There was a pressing need for more covered seating in addition to the original East Stand, so a new construction was commissioned and started in , Archibald Leitch again involved in the design process. Adjacent to the East Stand, its building was disrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War but when it was opened in , supporters now had the option of sitting in a tier that was raised on stilts over the north-east corner of the existing standing terrace.
Some who used it even reported it shook when trains passed by on the track close behind, but it survived for 30 years until pulled down with the opening of a huge, new East Stand. The now-completely-open-again north terrace remained in use until when the move to an all-seater Stamford Bridge began in earnest. During the course of , agreement to build, planning and construction of a West Stand took place, ultimately a fairly modest affair seating just over 6, fans on what was a reshaping of the old, vast terracing on that side of the stadium.
At the rear were six rudimentary hospitality boxes, making the Bridge the second ground in the land after Old Trafford to offer such facilities. With floodlights having arrived in , big, glamorous European nights were among the order of the day.
With the West Stand and the team of the time a success, and the original East Stand over 60 years old and moribund, the thoughts of the then Chelsea directors turned ambitiously towards a complete redevelopment of Stamford Bridge into a stunning, 60, all-covered, all-seater arena beginning with the east side.
That is as far as it got. The new project was ill-timed as well as burdened by poor decisions, including appointing architects with no experience in stadium design. The impact of attendances dipping was not considered either. Britain's economy hit relegation form in the early s, with a building strike among many delays to the construction, and the new stand was delivered late and over-budget. Combined with a decline in results on the pitch, that brought the club to its knees, leading to the sale of star players, relegation and a close encounter with bankruptcy.
In time, recovery on and off the pitch arrived and the stand melded well into the rebuilt stadium where it remains as the oldest part today. With Chelsea Football Club virtually bankrupt and stuck in Division Two in the early s, it was bought by businessman Ken Bates, ending the long Mears dynasty. However as part of the ownership change, the stadium became owned by a separate company and former club directors sold shares in that to property developers. It took another 20 years to rebuild not only the stadium and team but the entire club, yet for all that, the East Stand itself remains as impressive today as it always did.
With the club virtually bankrupt in the late 70's the then owners made the drastic decision to sell the Stamford Bridge site to property developers to pay off some of the debts. It was a decision that very nearly saw Chelsea lose it's ground, be forced to share with Fulham or QPR and the famous stadium converted into houses or a supermarket.
With Chelsea no longer owning their own ground they were unable to do any more rebuilding and lagged behind other clubs in that respect. A bitter, expensive and close run 10 year fight by chairman Ken Bates to fight the property developers and win back ownership of Stamford Bridge was finally successful in With an ironic twist, is was the property developers who were forced into bankruptcy and Chelsea FC got it's ground back.
It was a close run thing at times but Stamford Bridge survived its biggest ever challenge and in the process of the most extensive redevelopment of any stadium in the country began. Turning a dilapidated and crumbling ground with views miles from the pitch into one of the most impressive in the country. The rebuilding of Stamford Bridge from the ashes began with the redevelopment of the North Stand area. The old banked terrace that in recent times had housed the away fans was demolished and the new stand began to rise.
Renamed as the Matthew Harding Stand in memory of the Chelsea director killed in a helicopter accident it has now established itself as the home of the most vocal and die hard Chelsea fans. The final piece of the new Stamford Bridge story proved to have one more hurdle to overcome. The lower tier of the new West stand was built on schedule but then problems with the local council over planning permission meant a 2 year delay before the rest of the stand could be built.
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