Chelsea wanted stadium with iconic chimneys but it became shops and 'cathedral of football' plan was abandoned

09/06/2024 10:59 AM

There are few bigger football clubs in the world than Chelsea, but there are plenty with bigger stadiums.

Make that 334 to be precise. Including clubs like Slask Wroclaw, Werder Bremen and Saint-Etienne.

That is despite the Blues having the eighth-biggest revenue in global football.

So why is their home stadium so tiny, holding a measly 40,343? Well, it is not for the want of trying.

Stamford Bridge finds itself right in the middle of west London, hemmed in by tightly-spaced buildings, a dense population, main roads and train lines.

But that is actually the least of their problems, as ex-owner Roman Abramovich painfully discovered.

The Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) control the freehold, meaning the club would need to change their name from ‘Chelsea Football Club’ if they ever moved away from the spot where Stamford Bridge resides.

To this day, that stands in the way of any plans to relocate, meaning places such as the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, White City, the Imperial Road Gasworks, and the Chelsea Barracks have all been considered but ultimately ruled out.

Chelsea did try to buy the derelict Battersea Power Station in May 2012, hoping they could iron out the logistics with the CPO and build an ‘iconic’ stadium with the famous four chimneys, but their bid was rejected.

Instead, a Malaysian company turned the Grade II listed building into a shopping and leisure centre, which opened last year.

Three years later, Chelsea announced a new plan to build a 60,000-seater stadium at Stamford Bridge.

By 2017, they had full planning permission from Hammersmith and Fulham Council, alongside the Mayor of London.

The stadium rebuild was set to be designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, who were renown for their work on the Allianz Arena in Munich and the Beijing National Stadium.

They envisioned a Gothic, Westminster Abbey-inspired stadium which would look like a ‘cathedral of football’.

Besides what they called ‘one of the most ambitious and difficult builds in architectural history’, there were more obstacles.

Chelsea needed somewhere to play their home games while the work took place, with Twickenham and Wembley considered possible solutions.

However, the Blues were reluctant to share Wembley with Tottenham, who were also using it during the 2017/18 season

Meanwhile, the Crosthwaites family threatened to derail the entire £600million project over lack of light into their house.

The family lived opposite the East Stand and rejected a six-figure compensation sum from Chelsea, who ultimately got the council to sort things out.

But all of this proved to be in vain when Abramovich pulled the plug.

A statement in May 2018 read: “Chelsea Football Club announces today that it has put its new stadium project on hold. No further pre-construction design and planning work will occur.”

It added: “The club does not have a time frame set for reconsideration of its decision. The decision was made due to the current unfavourable investment climate.”

The decision was announced 11 days after it emerged Abramovich had not been granted a new visa by the UK government after his previous one expired.

Reports claimed the Russian was reluctant to invest so much money in London as a result of the incident.

Abramovich’s sudden sale of Chelsea in 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, meant his big project was never completed.

It is understood the former owner made redevelopment of Stamford Bridge a sticking point while selecting a buyer.

But Todd Boehly has made little progress during his 16-month tenure.

The American is committed to a £1billion redevelopment scheme and initially placed co-owner Jonathan Goldstein in charge of the process.

Chelsea then drafted in Chris Jurasek and Jason Gannon to executive roles and were tasked with leading development plans.

However, Jurasek has since departed from his role as chief executive, with Gannon taking over as Chelsea’s president and chief operating officer.

Gannon was previously the managing director of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, so he brings valuable expertise to the role.

Chelsea need to start from scratch after planning permission expired under under Abramovich regime.

Earlier this year, the club admitted Stamford Bridge would not be fully redeveloped until 2030 at the earliest, although they did make a breakthrough by securing a crucial piece of nearby land.