Chelsea's New Owner Will Continue Roman Abramovich's Dream, But In A Different Way

JAKARTA - A consortium of Chelsea owners, led by Todd Boehly, will rebuild Stamford Bridge Stadium. Instead of following the grand design of the previous owner, Roman Abramovic, the development will be carried out in stages.

Boehly, along with other Blues shareholders, have started preparing for the renovation of the club's stadium. According to a SunSport report, the 40-year-old is planning work in stages to replace and upgrade the stands.

Then the hotel behind the Shed End will also be razed to the ground.

Boehly reportedly has appointed architect Janet Marie Smith who previously worked on a number of stadium renovations in America. Smith would later oversee the monumental task of rebuilding the monumental stadium.

Smith is considered the right person to run this project. The reason is, he was noted for working on Baltimore's Oriole Park, Atlanta Olympic Stadium, Boston Red Sox's Fenway Park, and Dodger Stadium in LA.

What Boehly arranged was clearly different from Abramovich's plan. The Russian tycoon previously planned to rebuild Stamford Bridge with a total fund of £1.4 billion or IDR 25 trillion.

In Abramovich's plan, Chelsea will build a new stadium with a capacity of 60.000. This was done to meet the demands of supporters while competing with their rivals commercially.

At that time, a number of locations have been ogled. Includes White City, Chelsea barracks, and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals.

The Battersea Power Station was also an area of interest for Abramovich during his time at the helm of the London club. However, the large design was ridiculed by many fans.

In 2012 the Blues even made an offer to buy the Battersea Power Plant site and turn it into their home ground.

The building's four chimneys are planned to be retained as part of a design that includes 15.000 single-story seats. However, that dream was dashed when a Malaysian consortium bought the site for 400 million pounds.

Earls Court, which once served as an Exhibition Center, was also explored, but plans were scrapped in 2010.