When was stamford bridge built

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, 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 '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 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 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. The rebuilding of Stamford Bridge from the ashes began with the redevelopment of the North Stand area. In the floodlights have been installed and in , a seated West Stand was built to replace the existing terracing on the west side.

In the new East Stand opened which brought fans closer to pitch, covering the old dog track. In the s the rebuilding of Stamford Bridge into the current stadium began with the redevelopment of the North Stand area. The old semi-circular terrace was demolished and a new, two-tier stand was opened at that end in November The old West Stand was demolished in and replaced by the current West Stand.

The lower tier was built on schedule and opened in Next in the redevelopment queue was the Shed End. Like Anfield — that is certainly not a nice stadium, but it has this amazing tradition. Topics Chelsea. More galleries. Most popular.

They settled for the name Chelsea FC in recognition of the area of London they were in. Just 10 weeks later, at the end of May , Chelsea were remarkably elected into the Football League without a ball having ever been kicked.

Gus Mears sadly passed away in at the age of 39 and is buried in the nearby Brompton Cemetery next to Stamford Bridge with his son, who was killed aged 18 during the First World War.

Chelsea still remained under the control of the Mears family for generations.