Chelsea FC's 117-year history in the crosshairs of the elites
Chelsea's record of thrilling since 1905 and winning major trophies since 1955 is even more impressive considering how many powerful forces in and out of football actively array against them.
“You ain’t got no history” and “you were only formed when Roman Abramovich came along” are stock quotes you’ll hear about Chelsea Football Club. Unless you’re a fan, London’s finest are nobody’s friend. Despite the animosity, Blues followers are the ones that ought to feel hard done by. Throughout the club's history, they have been victims of institutional malfeasance and bias at the highest levels. This is not the fictional musings of a frustrated supporter: Jose Mourinho believed there was an agenda against Chelsea. There can be no doubting it, the evidence is irrefutable.
From the club’s founding in 1905 - when they couldn’t give away a brand new stadium - Chelsea has been over-zealously scrutinised by society’s betters, minders and watcher. Based in the most affluent of London postal codes, those in power felt their place was to keep The Pensioners - the original nickname, for those new to, unfamiliar with or dismissive of the club’s history - in check. With that in mind, the UK government's strong-arm attempts at forcing the club's closure have come as no surprise.
Chelsea’s mid-century European experience: Leave or Remain? Trick question - you can’t go!
After 50 years of hurt, 1955 saw Roy Bentley become the first Chelsea captain to lift the coveted First Division title. With the golden anniversary celebrations ongoing, the title was the icing on the cake. How could being Chels get any better? Well, what if the Union of European Football Association, formed a year earlier, in conjunction with the French sports magazine L'Équipe came up with a brand new competition? What if it was just for the champions of the countries within its territory? Just suppose, Chelsea, the club with no history, were the first participants from England in this nascent league of champions?
Rick Glanvill recounts the tale in his book “Chelsea FC - The Official Biography.” Chelsea was the only English team to attend the inaugural meetings in Paris despite other clubs being invited. John Battersby, the club secretary, represented Chelsea. However, Battersby missed most of the meetings following a lunch of oysters that confined him to his hotel room for a couple of days with food poisoning. Nonetheless, Battersby was elected onto the tournament committee.
England’s Football League - a vehemently domestic association - curtailed Chelsea’s ground-breaking European ambitions. According to Glanvill, Battersby was incensed:
The Football League had a rule if you studied the handbooks at that time, whereby they had the power to authorise - or not - participation by clubs with other nationals, and they used that to stop us.
Chelsea’s chairman, Joe Mears, sat on the Football Association committee. The club felt this would make it awkward to go against the League’s rule, and declined the opportunity to participate. The following season Manchester United became England’s first competitor in the European Cup, with their manager Matt Busby refusing to bow down to pressure from the man.
Stenographers with a Cause: The Media Agenda
There are thousands of images of football stadia on Getty Images, the AP’s service, Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons available to the media, in addition to stock photos. The Athletic - a wholly owned and probably wholly regretted subsidiary of The New York Times - has or has access to staff and freelance photographers. Still, The Athletic chose to run with a shot of Stamford Bridge to accompany their coverage of a Premier League footballer’s arrest for rape. The message was clear: "We're not saying he plays here, but we're not saying he doesn't. However, we want you to think of this image when you see the words ‘Premier League rape.’”
Of course, compared to the crime, The Athletic’s photographic editorialship pales into insignificance, but imagine if they’d chosen Anfield, Old Trafford or the Emirates instead.
It’s an unlikely scenario, though, since the media is so loaded in favour of teams that play in red. Check out the coverage on any football channel anywhere in the world. The punditry line-up will be littered with former Reds and Red Devils. Graeme Souness, Jamie Carragher, Steve McManaman, Jamie Redknapp, Danny Murphy, Jim Beglin, Ian Wright, Alex Scott, Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Steve Nichol, there are more. Even the ones who formerly played for the Blues share the anti-Blue perspective: see Craig Burley and Chris Sutton.
At least Graeme Le Saux features for NBC in the USA, while Joe Cole and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink occasionally appear in the UK for team Chelsea.
The written media do their part in steadfastly following a script that was a feature of Roman Abramovich’s tenure as owner. It was simple: a poor run of results led to player unrest, resulting in the manager losing the dressing room before leaving the club, preferably in mid-season.
No other club or manager had to tolerate the kind of aggressive, give-us-the-answer-we-want questioning that Chelsea’s managers received.
With Todd Boehly and Clearlake now calling the shots in SW6, the written media are still trying to push that agenda. Despite Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly joining the club, the negative is still the focus. Caesar Azpilicueta wants to leave; Thomas Tuchel is not happy with Timo Werner; the players are not committed enough.
Tuchel’s relationship with the press appears to be a good one. Starting afresh, Todd Boehly and Co. are the collective new broom sweeping through the club. But the media - who opened the Abramovich-shaped door for Boehly to walk into the Bridge - still see the same old Chelsea.
Referees and officials: From THO to AT
Tom Henning Ovrebo tops the list of referees that have wronged Chelsea. Barcelona came to Stamford Bridge on 6 May 2009 off the back of a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal. With Chelsea up 1-0, Ovrebo waved away three separate penalty appeals as the Blues looked to extend their lead. With Barcelona only needing an away goal to reach the final, Andrea Iniesta with some inevitability scored. Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba were incandescent with rage. Ovrebo subsequently admitted there may have been oversights on the night.
I don't think the Chelsea supporters are correct when they claim four of five penalties, but I think everybody that knows football and the laws of the game knows there should have been a penalty given. That happens, especially before VAR. Sometimes you miss a penalty, sometimes you miss a red card or a crucial decision. And I think everybody that knows football knows there should have been a penalty. They can speculate themselves on which ones should have been a penalty. I will not give you a correct answer on that because I don't have the correct answer, I just have my perception of it.
While the now retired Ovrebo was a one-hit-blunder for Blues fans, Premier League official Anthony Taylor has been Chelsea supporter’s number one repeat offender. We don’t need to dig to deep to have three incidents in three games spring to mind.
Chelsea vs. Manchester United, Premier League: 17 February 2020
With the ball heading out of play Harry Maguire, on his back, stopped Michy Batshuayi in his tracks with a solid boot to the groin (2:50 in the clip below). Taylor and the VAR did nothing. The experts generally regarded the incident as a red card incident. Chelsea lost the game 2-0, with Maguire himself getting the second goal. Chelsea had two goals disallowed by VAR in the same game.
Chelsea vs. Arsenal, FA Cup Final: 01 August 2020
In a COVID-19 delayed FA Cup final, Mateo Kovacic was sent off following a second yellow card after appearing to be fouled by Granit Xhaka. Taylor took this decision on his own. VAR was unable to intervene as it was not a straight red card incident. Chelsea lost the game 2-1. Again, the post-match analysis concurred that the decision was incorrect.
Liverpool vs. Chelsea, Premier League: 28 August 2021
Taylor sent off Reece James for handling the ball on the line, based on using video assisted replay to view a still image of the ball against James’s arm. Rather than reviewing the whole movement of the ball off James’s thigh - remember, video - Taylor felt the still was enough. He gave the penalty and sent James to the dressing room. The game ended 1-1.
Premier League: COVID’s not COVID at Cobham
The Premier League, not wanting to miss out on nailing their colours to the Blue's hate flag, refused to allow the game with Wolverhampton Wanderers in December 2020 to be rescheduled due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at Cobham. Romelu Lukaku, Jorginho, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi all tested positive ahead of the game. Ben Chilwell and Andreas Christensen were out injured. Chelsea could only name four outfield players as substitutes alongside two goalkeepers. Thomas Tuchel was rightly unhappy,
We thought we had a strong case regarding the security and health of players. We have seven positive cases, we were made to be in the bus and travel together for three hours, were in a meeting together, in dinner and lunch and the situation does not feel like it will stop. We applied not to play and put the situation under control and it was rejected. It is very hard to understand it, we are concerned about the health of the players.
We end up with players who play coming from injuries and we take the risk. I am worried from a medical point of view, we have had four days of consecutive tests.
How will it stop if we are on a bus together and in meetings? We are disappointed, we are a bit angry.
The Premier League declined to comment on Chelsea’s request. Their stock answer for such circumstances appeared somewhat contradictory given Tuchel’s statement,
In considering any application to postpone, the board considers a range of sporting and medical factors. Each decision is taken on a case-by-case basis with everyone’s health of utmost importance.
The Premier League COVID-cancelled six games that weekend. The Blues’ game ended 0-0, dropping more points at a time when Chelsea was still competitive for a top-two finish.
UK government goes Churchill on Chelsea
Of course, the crowning glory in all of this is the UK Government, which succeeded in ousting the best owner a football club could ever dream of. Roman Abramovich was sanctioned and forced to sell the club he bought in 2003 due to alleged links to Vladimir Putin. All this following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. While there can be no denying the brutality of the war, Abramovich’s links to it were at best tenuous,
Among the reasons for sanctioning Abramovich, Britain said he had destabilised Ukraine through his "effective control" of Evraz which, it said, may have supplied steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks.
Prior to the sanctions being announced, Abramovich put his club up for sale. In a statement released in March 2022, the Russian said it was a tough decision to make but he believed it was in the best interests of the club if he stepped down.
The sale of the Club will not be fast-tracked but will follow due process. I will not be asking for any loans to be repaid. This has never been about business nor money for me, but about pure passion for the game and Club. Moreover, I have instructed my team to set up a charitable foundation where all net proceeds from the sale will be donated. The foundation will be for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine. This includes providing critical funds towards the urgent and immediate needs of victims, as well as supporting the long-term work of recovery.
However, this was not good enough for those wielding power in Whitehall. A week later, they imposed sanctions not only on Abramovich but on Chelsea FC along with their tax-paying employees. The club was effectively prevented from operating as a functioning business other than being able to play games. The government granted the team a new licence that allowed matches to continue. After all, Chelsea’s demise could affect the outcome of the Premier League and, as a result, those teams that play in red. The government backed this up with their statement:
Given the significant impact that today's sanctions would have on Chelsea Football Club and the potential knock-on effects of this, the Government has this morning published a licence which authorises a number of football-related activities to continue at Chelsea. This includes permission for the club to continue playing matches and other football-related activities which will, in turn, protect the Premier League, the wider football pyramid, loyal fans and other clubs.
You could add ‘and stuff Chelsea’ to the end of that.
The club shop was forced to close. They could not sell tickets, only issue tickets to season ticket holders who already paid. The club could not offer contracts to existing players nor pursue transfers in or out of the club. The remaining home games could not have concessions open around Stamford Bridge, and the match-day attendance was reduced. These sanctions also applied to the women’s team.
It was all so unnecessary. Why not allow the club to function as normal, but simply prevent Abramovich from profiting?
Sponsors Three and Hyundai dropped Chelsea in a heartbeat. Shirt sponsor Three wanted their logo removed from Stamford Bridge and shirts with immediate effect.
In light of the government’s recently announced sanctions, we have requested Chelsea Football Club temporarily suspend our sponsorship of the club, including the removal of our brand from shirts and around the stadium until further notice. We recognise that this decision will impact the many Chelsea fans who follow their team passionately. However, we feel that given the circumstances, and the Government sanction that is in place, it is the right thing to do.
Of course, practically and contractually this was impossible to achieve and it’s to great regret among Chelsea followers that the slap-dash cartoon number 3 still adorns the front of this season's shirt.
Hyundai kept its statement simple: In the current circumstances, we have taken the decision to suspend our marketing and communication activities with the Club until further notice.
Trivago, on the other hand, stuck with Chelsea. Whereas Three’s and Hyundai’s statements were rather pathetic, Trivago’s was magnificently empathetic:
As a global travel brand, we believe in connecting and bringing people together. These are values shared by Chelsea FC, an institution that is now 117 years old with a tradition so vitally important to its fans and communities, both locally and globally, and that is why we decided to partner with the club last year. The uncertainty over the current ownership situation of Chelsea has been challenging. Moving forward, it is important to us to continue supporting the club, the fans and community along with the essential work that the Chelsea Foundation does to help those in need.
To complete the circle, the media obviously loved this. Television pundits Alan Shearer, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards wasted no time in virtue-signalling their political opinions upon the world. Of course, the war was wrong, but to lay so much of the culpability on Abramovich and then transmit whatever sins of the father onto the club was a bit rich, especially from Newcastle man Shearer, given the new Saudi owners of his club.
The hope with new owners starting a fresh chapter in Chelsea’s rich history was that perhaps we could become the good guys. The reality is that it will never happen.
Chelsea will always be hated. Todd Boehly probably already realises that as he negotiates his way across Europe on a player buying spree. However, if the footballing powers, officials, media and rival fans think Chelsea are finished it looks like they’ll be extremely disappointed. Boehly looks to build on Chelsea’s history by filling the trophy cabinet with more titles than Abramovich, regardless of what so many authorities want us to think.
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