Many of you will already have seen the statement put out on the official Chelsea website earlier today, where the club went public on its bid to buy back the freehold of Stamford Bridge from the Chelsea Pitch Owners.
A contentious issue for sure, but for us here the news is not unexpected. As we wrote back in March of this year, the club has been actively looking for options in order to move Chelsea FC to a larger stadium and we were expecting an announcement this summer. Weather wise at least, we were spot on.
With Stamford Bridge lagging way behind the clubs we deem our peers across European Football, and with the financial handicap that brings, it’s no surprise that the club has made this move on the chess board in order to smooth the way for a future move. Quite how smooth it will be, is another story.
The club held a behind the scenes briefing for the majority of the media this afternoon for several hours, with all journalists embargoed until 8pm so the club could break the news first.
During the briefing it emerged that Chelsea still hold out hope for Earls Court, even though the developers would rather build residential holdings, but with the economy and housing market as it is they could yet change their mind. White City is also on the list of possibles and they are having a look a site around Nine Elms in Battersea.
Fulham and QPR are also reported to be in the early stages of moving stadiums, and as such the possibility of the Old Oak Common site becomes possible if QPR move away from the area.
There are certain to be many arguments for and against a move, if you would like write your feelings on the subject, please send them to editor@thechels.net and the best ones will be published on our site.
For those not familiar with the CPO, there is information on our Wiki, and also a good piece by BlueTinted.com on their site.
We’ll have more on this development in the coming days.