The battle for Stamford Bridge

Interesting events today at Stamford Bridge, where the Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) voted on Chelsea FC's proposals for the move away from their home since 1905.

CFC are unable to expand Stamford Bridge on it's current site

In these times of foreign investment in English football clubs, often from unknown sources, it was a far-sighted initiative in the early 1990s that saw the inception of the CPO as a vehicle for ensuring the security of the Stamford Bridge site as the home for Chelsea FC.

The then Chairman, Ken Bates, had successfully fought off a long-running battle with property developers to save the Bridge from being redeveloped, and with it, Chelsea FC without a ground, and put in place the CPO initiative.

Now, with the club successfully ensconced in the elite of English football, and trying to stay there, the club have decided that they need to move to a larger venue to play catch-up with other large capacity venues.

The club intend to buy out the CPO, who own the freehold to the land on which Stamford Bridge stadium sits, in order to move the club in future, to a new stadium (at a venue yet to be decided), so that the club can try to catch up with the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal in it's matchday revenues.

Needing 75% of the vote to be able to carry out their proposed purchase, the motion was carried in favour by 61.6% of the shareholders. While it was a clear majority, it wasn't enough to allow the club to go ahead with their plans - yet.

Interestingly, The Independent today carried an article which raised the issue of the club's proposals. As one could imagine, Chelsea FC, having made their decision to press on with a potential move away from Stamford Bridge, they were going to try to win favour with as many CPO shareholders as possible.

As with all things in life, you can fool some people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all of the time, so it was understandable that a sizeable number would be sceptical about the proposals.

Reacting to the vote, Chelsea FC Chairman Bruce Buck was interviewed by the BBC shortly afterwards, where he spoke of the club's need to continue to work on moving the club forwards.

Reaction from supporters is mixed, with a large proportion wanting move so that the club can retain its place in the elite level of the game, while there are a number of fans who see that a move from Stamford Bridge would be a huge emotional loss.

What angered many fans, was the sale of a further 20,000 CPO shares to unknown buyers, in the period after the club announced their intentions on 3 October.

This issue appears to have galvanised a strong sentiment among supporters that the club have tried underhand methods to reach their aims, and this will only strengthen the resolve of those who voted no to the vote that the CPO should retain the freehold.

However this matter resolves itself, it is sure to be a long-running episode of the club's history, and one that will generate comment and debate for many years to come.