Chelsea have been defeated in their attempt to buy back the freehold of Stamford Bridge following a dramatic extraordinary general meeting of Chelsea Pitch Owners shareholders.

Chelsea failed to convince the holders of 75% 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, 3,569 votes (61.6%) went in favour of the bid, leaving the club 13.4% short of their target.

The defeat prevents Chelsea regaining ownership of the land they sold to the supporter-led group CPO in the 1990s in order to ensure the club was not made homeless.

They made an offer to buy back the freehold at the beginning of the month, saying they would not be able to move to a new stadium unless they could profit from the land on which Stamford Bridge sits.

Their opponents, spearheaded by the "Say No CPO" campaign, insist they are not against relocation in principle but criticised the club for a lack of transparency, failing to give enough time for the issues to be debated and refusing to transfer the existing CPO agreement to any new stadium.

The Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, said: "I guess on behalf of Ron [Gourlay, chief executive], myself and Mr Abramovich, obviously we are disappointed but we recognise and respect that the shareholders have spoken.

"We will meet with Mr Abramovich and the rest of the board and decide what, if anything, we will do to take things forward. We are all Chelsea fans and I can only hope that, on Saturday, we all get together, support this club and beat the crap out of Arsenal."