Iron-blooded defense, the magic of changing the coach to win the championship, Abu's persistence, the large-scale reinforcements... Despite the ups and downs, over the past 20 years of the new century, Chelsea has brought countless surprises to fans and left countless valuable memories.
On July 2, 2003, wealthy Russian businessman Abu bought Chelsea, which was then in debt. Soon after, Abu smashed many stars with an enviable high fee, opening the "golden dollar era" belonging to Chelsea.
Abu's investment put Chelsea in financial straits behind and replaced them with the top giants who surprise fans every year in the transfer window. Today's Chelsea seem to have been labeled "rich", but many people don't know that the Blues have not been a team known for being rich in history. On the contrary, the creation of the team even came from an accident.
A stone's throw from the coal mill
On 26 October 1863, the English Football Association was officially established at the Freimason Hotel on Queen Street, London, England. The establishment of the English Football Association marked the birth of modern football and laid a solid foundation for the development of English football in the next few decades.
Although modern football had flourished on the European continent before the establishment of the FA, football at that time had not yet formed a system, countries did not have special institutions to govern football, and there were very few football clubs in the true sense. The establishment of the FA completely changed this situation, marking the beginning of the government's preparations for a national league system and the regulation of a series of football rules.
Since then, professional football clubs have sprung up and reached a climax after the 1880s.
Tottenham and Arsenal, which we have already described, were founded at the end of the 19th century. Compared to the two teams, Chelsea were founded much later.
Henry Augustus Mills Augustus· Mears) was a well-known investor in London, England, who at first invested in football, but as football became more popular in England in the early 20th century, Mills became an avid football fan.
While having fun, the England businessman was also keenly aware of the business opportunities – although London already had many teams, there was still a lot of room for influence (for example, Tottenham Hotspur was not yet in the second division at the time, and Arsenal were the relegation team in The League One). Mills valued London's potential for football and decided to change direction and open up business by investing in stadiums.
First, Mills found his partner, who was also his brother Joseph Mills. Mears) bought the Stamford Bridge Athletics Field and invested heavily in transforming it into a professional football stadium. Mills even bought the surrounding park and transformed it into a more football-like addition to Stamford Bridge Stadium.
Unfortunately, although Mills and his party were well-known in London, they did not know much about football operations, so their remodeled Stamford Bridge Stadium was not visited for a long time. In desperation, Mills chose to take the initiative, he contacted Fulham Football Club, which had a certain intention of relocating at the time, and introduced them to the advantages of Stamford Bridge Stadium, hoping that Fulham could choose Stamford Bridge as the new home.
However, after a long negotiation, Fulham was ultimately unable to agree with the Mills brothers on the issue of rent, and they remained at Craven Cottage until today.
The failure of the negotiations made Mills a little discouraged, coupled with the high cost of operation and maintenance of the stadium, the Mills brothers gradually became a little weak. After thinking about it, Mills decided to abandon the idea of entering the football market and sell Stamford Bridge Stadium to find another business.
If things go on like this, I'm afraid we won't see Chelsea as a great club today.
It was a Sunday morning in the fall of 1904, and a colleague of Mills' investment firm, Fred Parker, was a colleague at Mills' investment firm. Parker found him and rekindled Mills' hopes with a few words.
Later, Fred Parker himself told the world about this conversation that was enough to change the history of English football. He walked over to the frustrated Mills, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "The old place is about to disappear (The West London Rail Company is preparing to convert Stamford Bridge stadium into a coal plant), and I feel sad, after all, it has been with us for so long, hasn't it?" ”
The few words made Mills, who had already made up his mind to sell the stadium, once again entangled, on the one hand, he could not bear the high cost of running the stadium, but on the other hand, he was not willing to give up his years of hard work.
As the two men were walking and discussing, Mills' dog suddenly bit Fred Parker, who was bleeding from pain. To Mills's surprise, Parker didn't seem to care about it, instead joking to Mills while wiping the blood.
Mills stared at Parker for a moment before suddenly saying, "You're pretty good at coping with blows." ”
Perhaps Parker's optimism infected Mills and rekindled hope. After a while, Mills calmly said to Parker, "You'll come to me tomorrow at 9 a.m., we're going to be busy." In this way, Stamford Bridge Stadium, which was once on the verge of being converted into a coal plant, survived.
Unexpectedly, the Blues were born
Despite the decision to continue operations, the problem of no one taking over the stadium has not dissipated. To this end, Mills flexibly changed his thinking, and at Parker's suggestion, he followed the wave of the establishment of a large number of football clubs in England at that time, and decided to simply set up a team of his own.
On March 14, 1905, at the "Butcher's Hook" tavern opposite Stamford Bridge Stadium, Mills and his partners met to formally announce the decision to form a new team.
When discussing the team name, the partners disagreed, with some arguing that it should be a contest with the existing Fulham; others believing that it should be named after the stadium – simply "Stamford Bridge Football Club"; some suggesting it being named "Kensington Football Club"; and some even suggesting that it should be called "London Football Club".
However, Mills believed that the new team should not have a name conflict with the existing team, nor should the name be too loud, and finally chose the adjacent Chelsea district as the name of the team, and "Chelsea Football Club" was born.
It is worth mentioning that the new team formed by Mills, despite its name as Chelsea, is not in the Chelsea district, but in the nearby Fulham district. Despite this, Mills' decision was approved by most of the partners, and the direction of the club has since tended to attract the residents of the Chelsea district, quickly becoming a small and famous local team.
From today's perspective, Mills' decision was not a hasty choice, but a well-thought-out choice.
At that time, compared with North London, which already had many excellent teams such as Tottenham Hotspur, the West London football market where Stamford Bridge Stadium was located was relatively cold, with only a few more famous teams. At that time, Fulham's performance in the Southern League was sluggish due to financial problems, and many football fans in West London were quite dissatisfied with Fulham's "chaotic life", which created an opportunity for Chelsea to rise rapidly at the beginning of its establishment.
John Tait Robertson
It was in this context that Mills seized on the desire of West London fans to improve their results and put forward the slogan of buying well-known stars at the beginning of the team's establishment. In 1905, Chelsea played its first game with Stoke Harbour, which attracted more than 10,000 fans. Although Chelsea eventually lost 1-0 in that match, the hot market gave Mills confidence and then hired an excellent coaching team including John Tait Robertson.
Mills' many efforts have led to a skyrocketing rise in the team's popularity, and in this context, participating in professional leagues has become a strong desire of many fans. The English football system at that time could be roughly divided into two parts: the Southern team played more in the Southern League, and the Northern team participated more in the Football League.
Chelsea in London naturally applied to participate in the Southern League at the first time, but surprisingly, Chelsea's application was opposed by London teams such as Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham. In desperation, the Mills brothers changed their minds and began to actively coordinate their joining the English football league. After hard work, the English Football League officially approved Chelsea to join on 29 May 1905, allowing the Blues to compete in the League Two in 1905-06.
1905–06 League Two standings
Mills' initial heavy investment allowed Chelsea to quickly stand out in League Two. In the 1905-06 season, Chelsea achieved 22 wins, 9 draws and 7 losses in 38 league games with 53 points, and won the third place in the league, but manchester United, who was behind the second place with a gap of 9 points, did not have the opportunity to be promoted.
1906–07 League Two standings
After entering the 1906-07 season, Chelsea as a whole showed greater competitiveness, and they achieved excellent results of 26 wins, 5 draws and 7 defeats in 38 league games, and finally rushed to the top league as the runner-up of the league.
After entering the top league, the fledgling Blues saw good teams from all over the country, and their strong competitiveness in the secondary leagues was gone.
In the 1907-1908 season, the Blues finished only 13th in the league and were only three points away from the relegation zone. In the first decade of League One, the Blues were basically hovering in the second half of the league, and in the 1909-10 season, there was the embarrassment of relegation from the bottom of the rankings. However, after a brief adjustment, the Blues were able to quickly return to the top flight. During that time, Chelsea's best result was 8th in the league.
The 1915 FA Cup final was started by both sides, with a total of 49,557 spectators attending the match
During the First World War, the club made major breakthroughs in the cup competitions - they eliminated Swindon Town (5:2), Arsenal (1:0), Manchester City (1:0), Newcastle United (1:0) and Everton (1:0) to reach the FA Cup final in history. Unfortunately, in the final, facing the more powerful Sheffield United on paper, Chelsea was overwhelmed and eventually lost 0:3.
epilogue
Unlike the usual team and then the stadium, Chelsea's establishment is just the opposite. Chelsea came into being against the backdrop of Mills' ownership of Stamford Bridge stadium and then decided to build a team on top of the pitch.
Stamford Bridge – the Blues' eternal harbor
It is not so much fate as it is that the strong football atmosphere in England at that time fulfilled such a coincidence. Mills, who is good at business, initially only saw the hidden business opportunities behind the hotball market, and did not have the idea of running the team. But as he learned more about football in the process of transforming the stadium, Mills was also deeply attracted to the sport, and gradually discovered the greater value behind it while treating football as a business - competitive fun.
It is also in this context that Mills, who was once confused, dared to find another way and set up a new team on his own, and the century-old story belonging to Chelsea slowly began.
Compared with the glory of today's Blues, Chelsea in the early days of its establishment is undoubtedly much bleaker. Despite Mills' dedication and the brilliance of rapid promotion in the second division, the Blues are unstable after all, and they play more of a "passerby" role in the top league. But the team's consistency and the correct choice to deepen the youth training pushed the Blues through a series of difficulties and obstacles in the early days of its establishment, and finally won the team's first top league title half a century later.
Unfortunately, the team's founder, Mills, did not have the opportunity to see this beautiful scene. In 1912, the businessman who had devoted all his life to Chelsea died of illness at the age of 39. Despite not being able to see Chelsea's future glory, or even bring a title to the team, Mills remained one of the most respected figures for Blues fans for a long time.
After all, without the casual conversation mills and Parker had had they had been a hundred years ago, stamford Bridge, which is now buzzing, might have been just a deserted coal plant.