7. The Future (2008 - ?)

Chapter 7 - The Future (2008 - ????)


It is no secret that the Club would like to increase the capacity of the stadium however there are some pretty fundamental obstacles to overcome if they are to achieve this.


From a logistics perspective there is the issue of accessibility. Due to the proximity of the railway to the stadium access to and from the stadium is restricted to small residential roads and the local Council are far from willing to grant planning application that would result in as many as an additional 13,000 fans trying to make their way to the match and then home again. As a consequence there has been much speculation about of a possible move away from the Bridge, a move which would mean the club would have to relinquish the name Chelsea Football Club due to the terms of the agreement with Chelsea Pitch Owners. This is a point not missed by Ken Bates who said, 'When they talk about Abramovich moving the club to East London or the new Wembley or whatever, you say Great, off you go, rename it Neasden United, give us our pitch back, we'll sign tomorrow and we'll name it Chelsea Football Club Limited, just as Wimbledon have.' There has been speculation about a number of possible venues with the main ones being the Imperial Road Gasworks, Battersea Power Station, and even the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. 

Personally I can't even being to imagine Chelsea playing at anywhere other than Stamford Bridge. If this article demonstrates nothing else it should at least show that the Bridge is as much, if not more, a part of Chelsea's history then any other person, era, success, or bad decision. The amount of joy and pain that has been caused by this stadium, let alone the football played in it is worth a hell of a lot more to me than 20,000 more seats and better public accessibility. Even if you neglect all that emotional rhetoric there is also the fact that we have only been filling the current stadium for the blink of an eye, and even then there are a number of games where we don't. Moving to a 80,000 capacity stadium could well end up with Chelsea often being watched by a half empty stadium with a hollow atmosphere to match.

Here at the Bridge, whether rain or fine