Chelsea have been defeated in their bid to buy back the freehold of Stamford Bridge following a dramatic extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.
The Blues failed to convince the holders of 75 per cent or more of the shares in CPO to support their proposal, which was seen as a precursor to a move to a new 60,000-seater stadium.
At an emotionally-charged meeting in Stamford Bridge's Great Hall, the plan was backed by 61.6 per cent of the 5,796 votes cast in person or by proxy, leaving the club 13.4 per cent short of their target.
The defeat prevented Chelsea regaining ownership of the land they sold to supporter-led group CPO in the 1990s in order to ensure the club was not made homeless.
In what were remarkable scenes, the vote looked set to be postponed at one stage when an adjournment of the meeting was proposed by one shareholder furious with how the entire process had been handled by CPO directors and chairman Richard King.
That motion received widespread support and appeared certain to succeed until King dramatically intervened to reveal a no vote would almost certainly carry the day.
King confirmed that for the club to succeed, they required the holders of 1,400 of the 1,700 shares present at the meeting to back their proposal, with more than 4,000 proxy votes already counted.
That convinced the approximately 700 shareholders present to cast their votes, which were quickly counted before the result was revealed.
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