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Stamford Bridge - Travel Through Time - A Thread 
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1877 – 1877 was the year Stamford Bridge was built and doors were open. It was originally the home of the ‘London Athletic Club’. The oldest independent track and field club in the world.
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1904 – For 27 years Stamford Bridge remained the home of the ‘London Athletic Club’ until 1904. The lease was brought by brothers, Gus & Joseph Mears. They had the hope of watching high-profile Football matches. It was offered to Fulham Football Club, who said no.
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1905 – After failing to find occupiers of the Stadium, Gus & Joseph, founded their own Football Club to rival Fulham and that was Chelsea Football Club.
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1905 – Stamford Bridge originally had a capacity of 100,000, this made it the second largest ground in England, after Crystal Palace. The large capacity was due to how spectators were far back from the field because of the large running track surrounding it.
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1905 – Stamford Bridge also had a single stand of around 5,000 fans. This was designed by Archibald Leitch, who had previously designed the exact stand at Craven Cottage. This played a part in why Fulham didn’t move to the Bridge.
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1945 – in 1945, the Bridge had staged one of the most important matches in history. At the end of the Second World War, Soviet side FC Dynamo Moscow and Chelsea FC were the first side they faced. There was an estimated 100,000 fans watching the match.
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1970s – In the 1970s, the owners wanted to renovate the dated Bridge. The East Stand was the first stand to be rebuilt but total costs exceeded the budget and due to the shortage of materials, the builders striked. The stand was displaced by 20 meters!
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1970s – Not only were Chelsea facing problems with the Stadium, the team were struggling and ultimately were relegated to the Second Division in 1975 & again in 1979.
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1980s – Due to all these factors, like the Stadium, Chelsea began to crumble. In 1982, Ken Bates bought the club for £1. However, the freehold was separated from the Club and therefore, Ken didn’t buy the ground.
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1980s – A large chunk of the freehold was sold to Marler Estates, the sale resulted in a long legal fight between the two. Marler Estates was ultimately forced into bankruptcy after a market crash in the early 1990s, allowing Bates re-unite the freehold with CFC
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1980s – The season of 1984-85 saw a lot of pitch invasions and fights by Chelsea hooligans. Unbelievably, this resulted in Bates erecting an electric fence between the stands and pitch. A waste of money as it was never turned on and later torn down.
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1990s – With the tragedy of Hillsborough, all top flight clubs were ordered to have all-seater stadiums by 1994-95. The re-building of the stadium commenced and successive building phases during the 1990s eliminated the original running track.
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Present Day: The pitch, the turnstiles, and the naming rights of the club are now owned by Chelsea Pitch Owners, an organisation set up to prevent the stadium from being purchased by property developers.
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Present Day : Chelsea were due to redevelop Stamford Bridge again for the 2021-22 season, but as of March 2020, Chelsea planning permission for a new 60,000 Stadium had expired.
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