Founded on march 14th, 1905 at the rising pub (now the butcher’s hook). Chelsea Football Club was elected into the second division on may 25th, 1905. Not long afterwards, they were promoted to the top flight but the club’s early years brought little success- no trophies. Their best moments came when they reached the FA cup finals in 1915, but unfortunately, they lost to sheffield united.
Despite the fact that they were not wining trophies, they constantly attracted large crowds of fans and viewers during their games (77, 952 fans attended the fourth round FA cup tie against Swindon on April 13th, 1911 and 82,905 attended the league game against Arsenal on October 12th, 1935).
In 1952, Ted Drake was appointed as Chelsea's coach and the team won the First division (league title) in the 1954-55 season with a total of 52 points (the lowest points till date that a team held to secure the English League Title) but due to objections from the Football League and the FA, chelsea were made to withdraw from the European Champions Cup (inaugurated in the 1955-56 season) before it started. Despite their success that season, they were unable to inspire their fans in the succeeding seasons as the always ended mid table. This continued for sometime and they were relegated from the First division in 1962 and Ted Drake was replaced by player-coach Tommy Docherty.
Docherty led Chelsea back to the top flight in his first season. The following decade saw a young talented chelsea full of great charisma but could not win any major trophy except when they won the League cup in 1965 (chelsea’s first league cup). They then lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the FA cup finals in 1967. The early 70’s saw a very nice and talented Chelsea squad (including Ron chopper Harris, Ian Hutchinson, Charlie Cooke and Peter Osgreat) beating Leeds 2-1 in the FA cup final replay at Old Trafford, and were crowned UEFA cup winners the following year (chelsea’s first European honour). In 1972, they reached the League cup final but lost to stoke city.
Unfortunately, the overall discipline of the team de-generated and an over- ambitious re-development of the stadium- Stamford Bridge threatened the financial stability of the club and this led to the sales of star players and they were eventually relegated. And one of the things that led to the increased difficulties in the club was the behavior of the supporters- No one could tell if it was red hot passion or football hooliganism but this had a negative effect on the club both on and off the pitch. Another problem then was the sale of the freehold rights of the stadium site to property developers meaning they could be sent packing from stamford bridge any time but in the mid 90’s, their future at stamford bridge was secured thanks to victory in a long ensued legal battle between ken bates (former chairman who bought chelsea from the Mears family for £1m) and the property developers in 1992.
Chelsea were promoted as champions of the Second division in 1984, and they finished in the top six in the next two consecutive seasons. Again, they were relegated in 1988-89 season but they only stayed in the Second division for a season as they were again promoted to the top flight in 1989-90 season and since then “The blues” have continually remained in the top flight of English Football.
Back in the top flight again, Coach Bobby Campbell guided a Chelsea side that lacked noteable players coupled with an un-inspiring performance to an amazing fifth place in the League table but missed out on a UEFA cup place as Aston villa were runners up that year. Campbell resigned that year and was replaced by Ian Porterfield who helped chelsea qualify for the Newly-Reformed-First-Ever Premier League but he quit halfway through the season and was replaced by David Webb who helped chelsea finish 11th in the League table. David Webb was replaced by former England midfielder Glenn Hoddle at the end of the season as his leadership was only on a caretaker basis. In Hoddle’s first season in charge of Chelsea, he led Chelsea to the FA cup final but lost to Manchester United (who were awarded two penalties) 4-0 but still qualified for the 1994-95 Europe cup as only Manchester United qualified for the Champions League that year. They were knocked out the competition through a lone goal loss to eventual winners- Real Zaragoza.
Chelsea were now in top form and they had a couple of world class players including captain Dennis Wise, Ruud Gullit (free transfer from Sampdoria) and Manchester United ’s high scoring striker Mark Hughes. Chelsea again finished 11th in the 1995-96 season under Coach Hoddle who later quit chelsea to become Coach of England squad.
Ruud Gullit was appointed player-coach for the 1996-97 season, he won the FA cup and also helped chelsea finish sixth in the premiership. In febuary 1998, Gullit was sacked and was replaced by Gianluca Vialli and he won the UEFA cup and the League cup that year. He also helped Chelsea finish 3rd in the premiership in the 1998- 99 season making them qualify for their First-Ever Champions League. Gullit also guided Chelsea to another FA cup victory in 2000.
At this time, Chelsea squad included the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Goal Keeper Ed de Goey, Nigerian Celestine babayaro, Roberto di Matteo (Italian midfielder) and Frank Leboeuf (French center-half).Happy moments came again as Vialli was replaced by Claudio Ranieri in September 2000. Ranieri guided the team to the FA cup Final in 2002 but lost to Arsenal.
Roman Abramovich, the Russian Billionaire bought Chelsea from Ken Bates in June 2003. During the pre-season tour, Abramovich spent over £100million on players like Claude Makalele, Damien Duff, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole. This brought great success as chelsea finished 2nd in the premiership and reached the Champions League semifinals after beating Arsenal in the quarterfinal, but Ranieri was sacked at the end of the season for not winning any trophy despite the large sum of money spent on players.
Afterwards, Jose Mourinho- The Special One was appointed as the new coach. He lived up to his name as “the special one” by bringing the Barclays Premiership Title to Stamford bridge in style, setting new records and also retained the title the following year along side other cups. During Mourinho’s time, Chelsea became widely known as a tough side both on and off the pitch as there was virtually no week that Mourinho kept quiet. He always draws the attention of the English FA by the remarks he makes.
Surprisingly, Mourinho left Chelsea in 2007 causing a lot of side talks and Avram Grant was appointed as caretaker coach.
Avram Grant will never be forgotten in the history of Chelsea fc as he led the team to the finals of the UEFA champions league in 2008- the closest they have ever came to lifting the crown. At the end of that seaaon, he was replaced by “The Big Phil”.
At the start of the new season, it looked all rosy for the blues, but midway into the season, Philip Scolari was replaced as he was found wanting.
Then, Gus Hiddink was appointed coach to manage the team till the end of that season. Gus Hiddink could be regarded as a saviour for Chelsea that season as he guided them to a third place finish in the premier league and finally waved Chelsea bye-bye after helping them lift the FA cup beating Everton 2-1.
Carlo Ancelotti was then appointed and is still the 1st team coach of Chelsea fc.
• Chelsea Football Club was founded on March 14th 1905
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