Logo evolution: the crests of Chelsea FC A crazy story, from the founding of the club to the Abramovič era
England is the birthplace of football, The English Game. It is also the place where the first absurd stories of this wonderful sport were born and among these is that of what we know today as Chelsea Football Club. Before arriving at 1905, the year the club was founded, we need to go back 9 years until 1896. Henry - aka "Gus" - and Joseph Mears are two London businessmen, but they love business as much as football. In '96 they bought the Stamford Bridge Athletics Ground, the current Blues stadium, convinced that football could be a profitable business. But when they turn to the home team, or both Fulham, to make them play in that structure they receive a sharp "no". The investment doesn't pay off and the brothers cherish the idea of selling everything to the Great Western Railway Company. A colleague of Gus's, Fred Parker, not only manages to dissuade the brothers but manages to convince them that starting a team is a smart move.
On 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook) in Fulham Road, a new team from London was born. Unable to call it Fulham, the Mears decided to borrow the name of the neighborhood, which is Chelsea - not before failing London FC, Kensington FC and Stamford Bridge FC. A team with a very particular aesthetic history, perfectly represented by the evolution of logos. Logo evolution, third episode: we fly to the Premier League.
1905-1953
This brings us to 2003, the year in which the era of Roman Abramovič begins, the Russian millionaire who for the centenary (2005) decides to comply with the requests of fans and re-establish the 1953 logo. Two years later, Chelsea changes face again, formalizing the transition to a stylized version of the rampant lion. The "restoration" has produced what we see today, a logo that is made up of 5 parts: the base, the blue circle, is the emblem of the Chelsea neighborhood; the lion once again recalls Stamford Bridge and Earl Cadogan; the walking stick, symbol of the Abbot of Westminster; the roses and the football, symbols of England and the English Game; the sign that reads "The Chelsea Football Club".
