Stamford Bridge is our home, it always has been and hopefully in some form or another will be, it has been the scene of great triumphs and is a unique piece of history. It is the place where Tambling, Dixon, Zola, Drogba and Osgood won our hearts with the latter having his ashes buried beneath the penalty spot.
It is more than bricks or mortar it is something that over the years fans have fought for figuratively and at times quite literally. It seems like a lifetime ago (and for younger fans it was) but there was a time when leaving Stamford Bridge was a real threat and there was not multi billion pound new stadium in the offing to fill the void.
The 1980’s and early 1990’s were turbulent for our club and as we start our 11th season under Roman Abramovich they seem like a parallel universe to where we stand today.
In 1985 the descendants of the founders of Chelsea FC the Mears family sold Stamford Bridge to developers who wanted to turn the land into housing. With the help of the fans The Save The Bridge campaign was launched to raise the finances to buy the stadium back. It saw fans young and old dig into their pockets to raise money to save the club.
Eventually Ken Bates succeeded after 7 years of uncertainty and Chelsea Pitch Owners plc (CPO) was created in March 1993 to safeguard the future of the stadium as the home of Chelsea FC. It was designed be totally independent of the management and ownership of the Club with the intention to raise funds to buy the freehold and rent the ground back to the Club.
This scheme means the fans own the pitch and we have the security that we will always have a ground and any deal to move should in my opinion protect that.
We live in exciting times but we should not forget our past and the fact that at times we have had to pull together to “Save The Bridge” The picture below shows an advert from the campaign.
If you want a full history of the CPO why not check out this history by someone much more eloquent than us. http://thechels.info/wiki/Chelsea_Pitch_Owners 
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