Football Club are based in West London, not in the borough of the same namebut rather in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with their home stadium beingin Fulham. They are also known as The Blues due to their colours, but have been

referred to as The Pensioners in the past. Their main periods of success were in the1960s, 1970s and 1990s as well as present day.

The club has had some of the most famous and respected managers of football history,

many of these being foreign which has also led to the introduction of many foreignplayers for the side. The players and managers have often been in the public eye, both

on and off the pitch.

The Early YearsThe origins of Chelsea FC are unique as the club was formed in order to fill a stadium.

Stamford Bridge Stadium was owned by Henry and Joseph Mears, who were twofootball enthusiasts who bought the stadium with the intention of holding great matches

there. However, Fulham FC declined to take Stamford Bridge on as their home grounddue to a dispute over rent, so the brothers, on the advice of their friend Fred Parker,

formed a football club to play there instead.

Chelsea Football Club was founded on 14th March 1905 in The Rising Sun pub, now

called The Butchers Hook, which was located opposite the main entrance of Stamford

Bridge, on the Fulham Road. The name 'Fulham' had already been used for a football

club, so 'Chelsea' had to be taken from the name of the nearby borough but only afterthe names 'London FC', 'Kensington FC' and 'Stamford Bridge FC' were rejected.

John Tait Dickinson was the first manager of Chelsea. Although he only lasted for three

years he introduced a number of players from other clubs. David Calderhead then tookover. Chelsea attempted to join the Southern League, but were rejected due to

objections from Fulham FC and Tottenham Hotspur.


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The cl j i ed the Foot ll League shortl afterthis but did not achieve much success

in their earl years, butthis did not seem to put offtheir fans. Chelsea soon became oneofthe best-supported English footballteams; a title thatthey have held ever since. Their

greatest accomplishment during this time was in 1915, when they reached the FA Cupfinal, called theKhaki-cup final, butlostto Sheffield United. Some big names were

signed to the club, including Joe Cock and the club finished third in the league in the

1919/1920 season.

However, during the 1923/1924 season they were relegated again and did not manage to

promote themselves forthe next five seasons. During the 1929/1930 season they

reached the First Division once more, and maintained this position forthe next 32 years.The team continued playing at a steady pace but did not come any closerto gaining any

silverware.

Various top players were signed to the club in the period up to the Second World War,including Harry Burgess, Sam Weaver and Tommy Law. Throughoutthis time, Chelsea

earned the reputation for being an entertaining team to watch, which contributed to theirextensive fan base. A match held at Stamford Bridge against Arsenal on 12th October

1935 saw an attendance of 82,905 which is still a record forChelsea and the secondlargest attendance at an English league football match.

T S f T i g m

Afterthe warChelsea splashed out more money on some top players, who includedTommy Walker, Tommy Lawton and Len Goulden. In 1950 they managed to getto the

semi-finals ofthe FA Cup, but were beaten by Arsenal at White Hart Lane. Surprisinglythough, the following yearthey narrowly missed out on relegation, but a sudden run of

wins secured their position once more.

In 1952, Ted Drake became the manager ofChelsea and made some drastic changes andmodernisations to the club. He improved the training regime ofthe players, introducednew players into the team, improved the youth team associated with the club and

removed the pensioners' crest which had been Chelseas symbol since its foundation.

From then on Chelsea have been referred to as The Blues. Drake also took a morepersonal approach to his work, shaking each players hand before a match and wishing

them luck. Although the initial years of Drakes management did not produce muchsuccess, during the 1954/1955 season they saw their firsttriumph when they won the

League Championship.

The same yearthey were also awarded the First Division title, and only lost 3 in a total

of 25 matches. The following year UEFA formed the European Champions Cup, andby winning the League Championship, Chelsea should have been awarded automatic

entry into the competition. However, the club was forced to withdraw, after objections

from both the FA and the Football League as many oftheirleading members did not

agree with the idea.

Afterthis height of success, Chelsea had a succession of mediocre matches which didnot produce a high position on the league. When Jimmy Greaves, one ofChelseas best

players, was sold to ACMilan the club slumped even further down the division table.


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T D E

In the 1960s, Drake was sacked due to the clubs fallin success, and Tommy Docherty

was appointed manager ofChelsea. Docherty was a young buttalented manager and led

the club to greattriumphs. He introduced a stricttraining regime and bought younger

players, which succeeded in bringing Chelsea backinto the Second Division.

The game that Docherty introduced was based on quick passing and high energy

scoring. Dochertys new training worked and further success later broughtthem backinto the First Division. During the 1964/1965 season they nearly scored the hattrick of

the League Cup, the FA Cup and the League.

However, after winning the League Cup they narrowly missed out on getting the other

two. During the next season they lostthree major semi-finals and were runners up for

the FA Cup. In 1970 they managed to win the FA Cup when they beat Leeds United,

and the following yeartooktheir first European Title, when they won the UEFA Cup

Winners Cup againstRealMadrid.

T bl Tim

Afterthe success ofthe 1960s, Chelsea saw a dramatic drop in fortunes in the 1970s and

1980s. Firstly, major redevelopments to Stamford Bridge Stadium nearly caused the

club to become bankrupt, forcing them to sell some oftheir star players. This greatly

affected the quality oftheir play and saw them relegated and at one pointthey nearly

dropped to the Third Division.

To add to these problems, the hooligan element, which was characteristic of many oftheir supporters during this period, began to cause problems forthe club. When Chelsea

were attheir very lowest, they were bought by Ken Bates for a measly 1. The freeholdof Stamford Bridge had been sold to property developers, so the club was facing the

prospect oflosing their home. However, in 1983 things started to look up after JohnNeal was appointed manager ofthe club.

He added better players to the clubs line-up, which helped them to win the Second

Division title in the 1983/1984 season. They became established in the Top Division

only to be relegated again in 1988, butthey came back with gusto and won the SecondDivision Championship again in 1988/1989, pushing them up to the First Division.

However, this success did notlast after Hollins took overthe managerial position of

Chelsea. Hollins fell out with several key players who were then sold. Shortly after,

Chelsea fell fourteen places in the division which led to Hollins being sacked. NewmanagerBobby Campbell broughtthem quickly backto their previous form within ashorttime of being appointed.

T Gl i 90

Bates managed to secure the leasehold for Stamford Bridge from some propertydevelopers in 1992, securing Chelsea its home aga in. The early 1990s also saw the


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introduction of some excellent players to the team, including Dennis Wise and Andy

Townsend. In 1993 Glenn Hoddle was appointed manager ofChelsea.

His fame instantly raised Chelseas profile and he greatly improved the clubs game.Although the club was in the Premier League, their play was not always consistent, but

they did manage to reach the 1994 FA Cup final. Their fortunes took a turn forthe

better afterRuud Gullit, who was the former European Footballer ofthe Year, wasappointed the player managerin 1996. His firsttask as the new manager was to addsome better players to the club, which helped Chelsea win the FA Cup in 1997.

They soon were seen as one of Englands greatest football clubs once more. Gullit only

remained with the club for a shorttime and was soon replaced by Gianluca Vialli who

continued this great success. In 1998 Chelsea won both the League Cup and the CupWinners Cup, and two years laterthey also won the FA Cup and managed to getto the

quarter-finals ofthe UEFA Champions League. Although Vialli had managed to takethe team to such heights, he was sacked and replaced by yet another Italian, Claudio

Ranieri.

Ranieri started his tenure by transferring players to the club, including Frank Lampard,William Gallas, Emmanuel Petit and Jesper Gronkjaer. Under his leadership, Chelsea

made the FA Cup Final and qualified forthe Champions league in the 2002/2003season.

T P E

In 2003 Bates sold Chelsea FootballClub to Roman Abramovich, a Russian billionaire,for a staggering 140 million, a great deal more than he a boughtit for and taking the

club backinto private ownership. Over 100 million was spent on new players,

including Wayne Bridge, Joe Cole, Damien Duff and Glen Johnson. Ranieri had much

support but Italian manager was replaced by a Portuguese one, Jose Mourinho afterAbramovich's first season.

Mourinho became a celebrity both on and offthe pitch, leading Chelsea to some oftheirgreatest achievements. 2005 was a particularly great year with the team having a record-

breaking season ofthe most victories, points earned and clean sheets, as well as thefewest goals conceded. They won the League Cup against Liverpool, and reached the

semi-finals ofthe Champions League. In 2006 Chelsea were League Champions forthesecond yearin a row, and in 2007, forthe second time in three years, the club won the

League Cup and finished second in the Premier League.

The pinnacle ofthis season came when they ended it by winning the FA Cup final

againstManchester United. Mourinho was revered as one ofthe greatest managers inChelseas history and therefore it was a great shockto many when he leftthe club on

20th October 2007, by mutual consent between him and the club. The manager who

replaced him was Avram Grant and time willtell whether he manages to continue

Mourinhos outstanding managerial work.

R S i i


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The record forthe most appearances made by a player forthe club is held by Ron

Harris, who played in 795 games between 1961 and 1980. The same record held by agoalkeeper goes to PeterBonetti, one of Harris contemporaries, who racked up 729

appearances during his time with the club. Chelseas alltime top goal scoreris BobbyTampling who managed to get a record breaking 202 balls to hitthe back ofthe netin

370 games. Among their current players, Frank Lampard is the one who has appeared

the mosttimes, having played in 342 games, and he has also scored the most goals.

Chelsea also holds a number of records as a club, including the highest number of

points scored by a club for a league season at 95, and the highest number of victories

during the Premier League season at 29, as well as the lowest number of goals concededby a club during a season, totalling 15. They also hold records forthe greatest number

of consecutive clean sheets held atthe start of and throughout a league season, as wellas in a Premier League season. Additionally Chelsea hold the record forthe longest

streakin the English top-flight of unbeaten home matches.

Controversially Chelsea were also the firstBritish side to have a completely foreignline-up during the start oftheir game against Southampton on 26th December 1999 for a

Premier League match.

For more detailed statistics that stem from the foundation ofChelsea F.C. to today seethe Chelsea website.

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