News 2013: Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea Football Club (also known as The Blues or previously The Pensioners) is an English professional football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier in English football. Chelsea F.C. was founded on March 14, 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook) opposite today's main entrance to the ground on the Fulham Road. Since there was already a team named Fulham in the borough, the name of the adjacent borough, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, was settled on after London FC, Kensington FC and Stamford Bridge FC had been rejected.Scottish international half-back John Tait Robertson was recruited to be the club's first player-manager. The club began with established players recruited from other teams, such as 308 pound goalkeeper William "Fatty" Foulke, who was a FA Cup winner with Sheffield United, and inside forward Jimmy Windridge who came from Small Heath.In 1915, under the shadow of the First World War, Chelsea reached their first FA Cup final, the so-called "Khaki" cup final, owing to the large number of uniformed soldiers in attendance. The match against Sheffield United was played in a sombre atmosphere and staged at Old Trafford in Manchester to avoid disruption in London. Chelsea, minus their top amateur striker, Vivian Woodward, who had sportingly insisted that the team who reached the final ought to keep their places, were seemingly unnerved by the occasion and outplayed for much of the match. Goalkeeper Jim Molyneux's mistake allowed United to score before half-time, but the Blues held out until the final six minutes, when their opponents added two more to win 3-0. In October 1945, with the War having just ended, the English football authorities sought a way to celebrate the return of the peace-time game. As part of a goodwill gesture, it was announced that FC Dynamo Moscow, reigning champions of the Soviet Union, would tour the United Kingdom and play several home teams, including Chelsea. The match took place on 13 November at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea wearing an unfamiliar red uniform due to a clash of colors with Dynamo's uniform. Before kick-off, the Dynamo players presented a bouquet of flowers to their opposite number.1950 seemed at last to be Chelsea's year in the FA Cup. After beating Manchester United 2-0 in a pulsating quarter-final, they were drawn to face London rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane. Two goals from Bentley put Chelsea in control, but a freak goal from Arsenal (Chelsea's goalkeeper misjudged a corner and punched it into his own net) just before half-time turned the game. Chelsea seemed unable to recover from the blow and Arsenal scored 15 minutes from from full-time and then won the replay 1-0. A year later, Chelsea seemed destined for relegation: with four games remaining, they were six points behind, at the bottom of the table, and without a win in fourteen matches. After unexpectedly winning the first three, Chelsea went into their final match needing to beat Bolton Wanderers and hoping for the right result between fellow relegation candidates Everton and Sheffield Wednesday. Chelsea won 4-0 and Wednesday beat Everton 6-0, thus ensuring Chelsea's survival on goal average by 0.44 of a goal. In 1952, Chelsea again faced Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals and after a 1-1 tie in the first match, lost the replay 3-0. Birrell resigned shortly afterwards. 1981-82, an otherwise forgettable season during which Chelsea again finished 12th, Chelsea went on their first significant FA Cup run for years and drew European champions Liverpool in the fifth round.Chelsea had an impressive return to the First Division in 1989-90. Manager Bobby Campbell guided a squad of mostly unremarkable players to a creditable fifth place in the final table. Although the ban on English clubs in European football was lifted that year, Chelsea missed out on a UEFA Cup place because the only English place in the competition that year went to runners-up Aston Villa.Vialli spent almost £26 m on new players during the summer, including high-scoring Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and talented Icelandic striker Eiður Guðjohnsen, but was dismissed in September 2000 after winning just one of the opening five matches and, once again2004-05 was the most successful season in the history of Chelsea Football Club. After a slow start to the league season, scoring eight goals in their first nine games and trailing leaders Arsenal by five points, Chelsea's title campaign gradually picked up momentum, driven by the high-scoring Frank Lampard and the return from injury of brilliant young Dutch winger Arjen Robben - with the latter in the side, Chelsea both won more and scored more.On 20 September 2007, it was announced that Mourinho had left Chelsea by "mutual consent" following several months of well-documented friction between Mourinho and Abramovich. Shortly afterwards Avram Grant, who had been appointed Chelsea's director of football on 8 July 2007, was announced as Mourinho's successor with Steve Clarke as his assistant. Chelsea lost the 2008 League Cup final at Wembley 2-1 to Tottenham.

Chelsea Football Club Achievements

1992/93 - Inaugural members of the Premier League 1993/94 - Lose FA Cup final 1996/97 - Ruud Gullit appointed player-manger 1996/97 - Win FA Cup 1997/98 - Gianluca Vialli becomes manager 1997/98 - Win League Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup 1999/00 - FA Cup winners 2000/01 - Claudio Ranieri becomes manager 2001/02 - Lose FA Cup final 2003/04 - Chairman Ken Bates sells Chelsea to Roman Abramovich 2000/05 - Jose Mourinho takes over as manager 2004/05 - Chelsea win Barclays Premiership and League Cup 2005/06 - Chelsea win Barclays Premiership 2006/07 - Win FA Cup and League Cup 2007/08 - Jose Mourinho leaves the club to be replaced by Avram Grant. Runners up in the Carling Cup, Barclays Premier League and Champions League. Part company with Grant. Luiz Felipe Scolari appointed manager in June. 2008/09 - Scolari is sacked in February 2009 and replaced by Russian national coach Guus Hiddink who combines both roles until the end of the season. Chelsea beat Everton 2-1 to win the FA Cup final. Carlo Ancelotti named new manager in June 2009. 2009/10 - Ancelotti leads the Blues to the Barclays Premier League title, scoring 103 goals in the process. They then beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup to seal their first League and FA Cup double trophy win of their history.

Chelsea Football Club Kits