Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had plans to revamp the Stamford Bridge stadium and increase its capacity, but the move was scuppered as Abramovich was restricted entry to the United Kingdom.
Chelsea had been granted permission by the City of London in March 2017 to begin knocking down buildings around Stamford Bridge over a period of three years. But not a single bit of work has been done, and the date set for March 31 is now almost at its expiry time.
By now, Phase 1 of the stadium plans should have seen the demolition of the club’s museum and the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels that lead onto the external concourse around the ground.
Arsenal, West Ham and Tottenham all boast significantly bigger stadiums in London than the Blues’ 41,631-capacity home, and this isn’t a good one for the club going forward, as Tottenham even overtook Chelsea as London’s richest club according to the 2020 Deloitte Football Money League with Spurs now enjoying a 62,000-seater stadium.
However, regarding Stamford Bridge development, all is not yet lost as Chelsea may have to begin again from scratch with no official update being given to the public.