Five years to the day after Roman Abramovich bought the club, Chelsea's official historian Rick Glanvill looks at our growth under the Russian, while club statistician Paul Dutton records five record-breaking years in facts and figures.
It is not usually much of an anniversary, the fifth. Nothing like a tenth or 50th. In wedding terms it's traditionally the 'wooden' one, and the suggested gift to mark it is, apparently, 'a box full of dreams'.
And yet how appropriate a metaphor that is for what Roman Abramovich has brought Chelsea Football Club and its followers since arriving on July 1 2003. Two league titles, a brace of League Cups, an FA Cup, a Community Shield and a Champions League final later, it is looking a marriage made in heaven, or at least fantasy land. And proved by recent developments, commitment to the relationship is as strong as ever.
It was soon evident that this was not a business investment in the usual sense.
The club showed the extent of its ambition by investing in the roots and branches soon after his takeover. The old training ground, Harlington, was swiftly ditched in favour of a new site in Cobham, Surrey. Development there has been extraordinary.
In a few months' time the latest wing of the headquarters for senior and Academy players and staff, as well as the local community, as diligently and expertly designed as the last, will be opened.
Fittingly, last season a Chelsea Academy team reached the FA Youth Cup final, that useful barometer of grass roots wellbeing, for the first time in 47 years.
Prior to 2003 there was a paucity of historic archive materials at the club outside of the museum. There had long been a similar attitude towards the footballers who represent Chelsea's heritage too. Not only are former heroes more regularly involved at all levels of Stamford Bridge and events, but a fund - always the wish of the late Tony Banks - has been set up too. The Past Players Trust provides financial and other aid to onetime Blues who are in adversity. The club also regularly buys items of historic importance to reconnect and celebrate its long and colourful past.
At a Centenary event in 2005, two years into the new regime, chairman Bruce Buck could list a whole raft of landmark achievements on the field of play, and elsewhere success is growing.
The hotels are now independently and highly successfully managed. Where the fried fish emporium 'Fishnets' once stood there is now a highly-rated Marco Pierre White restaurant.
Those are signs that the club has changed its ethos - not only in bricks and mortar but also in its relationship with its supporters, whose voice is better heard since the advent of the Fans' Forum.
The headlines are still rightly grabbed by the players and their achievements, and that is the way the owner would like it. After five years, people know that he does his talking without the help of the TV and newspapers.
Yet the media still have cause to celebrate five years in charge. The current success and marketability of the Premier League is in part a result of the investment in world class playing and coaching personnel made by Chelsea FC.
The disruption of the cosy hegemony of Manchester Utd and Arsenal was a casualty of that, the freshening up English football a result of it.
In north London noses were put out of joint as the Blues took over the mantel of London's top team. In contrast, at Old Trafford they acknowledged publicly that Chelsea had 'raised the bar'. United's own heavy investment in the last two years was made in direct response to the exceptional challenge presented by Chelsea. They haven't been the only one to do so, and that has helped make the Premier League as compelling as it is.
It may only be the fifth, but the impact in that short time has been remarkable. Happy anniversary, Mr Abramovich.
THE ROMAN ABRAMOVICH ERA IN FIGURES
Played 298, won 196, drawn 65, lost 37, goals for 529, goals against 203.
Twice Premier League champions 2004/05 and 2005/06 and three times runners-up 2003/04, 2006/07 and 2007/08.
FA Cup winners 2006/07 and semi-finalists 2005/06.
Twice League Cup winners 2004/05 and 2006/07 and runners-up 2007/08.
Only the third club to win the FA and League Cup in the same season 2006/07.
Champions League finalists for the first time in our history 2007/08.
Three times Champions League semi-finalists 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2006/07.
Community Shield winners 2005/06.
FA Youth Cup finalists for the first time in 47 years 2007/08.
Key club records that have been broken
Longest winning sequence all competitions - nine games in 2005/06 and 2007/08.
Longest home winning sequence all competitions - 11 in 2005/06 (7) + 2006/07 (4).
Longest away top flight winning sequence all competitions - six in 2004/05 (twice), 2005/06 and 2006/07 (twice).
Longest away European winning sequence: six in 2003/04.
Longest winning league sequence - 10 in 2005/06.
Longest home winning league sequence - 13 in 2004/05 (2) + 2005/06 (11) equalling 1910/11.
Longest away winning league sequence - nine in 2004/05 (also a Premier League record).
Most wins in a season - 42 in 2004/05 and 2006/07.
Most league wins in a season - 29 in 2004/05 and 2005/06 equalling 1988/89.
Most home league wins in a season - 18 in 2005/06 equalling 1906/07.
Most away league wins in a season - 15 in 2004/05
Most top flight points - 95 in 2004/05 (also an English top flight record).
Longest unbeaten sequence all competitions - 23 in 2006/07.
Longest home unbeaten sequence all competitions - 68 unbroken in 2005/06 (7) + 2006/07 (31) + 2007/08 (30) and will continue into 2008/09.
Longest unbeaten league sequence - 40 in 2004/05 (29) + 2005/06 (11) (third longest in English top flight history).
Longest home unbeaten league sequence - 82 unbroken in 2003/04 (6) + 2004/05 (19) + 2005/06 (19) + 2006/07 (19) + 2007/08 (19) and will continue into 2008/09.
Longest away unbeaten league sequence - 19 in 2004/05 (14) + 2005/06 (5).
Fewest defeats in a season all competitions: six in 2004/05, 2006/07 and 2007/08 equalling 1998/99.
Fewest league defeats in a season - one in 2004/05.
Biggest league goal difference 57 in 2004/05
Most consecutive clean sheets all competitions - seven in 2003/04 and 2005/06 (twice) equalling 1905/06
Most consecutive league clean sheets - 10 in 2004/05
Most clean sheets in a season all competitions - 34 in 2004/05
Most league clean sheets in a season - 25 in 2004/05
Youth product Michael Woods - fourth youngest player to make his debut in 2007
PFA Player of the Year 2005 - John Terry
Football Writers Footballer of the Year 2005 - Frank Lampard
CAF African Player of the Year 2006 - Didier Drogba
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