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The Bridge
Stamford Bridge, or simply The Bridge to the faithful, is the
spiritual and physical home of Chelsea Football Club, but it hasn’t
always been that way and the site has quite a history itself.
The name and place of Stamford Bridge is one of great
significance in English history, being 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 the stadium which came about less because of historical
significance and more to do with local landmarks and a fair degree
of chance.
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Eighteenth century maps show the current Fulham Road and Kings Road
area including the site of the stadium and also 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 crossed 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.
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Stamford Bridge Grounds officially
opened on 28th April 1877 and for the first 28 years of its
existence, was used almost exclusively by the London Athletic Club
as an arena for athletics meetings.
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.
Archibald Leitch was commissioned to design the first stand, a 120 yard
long structure along the east side, seating 5,000 people. Work began
on the building in February 1905. The other
three sides were open, in a vast bowl, the banking of which was made
up of thousands of tons of material, excavated during the building
of the nearby underground line. The original capacity was planned
for 100,000 and at the time, was the second largest venue in the
country, behind that at The Crystal Palace.
The ground was initially offered to Fulham FC, but they declined
and so, it was decided to form a new football team.
At 7.30pm on March 14th, 1905, the inaugural meeting of Chelsea
Football Club was called to order by Gus Mears and his brother JT
Mears. The meeting was held in a room above a pub opposite Stamford
Bridge known at the time as The Rising Sun, more recently called the
Greene Room and now re-named The Butcher's Hook. Chelsea
Football Club was born and moved into Stamford Bridge in time to
start the 1905/1906 season.
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's most die hard supporters and would forever be associated
with Stamford Bridge.
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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.
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. |
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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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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 an 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.
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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. |
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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. |
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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.
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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! |
For all the technical niceties of the new Stamford Bridge, please
visit
http://www.sportsvenue-technology.com/projects/chelsea/
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