PEOPLE are just realising why the Chelsea badge has a lion it – and it’s for a surprising reason.
Chelsea’s badge is technically known as a “rampant blue lion regardant” and is based on a piece of local history.
GettyChelsea’s lion badge above the entrance to the West Stand at Stamford Bridge[/caption]
But fans have been shocked to learn that the blue lion was not Chelsea’s original crest.
When the club was launched in 1905, its club crest was a Chelsea pensioner in tribute to the nearby Royal Hospital for war veterans.
The badge earned the team the nickname of the Chelsea Pensioners.
But The Athletic reports that manager Ted Drake decided that a sprightlier symbol was needed for the club to intimidate its rivals.
Drake, who led the Blues to their first title in 1955, introduced the now-famous blue lion badge in 1953.
It was based on the family crest of the posh Cadogan family, who owned much of the land around Stamford Bridge and who inherited the club’s presidency until the 1980s.
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The blue staff – technically known as a crozier – held by the lion represents the Abbot of Westminster, who owned the manor of Chelsea in the Middle Ages.
The image of a lion and crozier also features on the London borough of Chelsea’s coat of arms.
The club’s logo also includes a red football on the left and a Tudor Rose on the right – a nod to the Tudor Rose youth club which evolved into Chelsea’s academy.
Apart from a brief hiatus in the 1960s, the Blues have kept the lion badge ever since.
But the choice of animal was slammed by some fans who thought it resembled the crest of a bitter London rival.
Ken Bates, who bought Chelsea for £1 in 1982, redesigned the badge in a way that was a dead ringer for Millwall’s crest.
When Roman Abramovich took over the club, Blues fans demanded a return to the original blue lion logo to mark the club’s centenary.
Club boss Peter Kenyon said: “We are incredibly proud of Chelsea’s heritage.
“The design of this new badge is based on the one from the 1950s and it was a conscious decision to do this.
“As we approach our centenary year and the club embarks on a new and very exciting era, it is appropriate we have a new identity that reflects our tradition and can represent us for the next 100 years.”
It comes after fans were left in hysterics by a stat underlining just how bad Chelsea’s season has been.