Rick Glanvill

Chelsea FC, as someone once observed, has always done what other clubs have done, but not necessary in the same order. A stone’s throw from the King’s Road, draped with showbiz connections, and not even based in the borough from which it takes its name, Chelsea is an enigma. Run by the entrepreneurial Mears dynasty, Ken ‘electric fence’ Bates and now the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the club has enough entertaining quirks and anecdotes to keep you entertained for ages. It is also a club whose history is filled with glorious games, unique facts, bizarre statistics, larger-than-life players and a special brand of supporter. And, as this book proves, far from being the imposters Kipling suggested, triumph and disaster make for a fantastically entertaining read.

Chelsea: The Complete Record is the definitive account of one of the world's most popular and powerful clubs, recounting every conceivable detail of its 110 year-long history. Encompassing five league titles, seven FA Cups and five European trophies, Chelsea are one of the most successful clubs in English football's modern history. Chelsea official historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton have spent years trawling through the archives to uncover every conceivable fact and figure about the club. In this monumental work they have painstakingly provided details of every game, line up, goalscorer, attendance and result, as well as a plethora of other facts and figures. Weighing in at 550 pages and with full appendixes detailing the careers of the hundreds of players to have turned out for the club as well as a season by season narrative account of Chelsea's history, this is the must-read book for every fan of one of European football's modern powerhouses.

Pearson English Readers bring language learning to life through the joy of reading. Well-written stories entertain us, make us think, and keep our interest page after page. Pearson English Readers offer teenage and adult learners a huge range of titles, all featuring carefully graded language to make them accessible to learners of all abilities. Through the imagination of some of the world’s greatest authors, the English language comes to life in pages of our Readers. Students have the pleasure and satisfaction of reading these stories in English, and at the same time develop a broader vocabulary, greater comprehension and reading fluency, improved grammar, and greater confidence and ability to express themselves. Find out more at english.com/readers

CHELSEA FC: THE OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY goes to the heart of what gives the club its personality. The author has access to all the key characters, including Mourinho, Abramovich and the star players, plus legendary names of the past. He addresses all the controversies, including: the near suffocation through lack of cash in the 1970s and in 2002; the impact of Abramovich's money; the club and fans' response to racism; how the hooliganism which dogged Chelsea for years has been tackled. On the lighter side, Chelsea is regarded as the country's glamour club, and fashions, good and dreadful, will feature alongside celebrity fans and the worlds of art and music. And then there is the football at the core of it all, creating moments of huge tension and excitement.

Chelsea: The Complete Record is the definitive account of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful clubs, recounting every conceivable detail of its 110 year-long history. Encompassing five league titles, seven FA Cups and five European trophies, Chelsea are one of the most successful clubs in English football's modern history. Chelsea official historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton have spent years trawling through the archives to uncover every concievable fact and figure about the club. In this monumental work they have painstakingly provided details of every game, line up, goalscorer, attendance and result, as well as a plethora of other facts and figures. With full appendixes detailing the careers of the hundreds of players to have turned out for the club and a season by season narrative account of Chelsea's history, this is the must-read book for every fan of one of European football's modern powerhouses.

The Origins of Chelsea FC is the fascinating untold story of the hard-drinking entrepreneurs who founded Chelsea Football Club in 1905, and the men they hired to play. Chelsea Football Club is unique. There were no humble beginnings as a works team or lower-league outfit. In contrast it was purpose-built, from scratch, by ambitious Edwardian entrepreneurs exploiting ordinary Londoners growing thirst for thrills and leisure. Colorful and well-connected, the founding fathers included millionaire contractors who built major public works, a family of pub landlords who slaked the thirsts of the entire area, a whip maker to the gentry, and a visionary who used all his wiles and connections to propel the Blues into the Football League before a ball was kicked. Incredibly, after just two seasons Stamford Bridge was attracting the biggest crowds in British football. This is the full story of these remarkable men, their ambition to sow the seeds for a club that would stagger humanity, and the characters and events of those extraordinary early years that put Chelsea FC firmly on the sporting map. The author has also unearthed new information that the disparate group of individuals who launched the club were brought together by Freemasonry and that the greyhound dog racing that dominated the club for decades was under the influence of the notorious Sabini Gang. One later director was the illegitimate son of the first chairman. Another fell out so badly with his brother-in-law that the FA launched an inquiry and demanded changes to the nepotistic board. The fallout from this included the issue of ownership of the stadium freehold that dogs the club to this day.

Chelsea FC, as someone once observed, has always done what other clubs have done, but not necessary in the same order. A stone’s throw from the King’s Road, draped with showbiz connections, and not even based in the borough from which it takes its name, Chelsea is an enigma. Run by the entrepreneurial Mears dynasty, Ken ‘electric fence’ Bates and now the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the club has enough entertaining quirks and anecdotes to keep you entertained for ages. It is also a club whose history is filled with glorious games, unique facts, bizarre statistics, larger-than-life players and a special brand of supporter. And, as this book proves, far from being the imposters Kipling suggested, triumph and disaster make for a fantastically entertaining read.

Pearson English Readers bring language learning to life through the joy of reading. Well-written stories entertain us, make us think, and keep our interest page after page. Pearson English Readers offer teenage and adult learners a huge range of titles, all featuring carefully graded language to make them accessible to learners of all abilities. Through the imagination of some of the world’s greatest authors, the English language comes to life in pages of our Readers. Students have the pleasure and satisfaction of reading these stories in English, and at the same time develop a broader vocabulary, greater comprehension and reading fluency, improved grammar, and greater confidence and ability to express themselves. Find out more at english.com/readers