Chelsea lose their soul as they leave Stamford Bridge – it’s the only thing we recognise about the club we support

Just what London needs: another £1 billion bowl-shaped, soulless football stadium.

No offense to Spurs, as their stadium looks great, but it’s not like they’ve won the title at White Hart Lane for years.

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Arsenal left Highbury a few years after their last Premier League title win in 2004, but so far they have chased that glory in vain.

And the less said about West Ham’s move from Upton Park the better. The Olympic Stadium pales in importance next to Upton Park, where binoculars were not needed to see the pitch from Row Z.

It’s no secret that Chelsea fans have been disappointed with the club since Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali took over from Roman Abramovich two years ago.

The sacking of two full-time managers in that time, a twelfth place in the league, no European football, billions spent on Brazilian teenagers you’ve never heard of and a civil war between the owners have turned the club into a laughing stock.

Seems like the perfect time to review plans to leave Stamford Bridge, right?

According to The Guardian, Chelsea are in talks to move to a new 60,000-seater venue at Earl’s Court, something they have attempted before.

Chelsea is said to have drawn up plans for the Lillie Bridge depot site as an area that could be developed, which could cost hundreds of millions.

Don’t forget that there is still so much to be done on the pitch, that results are still not where they should be, that players still don’t seem to be in tune with each other consistently.

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The owners, who are reportedly looking to buy each other out, may not think much of it and the seats may be a little rusty, but fans do value tradition.

The Bridge is a place that supporters can call home every other Saturday. It’s raw, the stands are close to the pitch, it has four sides and most importantly it’s owned by the fans.

For the deal to go ahead, Chelsea Pitch Owners (CPO), a group of more than 14,000 fans, must approve the move from the 42,000-seat stadium.

On the other hand, the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge would mean that the team would move out of the stadium for a number of years, probably twice as long as the three years Tottenham spent at Wembley.

But why not do up each stand one by one? Both Liverpool and Fulham have had stands done up and they have been allowed to remain. There are also plans for Crystal Palace to do the same.

If Boehly and Eghbali are really so keen on putting money at the forefront of their decisions, then do it in a way that pleases the fans.

Sadly, football is no longer just about the fans and you could almost say Chelsea would lose their soul if they left Stamford Bridge.

But you fear they already have.