Chelsea wanted a stadium with iconic chimneys but it became a shopping precinct and the 'football cathedral' plan was abandoned
There are few bigger football clubs in the world than Chelsea, but there are plenty with bigger stadiums.
To be precise, 334. These include clubs such as Slask Wroclaw, Werder Bremen and Saint-Etienne.
That is despite The blues having the eighth highest income in world football.
So why is their home stadium so small, with a capacity of just 40,343? Well, it's not for lack of trying.
Stamford Bridge is located right in the centre of West London, surrounded by close-packed buildings, dense population, major roads and train lines.
But that is actually the least of their problems, as former owner Roman Abramovich painfully discovered.
Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) control the freehold, meaning the club would have to change its name from 'Chelsea Football Club' if it ever moved from the site of Stamford Bridge.
To this day, that precludes any relocation plans, meaning sites such as Earls Court Exhibition Centre, White City, Imperial Road Gasworks and Chelsea Barracks have all been considered but ultimately ruled out.
Chelsea attempted to buy the derelict Battersea Power Station in May 2012, hoping to sort out logistics with the CPO and build an “iconic” stadium with the famous four chimneys, but their bid was rejected.
Instead, a Malaysian company converted 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-capacity stadium at Stamford Bridge.
In 2017, they obtained full planning permission from Hammersmith and Fulham Council, together with the Mayor of London.
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The stadium reconstruction was to be designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, known for their work on Munich's Allianz Arena and Beijing's National Stadium.
They imagined a Gothic stadium inspired by Westminster Abbey that would look like a “football cathedral.”
In addition to what they called “one of the most ambitious and difficult constructions in the history of architecture,” there were more obstacles.
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Chelsea needed somewhere to play their home games while the work was underway, and Twickenham and Wembley were considered possible solutions.
However, the Blues were reluctant to share Wembley with Tottenhamwho also used it during the 2017/18 season
Meanwhile, the Crosthwaites family threatened to derail the entire £600m project by failing to turn off the power in their home.
The family lived opposite the East Stand and refused a six-figure compensation payment from Chelsea, who eventually got the council to sort things out.
But all this was in vain when Abramovich pulled the plug on the project.
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A statement from May 2018 read: “Chelsea Football Club today announces that it has suspended the project for its new stadium. No further pre-construction design and planning work will be undertaken.”
“The club has no set deadline to reconsider its decision. The decision was taken due to the current unfavourable investment climate,” he added.
The decision was announced 11 days after it emerged that the UK government had not granted Abramovich a new visa after her 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 grand project was never completed.
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The former owner is understood to have made the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge a sticking point when selecting a buyer.
But Todd Boehly has made little progress during his 16 months in office.
The American has committed to a £1bn overhaul plan and initially put co-owner Jonathan Goldstein in charge of the process.
Chelsea then recruited Chris Jurasek and Jason Gannon into executive roles and tasked them with leading development plans.
However, Jurasek has since stepped down from his role as CEO and Gannon has taken over as Chelsea's president and chief operating officer.
Gannon previously served as general manager of SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, bringing valuable experience to the role.
Chelsea need to start from scratch after planning permission expired under the Abramovich regime.
Earlier this year, the club admitted that Stamford Bridge would not be fully rebuilt until 2030 at the earliest, although they did make a major breakthrough by securing a crucial piece of land nearby.
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