Chelsea FC’s 110th Anniversary: A Brief History Part One
Decline and Battle for Stamford Bridge
The period between 1972 and 1983 was probably the darkest in Chelsea’s history, both on and off the pitch. It was marred by disciplinary issues between Sexton and several key players, notably Osgood and Hudson, although they did manage to set a goals record in the 1971-72 Cup Winner’s Cup, a 21–0 aggregate win over Luxembourg side Jeunesse Hautcharage (a record which stands till date).
After consecutive bottom-half finishes in the league between 1972 and 1974, Sexton was sacked early in the 1974-75 season and was replaced by Ron Stuart, who oversaw the club’s relegation at the end of that season. Eddie McCreadie took over and returned the club to the First Division in 1976-77 season, but later resigned due to a contract dispute with chairman Brian Mears and was replaced by Ken Shellito, who again resigned midway through the 1978-79 season and was replaced by Danny Blanchflower.
He then led to the team to relegation to the Second Division at the end of that season, where they would remain till the 1982-83 season, a season where they narrowly escaped relegation to the Third Division with 2 games to go.
The period also witnessed the club go through massive financial problems brought on by the club’s attempt to build the stadium’s East Stand, which coincided with the world oil crisis of 1973 followed by another in 1979. This put the club in debt of up to 4 million pounds by 1977 and ensured that the club were unable to sign any players between 1974 and 1978. Brian Mears eventually resigned as chairman in 1981 and with the club in serious financial debt, it was sold a year later to Ken Bates for 1 pound. But SB Properties, the company that owned the freehold to Stamford Bridge, was not included in the sale.
Brian Mears and Charles Gerald John Cadogan (8th Earl Cadogan, also called Lord Chelsea) sold their combined 70% stakes in SB Properties to Marler Estates, who began a campaign to get Chelsea FC evicted from Stamford Bridge so it could be sold off and redeveloped. In March 1986, after years of legal and public battles between Marler and Bates over the future of Stamford Bridge, Marler’s plans to redevelop the stadium without Chelsea was approved by the Hammersmith and Fulham Council, but was later rescinded when the Labour Party took over in May 1986.
In December 1987, Bates’ plans to redevelop the stadium was approved by the council, but the club were eventually faced with an eviction order at the end of the 7-year lease in 1989 (which was agreed by Bates on his purchase of the club in 1982). Fortunately, Bates was able to reunite the freehold with the club after agreeing a deal with Royal Bank of Scotland (creditors to Cabra Estates, who bought Marler in 1989 but were later bankrupted in the property market crash of 1992).
He then created Chelsea’s Pitch Owners, a non-profit organisation owned by the fans, which in 1997 purchased the freehold of the stadium, the club’s naming rights and the pitch to ensure that property developers could never again try to purchase Stamford Bridge.
Facts and dates from Chelseafc.com and Wikipedia
Photos by @cfcunoffical. On Twitter and at CFCUnofficial.com
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