Based in Flam, West London and founded in 1905, Chelsea Football Club gained a reputation rapidly by attracting large crowds and top players in their first 50 years. Considering they didn't win any major trophies during those years. They had great players on the team. On March 10, 1905, in the The Rising Sun pub (which is now The Butchers Hook) is where it all began. The name is from a nearby borough - Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea. The uniform idea for the team, was to wear the colors of Lord Chelsea-blue shirts, white shorts and dark blue socks.
John Tait Robertson (player-manager), Gus Mears (director),Harry Ransom (trainer),William Lewis (club secretary), Jack White (assistant trainer),William 'Fatty' Foulke, Fred Parker, Michael Byrne, James Miller, Bob McRoberts, Bob Mackie, Bob McKewan, David Copeland, James Craigie, Frank Wolfe, Tommy Miller, Charles Donaghy, Jimmy Robertson, Jimmy Windridge, James Watson, Francis O' Hara, George Key and Jack Kirwan.
In 1911 they lost the semi-final and were runner ups 1915. Before World War II in the 1940's Birrell managed the team for a while. But, doing wartime, Britain decided to abandon the game because, so many players had gone off to war. Thereafter, having many guest players; such as Eddie Hapgood, Matt Busby and Walter Winterbottom to fill in. This is when Chelsea debuted at Wembley, losing to Charlton Athletic 1-3 and during the finals beating Millwall 2-0. Moral was very high after Prime Minister Churchill presented the cup. Soon after, John Harris was named captain of the team.
When manager Ted Drake (former Arsenal player) took over, the losing streak was finally broken by the new changes. In 1955 Drake led Chelsea to a championship. Throughout the early 60's and 70's they eventually won a league cup. Arsenal were playing teams like FC Dynamo Moscow, Everton, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal (London rivals) and Bolton Wanderers – and frequently winning.
Over the next decade trouble had set in and nearly brought the team to extinction. A lot of red tape legal paperwork went into clearing up the Stamford Bridge Athletics Ground. But, John Neal stepped in during the80's and saw them win the second division and Chelsea rising to the top once again.
In the late, 1990's and present day the team has had a few managers but, stayed focused on the prize of the UEFA Cup and for the first time they qualified for the Champions League and still hanging on in the top six Premier League throughout the 1990's. In 2012 Chelsea is holding strong under the former player Robert Di Matteo with a total of seven FA cups. Beating teams like Birmingham City 2-0, Napoli 4-1 and Leicester City 5-2. As it stands in present day history -- Chelsea has finally scored their first UEFA Champions League Title.
