It was an October morning in 1904. Mills had decided to tear down Stanford Stadium and rebuild it, but his partner Frederick Parker came to him and advised him not to give up, but Mills had made up his mind.

Frederick Parker kept persuading them. The two men walked from Stamford Bridge to the other side and then walked back from the other side of Stamford Bridge. Frederick kept chattering about his plan to form a team. Mills responded to Frederick with silence, but Mills' dog was very unhappy that his owner was entangled and couldn't play with it, so Mills' dog suddenly jumped up and bit Frederick.

Frederick was grimacing in pain, his arms and thighs were all bleeding, but Frederick didn't care at all. He praised the dog for being so amazing, and then continued to talk incessantly about his ideas for team building.

Mills was stunned...

It’s not that this team building plan is so awesome, but Frederick is really too ruthless. He can keep talking even when being bitten by a dog.

So Mills said to Frederick: "If the team you build is as strong as yours, then my Stamford Bridge Stadium will be the permanent home of this team."

After hearing this, Frederick excitedly picked up the big dog and gave it a big kiss.

This time, the dog was also confused...

So, this is the story of how Chelsea Football Club was founded by a dog.

The reason why it was named "Chelsea" is not because Stamford Bridge is called Chelsea, but because the old duke who owns Stamford Bridge is the Chelsea family. West London has always been a place where the powerful and wealthy live, and the Chelsea family is the most powerful among them.

So, Mills provided the stadium, Frederick was responsible for the specific team building plan, and the old Duke of Chelsea provided the family name, and even authorized Chelsea to use the family emblem.

Chelsea's early team emblem was a gold lion on a blue background and two red roses of Lancashire. The red roses naturally symbolize the Lancastrian aristocratic group (among which the Chelsea family was the key lord), and the gold lion on a blue background is the family emblem of the Chelsea family.

In Britain, especially in the Middle Ages, the lion is a symbol of the royal family, just like the dragon cannot be used casually during the feudal dynasty in China. In Britain, a family with a lion as its family emblem must be a royal family, and a very powerful royal family.

Fundamentally speaking, Southampton Club is a vassal of the White Rose, and in modern times it is a team representing the port working class, while Chelsea is the overlord of the Red Rose. Therefore, today's game can be regarded as an "asymmetric battle between the Red and White Roses."

And it is obvious that Chelsea's strength is absolutely overwhelming.

One question is, is Chelsea a wealthy club? Clubs have a lineage, but wealthy clubs don't talk about lineage.

To become a recognized giant in the football capital of England, in addition to having a unique style and culture, the club must also have a record to support the club's dynasty era.

For example, Manchester United, a recognized giant, has experienced ups and downs in performance, but Manchester United not only had the Ferguson era, but also the Matt Busby era, and the even older Ernest Mangnall era.

Another example is Liverpool. Liverpool also had ups and downs, but Liverpool had the very famous Shankly era. Shankly's arrogance had broken through the shackles of thought. During the period when Shankly coached Liverpool, Liverpool had a real red soul. In that era when Western capitalism believed that red was a scourge and vilified it in various ways, Shankly firmly let the Liverpool club learn the spirit of the Red Army and created one game miracle after another that shocked the world.

There is also Arsenal. Arsenal is the only team in England that has not been relegated from the top league until now. This alone makes Arsenal a top club. Moreover, Arsenal's arsenal foundation has never changed from the beginning to the end. Before the Wenger era, there was the Herbert Chapman era around 19030.

Arsenal called Chapman "Chapman the Great", and Chapman definitely deserves this title. Chapman seemed to be a time traveler. His concept of football was more than 100 years ahead of the world. The 334 formation he tailored for Arsenal in 1930 was the famous "WM" 3-defender formation, which has begun to be used in variations in today's football.

Unfortunately, Chapman died suddenly in 1934, but his coaching philosophy was still intact. Therefore, for a long time before World War II, Arsenal was the dominant force in the top league at that time. Arsenal's 344 formation was also a style of play that frightened countless clubs.

According to the real standards for evaluating top clubs, the three clubs that can become top clubs in England are Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.

As for Manchester City, strictly speaking, Manchester City is not a real English giant. Although Manchester City was established very early and has had brilliant records, and even sent Manchester United to the second division, no matter how Manchester United rises and falls, Manchester United will never admit defeat. No matter how good Manchester City's performance is, it lacks a spiritual foundation.

For example, Tottenham Hotspur is definitely a strong team in the Premier League. It has won five top league titles and six top cup titles, but it also lacks spiritual foundation.

Chelsea is different from old-line giants like Manchester United, but it is closer to giants than Tottenham and Manchester City.

Because Chelsea still has its spiritual foundation, which is iron and blood.

This spirit was planted when the team was founded, and became the team spirit of Chelsea for quite a long period of time, but it was lost for a long time. It was not until Abramovich bought Chelsea that the Blues gradually regained the iron-blooded feeling and achieved some success in continental competitions.

But strictly speaking, Chelsea can only be regarded as a new upstart, not an established giant.

If we compare English clubs with Chinese clubs, English clubs are almost all century-old giants, while China currently does not even have a single giant club that is over a century old.

This is an objective condition - the history of a football club has never been calculated in days, but in annual rings.

China's clubs are still young and in a state of disorderly growth.

Manchester United and Liverpool, which are recognized as undisputed giants, have been relegated from the top league. Chelsea has been relegated from the top league twice. Chinese clubs still have a long way to go in terms of growth.

As long as the Chinese find their own spiritual heritage, carry it forward, and form a generational connection with the club's fans, it will only be a matter of time before the Chinese have their own century-old giants.

Having said that, the reason why Chelsea is called a new wealthy club is not just because Abramovich is rich.

In the early days of Chelsea, it was indeed established with iron and blood.

In the early days of Chelsea, there was a goalkeeper named Villiers Henry Falk, nicknamed "Fat Falk". This guy was 191cm tall and weighed 141kg - that is, 282 pounds. His most amazing achievement was that he broke the goalpost during a game and forced the game to end.

Of course, the doorposts of that era were made of wood.

But it can still be a very terrifying existence as it can break the goalpost.

When Falk stood in front of the goal, the opposing forward was scared to death.

In the modern Chelsea team, although there will no longer be a 282-pound goalkeeper, the iron-blooded Terry is Chelsea's business card.

Although Terry slept with his teammate Bridge's girlfriend Vanessa, and made Vanessa pregnant with Terry Jr., and eventually had an abortion, Terry was a scumbag, but he was indeed very strong and had a very iron-blooded defensive awareness. Even if he was bleeding and half dead, he was still full of fighting spirit and would never leave the front line easily.

There is a sequel to the Chelsea Club's wife scandal, which was written by Courtois and De Bruyne...

Of course, Chelsea is not the only one that has this kind of shit. Manchester United is even more outrageous. Giggs slept with his own brother's wife for eight years, creating the eye-catching sister-in-law scandal in the football world.

Later, this method was learned by a player named Huang Yizhu who stole the country...

In short, no matter what, after a period of decline, Chelsea met their true love - Abramovich when the club was insolvent.

It is no exaggeration to say that although Chelsea has a strong foundation, there are many British clubs with such a strong foundation, and Chelsea's record cannot support the title of a new giant. It was Abramovich's takeover and complete privatization of Chelsea that gave Chelsea the confidence to be a new giant.

Abramovich is the world's richest boss who truly loves football.

Unlike Manchester City's big boss Mansour, who rarely appears at the Etihad Stadium to watch games, Abramovich often goes to Stamford Bridge to watch games.

If we talk about it from the perspective of the boss alone, Abramovich is definitely the boss that every club dreams of - he gives money almost unlimitedly, gives money whenever he is asked, never asks why, never asks if it works, never looks at performance, never looks at revenue, has no control over anything, and yet everything is under control.

Abramovich is also very humane. In 2018, the father of Chelsea star Mikel Obi was kidnapped and demanded a high ransom. Mikel, who was playing for the Nigerian national team, collapsed at the time. When Abramovich found out, he called him and said, "Mikel, do you need me to intervene in this matter? As long as you ask, you know, I can help you bring your father back safely no matter what the other party asks for."

Sure enough, in less than 24 hours, the kidnappers released Mikel's father.

In a later program interview, Mikel couldn't stop crying after talking about this incident. Mikel said that no matter how those in power view Abramovich, true Chelsea people will always regard Abramovich as the patriarch.

Later, Chelsea, without Abramovich, felt like it had lost its pillar.

...(End of this chapter)