Within a few years Chelsea, champions of England, will be playing in the fourth largest stadium in London.
With Arsenal already operating a 60,000-seater stadium in North London, their nearest and not dearest Spurs are well on the way to seeing the development of White Hart Lane which will realise a 55,000-seater stadium.
When you add West Ham United moving into the revamped Olympic stadium In two season's time, attracting 50,000 Hammers, you can see that Chelsea, the pride of London will be the poor neighbours in terms of capacity.
With the ill-considered attempt to buyout Chelsea Pitch Owners and gain full control of Stamford Bridge hitting the rocks in a PR shambles, as they searched in vain for a site outside the spiritual home that is Stamford Bridge, Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's media-shy owner turned his attention inwards and considered, what all Chelsea fans wanted all along and that is the redevelopment of ThenBridge, current capacity in the order of 41,000.
With a footprint of about 20 acres and access/egress of the ground only to and from awful ham Road, creating a 60,001-seater stadium will not be easy, but a year ago, a softly, softly approach to the dilemma took place, with the appointment of a company to set out in essence a feasibility study.
With so many interested parties to take into account, this endeavour, quite rightly takes time.
Chelsea has issued an update on this status, and it is as follows.
"A year ago a study of the area from Fulham Broadway to Stamford Bridge and beyond was commissioned by Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich to examine the potential of upgrading the streetscape.
The study also began to assess the feasibility of an expansion of the stadium capacity within the existing historical site boundary, based on the principles of improving site access, benefiting the neighbourhood and enhancing the spectator experience.
Mr Abramovich has appointed a professional team to assess, in more detail, the feasibility of expanding the existing stadium capacity at Stamford Bridge Grounds.
The process now enters a further local consultation phase. This will include an explanation of the rationale for expansion, driven by spectator demand for more seats and the need to increase stadium revenue to remain competitive with our major rivals, this revenue being especially important under Financial Fair Play rules.
Technical solutions for stadium capacity expansion are being investigated initially.
This stage of the consultation will focus at present on discussing the rationale and technical solutions for expansion with residents and match-going spectators.
Local stakeholders, neighbours, season ticket holders and club members will be invited to comment on the potential expansion.
This feedback, which to date has assisted our progress in earlier stages, will continue to inform the next stage of the study."
What would you like Roman to consider?
Email me at cfcjourno@gmail.com