So Chelsea are celebrating their 120th anniversary… let the same old jokes commence.
Many who don’t support the club will fake surprise that Chelsea are this old given ‘they did not exist before 2003’. That was the year former owner Roman Abramovich bought them. His sizeable investment elevated Chelsea to a sustained period of success they had never enjoyed before: 19 major trophies in as many years, including five Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues.
Chelsea became the new kids on the block and the established old guard didn’t like it from day one. For example, Liverpool fans took great delight in singing, ‘You ain’t got no history’ soon after Abramovich’s arrival and still do. A mocking chant about, ‘Where’s your European Cups?’ had to be cut from their repertoire after Chelsea won the competition for the first time in 2012.
Not even the most die-hard Chelsea supporter will state they have been part of football’s elite since the day they were formed, but talk to them about the digs made over not doing anything before Abramovich came on the scene and they will start to get a little more touchy.
When it comes to ranking a club’s size or earning a bit of respect from the supporter of a rival, many use silverware as the only gauge. But that doesn’t always tell the full story. Every club that has ever kicked a ball has a past to be proud of and Chelsea certainly have more than the Abramovich tenure to talk about.
The biggest accusation thrown at Chelsea is that they did not win much until Abramovich’s money tilted the balance in their favour. It is certainly true that until he came along, their only championship (from England’s top division) was claimed in 1955.
They had a few near misses. Perhaps one of the most painful came four years before the arrival of a Russian multi-billionaire. Chelsea finished just four points behind Manchester United’s infamous treble-winning side. Managed by former Italy striker Gianluca Vialli, they lost just three times in the league. Had they beaten, not drawn, against mid-table teams Middlesbrough, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday in three consecutive games in April, Chelsea would have finished first.
Chelsea only just missed out on the title in 1999 (Ross Kinnaird /Allsport via Getty Images)
Due to a dip in fortunes in the 1970s and part of the 1980s, Chelsea are regarded in some quarters as a bit of a yo-yo club, one of those teams that are regularly promoted from and relegated to the Second Division. But they have actually played only 19 seasons outside the top division and two of those were in 1905-06 and 1906-07, the club’s first two seasons in existence. Chelsea have never played below the second tier of English football.
This is their 90th season in the top division and 36th in a row. Even when they were last relegated in 1988, it was a bit of an anomaly as the league was being reduced to 20 clubs. Chelsea finished fourth from bottom (and only behind West Ham United and Charlton Athletic on goal difference) but that was during a brief two-year run when the team that finished fourth from bottom joined three teams from the old Second Division in the play-offs. It was not decided over a one-off game at Wembley like they do nowadays, but over two legs held home and away. Chelsea reached the final but were beaten 2-1 on aggregate by Middlesbrough.
In truth, Chelsea were always more regarded as a cup team but that came with a lot of heartache too. They reached their first FA Cup final in 1915, just 10 years after beginning in the second division, but lost 3-0 to Sheffield United. It is one of seven finals they reached pre-Abramovich, including the first contested between two London teams in 1967. Chelsea came second best to Tottenham Hotspur on that occasion, 2-1.
Chelsea finally got their hands on the FA Cup in 1970. The match against Leeds United went to a replay and was watched by 28.5million people in the UK. It is the third most watched sporting event in UK television history behind only the 1966 World Cup final and Euro 2020 final and the biggest involving two clubs, as reported by Planet Football.
Ruud Gullit became the first Black manager to win the FA Cup when Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 2-0 in 1997. Three years later, Chelsea were the last team to lift it at the ‘Old Wembley’, renowned for its Twin Towers, before it was knocked down and redeveloped (Chelsea then became the first to win at the ‘new Wembley’ after it was reopened in 2007).
Meanwhile, Chelsea have played in 27 FA Cup semi-finals overall, which is the third most (behind Manchester United’s 32 and Arsenal’s 30) and over half (15) of those came before 2003.
League Cup success came in 1965 and 1998, the latter including a win over Arsenal in the semi-final. Vialli was taking charge of his first game and served his players champagne beforehand. The club, which is situated near the fashionable King’s Road in London, has always been associated with this kind of extravagance.
What about Europe? Well, Chelsea were asked to take part in the first ever European Cup (rebranded as the Champions League in 1992-93) competition in 1955-56 but were advised not to by the Football League over fixture congestion fears.
Their continental debut came in 1958 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (a predecessor to the Europa League) and in 1971 they won the now defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup against the mighty Real Madrid, two years before Liverpool got off the mark in European competition with the UEFA Cup.
Chelsea won the Cup Winners’ Cup a second time in 1998 and beat Real Madrid on the big stage again three months later to lift the UEFA Super Cup. That means — and perhaps Arsenal fans will want to look away — that Chelsea won more European trophies before Abramovich came along than Arsenal have ever done.
One of the consolations of Chelsea’s title challenge in 1998-99 was qualifying for the Champions League for the first time the following season. Chelsea impressed, coming within seven minutes of knocking Barcelona out in the quarter-finals. They beat a team containing Luis Figo and Rivaldo 3-1 at home in the first leg and were heading through 4-3 on aggregate only for Dani to level the tie in Camp Nou late on to take it into extra time (Barcelona ending up winning the second leg 5-1 and 6-4 on aggregate).
Chelsea booked their spot in the Champions League for a second time by finishing fourth in the Premier League in 2003, a season in which the only signing they made was the free transfer of Enrique de Lucas. That achievement was the kind of thing Arsene Wenger would regard as a trophy.
Even when winners’ medals were hard to come by, Chelsea made amends in other ways, mainly a reputation for entertaining football and special individuals. Roy Bentley, Jimmy Greaves, Charlie Cooke, Peter Osgood, Ray Wilkins, Pat Nevin, Gianfranco Zola and Gullit were just some of the names worthy of the entrance fee alone.
Players like Zola have lit up Stamford Bridge (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Speaking of which, we come to the final question mark, Chelsea’s attendance figures. The old Stamford Bridge, with the mysterious cars parked behind the goals in the 1980s, were another thing to poke fun at. Accusations of the crowd being full of ‘gloryhunters’, a term used to negatively describe people who jump on the bandwagon whenever a club suddenly starts consistently challenging for major honours, was aimed in Chelsea’s direction over the past 20 years. The ‘I remember when there were just a few thousand watching the side’ is something many a Chelsea follower has heard.
There were obviously times when Chelsea were far from selling out. And yet according to English Football League Tables, Chelsea have the sixth highest average gate since records began until the end of last season. Those who might dispute the legitimacy of this claim might want to bear in mind how Chelsea boast the seventh-highest attendance ever recorded for a home game held in England — 82,905 — which was set against Arsenal on October 12, 1935. However, if you take out the fact Spurs have five of the entries above them because they played at Wembley between 2017 and 2019 while their new ground was being built, then they rank just behind Manchester City’s FA Cup tie against Stoke City in 1934 (84,569 attended that fixture).
And then there was the post-World War II friendly against Dynamo Moscow to take into account, where an estimated 100,000 squeezed in to see the match.
Still not convinced Chelsea only made their mark on the game lately? How about Chelsea being the reason ball boys became part of the game, helping out the club’s first goalkeeper William Foulke, who weighed in at a remarkable 22 stone (308 pounds).
The mocking about Chelsea from elsewhere is bound to continue regardless, but the millions who love them around the world will have had plenty of reason to celebrate on March 10 no matter what anyone else thinks.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
