A CHELSEA fan group has claimed the club’s lack of progress on a new stadium is “a cause of disbelief”.
The Blues have been mulling over plans for a new state-of-the-art stadium in west London for many years, but they are yet to get off the ground.
Chief Todd Boehly is said to prefer a complete rebuild of Stamford Bridge, which has a capacity of just over 40,000.
But co-owner Behdad Eghbali reportedly wants the club to redevelop and expand their existing ground.
Chelsea have explored the idea of building a new stadium at a nearby site in Earls’ Court.
But the club were dealt a blow in November after the Hammersmith and Fulham council approved a non-football redevelopment plan in the same area.
Now the Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO) group have vented their frustration with the slow-moving situation.
The CPO own the freehold to Stamford Bridge, meaning the club cannot move grounds without their permission.
CPO chair Chris Isitt told their annual meeting last week: “There has been no substantive progress with the stadium, and the Club has not made any proposal to the Board on its future plans.
“It is a cause of much frustration and some disbelief that three and a half years of the Club reviewing all its options and doing the due diligence has yet to result in a solution that can be shared.
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“Consensus on a plan within the ownership group is not clear. We know the Earls Court Development Company had its planning application approved for their site at the end of 2025 by both Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea councils.
“The plan does not currently include a stadium. Whichever outcome is eventually proposed, the timeline for any redevelopment project will stretch well into the future.
“The Board met regularly with senior officers at the Club during the 2024/25 season. Lack of progress has seen these meetings become less regular recently.”
Previous stadium designs have included building an eye-catching ‘slinky’ or ‘bird cage’-style ground with 264 vertical steel ribs with a 60,000 capacity.
Boehly commented on stadium plans last summer and said the team might not play in a new ground for another “15-20 years”.
He told Bloomburg: “It’s years in the making. When we originally bought the club we agreed initially that we had 15 or 20 years to figure this out but it is a big project in a really interesting city like London where there’s a lot of constituencies that have an opinion.
“Obviously the number one constituency for us is our fan base and what’s going to be the best for Chelsea.
“I think everyone recognises that a club as big as Chelsea should have a stadium that reflects the size of the club and ultimately that’s going to be a strategic advantage.”
Should Chelsea opt to knock the stadium down and build an existing one on the same site, the club would be forced to temporarily move away.
Playing at Wembley Stadium – as rivals Tottenham did between 2017 and 2019 – is a possibility, as well as the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.
