Chelsea Odds

Chelsea Odds

Chelsea have become a popular side to bet on. With the high profile nature of many of their matches, many bookmakers offer Chelsea Enhanced Odds offers to tempt customers into betting with them.

Chelsea odds, like every Premier League team, can range from Chelsea match odds like match result odds, to Chelsea league odds, like odds on Chelsea to win the quadruple. With Chelsea being recognised as being one of the better teams in Europe, odds on them to win silverware are usually short. Outright odds, such as Chelsea to win the FA Cup odds, are typically short because of their history and recent success in the competition so long odds on Chelsea can be hard to find. However, in big clashes against rivals, bookmakers offer special odds or money-back specials knowing that these games attract many bettors. Special odds on matches are usually offered when Chelsea play their rivals, Chelsea v Arsenal odds for example are usually enhanced somewhat. 

History

Chelsea Football Club are an English football club currently playing in the English Premier League. One of the founder members of the EPL, Chelsea have played consecutive top flight football for the last 29 seasons.

Chelsea were founded in 1905 in the borough of Fulham, London.  Soon after, they were given a place in the Football League. Promotion came quickly, in only their second season of existence they gained a place in Division One.

The following years saw Chelsea relegated and promoted a number of times, up until the 1930-1931 season after which they spent 21 seasons consecutively in Division One, the second longest period of staying in the top flight in their history.

The Chelsea F.C history of trophies begins in the 1954/1955 season when they won the Division One Championship, followed by success in winning the 1955 FA Charity Shield. However, it would be another ten years until they won another competition as they faded into mid-table obscurity. 

The 1964-1965 season saw them pick up the League Cup trophy but their subsequent seasons saw a series of near misses. Three semi-final exits and a Final defeat stopped Chelsea’s progress until they picked up their first FA Cup win in 1970, followed by their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, the season after.

However, after their late 1960’s success came a period of instability, both on and off the pitch. Financial troubles hit the club and some of their best players were sold to pay for the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge. This led to relegation in 1975 and the following decade saw a series of promotions and relegations as the club yo-yo’d between the First and Second Division.

The 1988/1989 season saw Chelsea win the Second Division Championship for the second time and gain promotion to the top flight, where they have remained ever since. In their entire history, Chelsea have never played outside the top two divisions.

Chelsea’s long wait for a major trophy came to an end in the 1996/1997 season, where they picked up their second F.A Cup. This was the start of Chelsea’s most successful period and propelled them to being one of England’s elite clubs.

The 1997/1998 season was a trophy-laden campaign as Chelsea picked up a second League Cup, a second UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and their first UEFA Super Cup. Another FA Cup followed in 2000 and the club made their first ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League. 

In 2003, Chelsea chairman Ken Bates sold the club to billionaire Roman Abramovich. Abramovich spent hundreds of millions of pounds in the subsequent seasons. In 2004, Jose Mourinho was appointed new Chelsea manager and went on to become the club’s most successful manager of all time, in terms of domestic trophies won. Back to back Premier League titles were followed by another FA Cup win and two more League Cup victories.

Mourinho left, but Chelsea’s success didn’t stop. A fifth, sixth and seventh FA Cup win followed in the subsequent years, as did a first ever Champions League final appearance. A fourth top flight title came Chelsea’s way in 2010 as Chelsea won the double.

Champions League success came in 2012 as Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties in the final, and by doing so became the first ever club from London to win Europe’s biggest prize. The following season saw them win the Europa League, becoming the first ever club to hold both European titles at the same time, and the first club from Britain to have won all three of UEFA’s main club trophies.

The return of Jose Mourinho in 2013 led to more additions in the Chelsea trophy room, as they picked up their seventh League Cup and fifth top flight title.

Since then, Antonio Conte was appointed Chelsea boss. Under his tenure, Chelsea won their sixth title and added an eighth FA Cup to their cabinet.

Prior to the 2018/2019 season, Maurizio Sarri became Chelsea manager, their 28th permanent manager and, including interim bosses, their ninth in eight years.

Crest

There have been five Chelsea crests since their formation in 1905, four of which have been used on shirts. The Chelsea badges through the years have changed, but most of included the image of a blue lion. Each one of the Chelsea badges have had slight changes in terms of colouring and wording over their lifespan.

The Chelsea F.C crest history begins with the image of an old man, a Chelsea pensioner, which was only used on official documentation and match day programmes. In the 1950’s, Chelsea wanted to modernise and changed the Chelsea badge to just include the letters C F C, which overlapped each other on the design. After just one year, the Chelsea F.C badge was changed to the image of a blue lion inside a circle type shape which included the word Chelsea Football Club. This badge took inspiration from the Civic Coat of Arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea. 

This Chelsea badge lasted until the 1980’s, when a new crest was developed. Still including the image of a lion, the circular encasing of the lion was removed and instead the lion was placed above the initials of Chelsea Football Club.

When the Chelsea centenary approached, a new badge inspired by the Chelsea old badge was designed and implemented. The image of a lion encased in a circular shape was restored, with the words Chelsea Football Club enclosed in the circle.

Colours

Chelsea shirts have always been blue, although when founded the team were light blue shirts rather than the dark blue we recognise today. Dark blue Chelsea shirts were introduced around 1912. White shorts and dark socks completed the Chelsea kit, and this style remained until the 1960’s when the colours of the shorts and socks were switched.

Since then, the Chelsea kit of dark blue shirts, dark blue shorts and white socks have been the norm, apart from in the late 1980’s when dark blue socks replaced the white until the year the Premier League was founded in 1992.

Chelsea Stadium

Chelsea are one of very few clubs who have spent their entire history at one ground. Stamford Bridge was opened in 1877 and was an athletics stadium. The Mears brothers bought Stamford Bridge in 1904 with the aim of turning it into a football stadium and the adaptation to turn the ground into such took place. Chelsea Football Club moved into the 100,000 capacity stadium when they were founded in 1905. 

In the 1970’s, Chelsea stadium plans were developed. However, the redevelopment project led to financial danger for Chelsea and resulted in the relegation and promotion yo-yo years of the 70’s and 80’s and the shelving of the stadium modernisation. 

In the 1990’s, these plans were redeveloped and all-seater stands were implemented. 

The current Chelsea stadium capacity is just under 42,000 which means Stamford Bridge is the eighth largest football stadium in the Premier League. There are plans for a Chelsea stadium expansion, with plans to increase the capacity to 60,000.

As well as being the home of Chelsea Football Club, Stamford Bridge has also held FA Cup Finals and Semi-Finals; England internationals; Women’s Champions League Finals and other sports including cricket and rugby union.

Supporters

Chelsea’s fan base stretches across the globe. The Chelsea supporters traditionally hail from the Greater London area, but various Chelsea supporters clubs can be found far and wide. Chelsea regularly have attendances of over 40,000 fans on match days, and are sixth in the list of all-time English football attendances. 

Their status as one of the world’s biggest supported clubs is strengthened by the fact that in terms of replica shirt sales, they average almost 1 million a year, making them fourth in the rankings. The Chelsea twitter page is also one of the most followed football club pages in the world, with just over 12 million followers.

There are many Chelsea supporters songs, the most famous of which are ‘Carefree’, ‘We All Follow The Chelsea’ and ‘Ten Men Went To Mow’. The Harry J Allstars instrumental The Liquidator is played before every match.

Ownership

The first Chelsea F.C owner was Gus Mears. Gus Mears founded Chelsea Football Club in 1905 and his family kept ownership until 1982 when Ken Bates bought the club for a solitary £1. Bates controlled the club up until 2003 when Roman Abramovich bought half of the club and then went on to buy out most of the Chelsea shareholders.

With his purchase of the club, Abramovich also took on the club’s estimated 80 million pound debt and made the club a private listing again.

The Chelsea ownership structure is as follows. The parent company of Chelsea FC plc is Fordstam Limited, another company controlled by Abramovich. Through Fordstam, Abramovich funded Chelsea for a period of time through a number of loans. By converting these loans to equity, Chelsea Football Club are debt-free, with the debt being owned by the parent company.

Chelsea turned a profit of over 18 million for the year ending in June 2014, the club’s highest annual profit since it was formed. Deloitte rank Chelsea in eighth place in the Money League.

Adidas manufacture the Chelsea kits in a deal and has done since 2006. The deal was extended in 2010 at the cost of £160 million, with a further deal signed in 2013 resulting in £300 million over ten years, one of the most profitable kit deals in the Premier League.

In 2016, Chelsea signed a deal with Nike worth £900 million, the biggest commercial deal in the history of the club.

Stats

The man who leads the Chelsea stats in terms of appearances is club legend Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris, who made 795 appearances from 1961 to 1980. In terms of European competition, John Terry is the Chelsea leading appearance maker, with 124 appearances in UEFA competitions.

Chelsea’s leading goalscorer of all time is Frank Lampard, who scored 211 goals for the club from 2001 to 2014. Lampard is also fourth in the all-time Premier League goalscoring chart, and the highest scoring midfielder.

Chelsea’s highest attendance is estimated to be 100,000 when the club took on Dynamo Moscow in a friendly in 1945. In terms of league attendances, the highest came ten years before that when the club hosted rivals Arsenal in front of 82,905 fans.

The highest attendance that any Chelsea team has played in front of came in 2016 when Chelsea played Real Madrid in a friendly at the University of Michigan. The number of spectators there was recorded as 105,826.

Chelsea’s first match came on 1st September 1905, a game against Stockport County which resulted in a 1-0 defeat. Chelsea’s first win came three days after that when they beat Liverpool 4-0 in a friendly.

Chelsea’s record win is a 13-0 demolition of Jeunesse Hautcharage in the Cup Winners Cup in 1971. Their record Premier League win happened twice, beating Wigan 8-0 in 2010 and Aston Villa by the same scoreline in 2012.

One of the most famous days in Chelsea history was the UEFA Champions League Final win against Bayern Munich in 2012. The Bayern Chelsea final stats make fascinating reading, with Bayern having an incredible 35 shots on goal to Chelsea’s nine. However, those stats counted for nothing as Chelsea went on to win their first ever Champions League trophy by defeating Bayern 4-3 on penalties.

Chelsea Players

Chelsea is and has been home to some of the world’s best and most famous players. Currently with a first team squad of 25, excluding Academy players, they have one of the most talented squads in the Premier League. Chelsea have also developed a reputation for loaning a huge number of players out to other clubs, the number of Chelsea players on loan currently stands at 28. 

The current Chelsea player of the year is N'Golo Kante, with Reece James awarded Academy Player of the Season.

The Chelsea players wages is amongst the highest in the Premier League as well, with an estimated annual wage bill of around £200 million.

Chelsea’s former players list is full of cult heroes and players vital to Chelsea’s recent success. Famous ex-Chelsea players include Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Gianfranco Zola, Ruud Gullit, Ray Wilkins, Peter Osgood and Ron Harris.

It’s not just the men’s team that has brought Chelsea success. Chelsea Ladies have also brought attention to the club, being one of the women’s games better teams. Chelsea Ladies F.C were one of the founder members of the WSL, and won the Women’s Super League in 2015.

Chelsea Manager

As well as odds and markets available on what happens to Chelsea on the pitch, most bookmakers offer odds on what happens behind the scenes too. With Abramovich developing a reputation for sacking managers regardless of the success they bring, Chelsea manager odds and Chelsea next manager odds are always a popular choice. 

The Chelsea manager list begins with John Tait Robertson, who also played for the club at the same time. The number of ex Chelsea managers stands at 28 permanent and nine temporary managers.

Honours

The Chelsea Honours list domestically stands at six top flight titles (five of which came in the Premier League era), eight FA Cups, five League Cups and four Community Shield wins.

Chelsea FC club honours continue into Europe. They’ve won the Champions League one time, the Europa League one time, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup twice and the UEFA Super Cup once.

There have also been six seasons in which Chelsea have won two trophies: 1997/1998 (League Cup and Cup Winners Cup); 2004/2005 (Premier League and League Cup); 2006/2007 (FA Cup and League Cup); 2009/2010 (Premier League and FA Cup); 2011/2012 (FA Cup and Champions League); and 2014/2015 (Premier League and League Cup).