After our recent The Pride of London range launched before our Carabao Cup final meeting with Liverpool, we felt it was time to explore the meanings behind the unique design.
The range is made up of a collection of present and former Chelsea badges fused together to create this fantastic and fresh look - which is on sale and available to you now!
Five badges from the distant past to the present day combine to make up an eye-catching prominent pattern and with a close look, you will spot the Percy the Pensioner badge that appeared on the matchday programme in our first half-century, the simple CFC monogram that had its day in the mid-1960s, and three versions of our much-loved lion crest, all woven together for a contemporary take on west London style from down the decades.
You’ve heard of all these badges, but what’s the meaning behind each one? Here, we’ve dug a little deeper to find out more!
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To kick things off, we start with Percy the Pensioner and why this badge has links to Chelsea…
The history:
The badge - which features Percy the Pensioner - was never actually an official club badge. In fact, it didn’t actually appear until it featured on a match programme in the 1930s.
The aforementioned Percy the Pensioner was a cartoon character, which featured in drawings on the front cover of the programme.
Looking at the badge itself, it adorns the image of a Chelsea Pensioner - the army veterans who reside at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and have strong links to the club.
The Blues were, for a time, known as The Pensioners – a moniker still used in some quarters to this day!
Did you know?
The club was founded in 1905 in the Rising Sun pub – now known as the Butcher's Hook - which still stands opposite the ground today!
The badge never actually appeared on our shirts.
Despite not having a badge on our shirts, the club's high profile in the 1920s led to us being chosen by the FA to be part of a trial to feature numbers on shirts in 1928.
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