Chelsea seek advice from Tottenham as preparations begin for Wembley move while Stamford Bridge is redeveloped
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CHELSEA are to take advice from Tottenham about their Wembley move as they prepare to redevelop Stamford Bridge.
The Premier League champions are moving ahead with plans to knock down their existing ground and build a new £500million stadium on the site.
The new stadium could be ready for the start of the 2021/22 season.
But they are still yet to decide on which ground to use as their temporary home as the face four years on the road from West London.
Wembley is the obvious choice but the club do have other options available to them with Twickenham and the London Stadium also under consideration.
And they are keen to find out from Spurs how they have found making the move to the national stadium while White Hart Lane is being re-built.
Chelsea want to ensure when they do move out of Stamford Bridge, with the end of the 2018-2019 season the most likely season, they are as fully prepared for the change as possible.
The club want to work alongside their own supporters' group to liaise with Spurs and their fans to discover their experiences of using Wembley.
They have already been consulting with the Chelsea Supporters' Trust, who recently held a survey on where fans wanted to move to while their home was being rebuilt.
Twickenham was the most popular venue with 47.77 per cent in favour, ahead of Wembley on 41.62 per cent and the London Stadium pooled just 10.62 per cent of the votes.
Though using the home of England's rugby team has obvious advantages with fans from West London, there are problems convincing local residents to allow football to be played there.
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So Wembley remains the most likely to be chosen, and Chelsea want the Supporters' Trust to speak with their counterparts at Tottenham to get valuable feedback.
Trust chairman David Chidgey said: "With the redevelopment of Stamford Bridge more certain, supporters’ focus is now to ensure that their experience in it will improve, while avoiding the pitfalls experienced by other clubs who have built new stadiums.
"More pressing is the choice of stadium while Stamford Bridge is redeveloped and supporters are genuinely concerned about the possible locations and increased costs and inconvenience incurred while following the team as a result."
Chelsea are expected to make a final decision on where they will be playing early next year.
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