Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon says that the club's "ballsy" vision is to be the biggest club in the world by 2014.
Ahead of Sunday's clash with Manchester United, the Old Trafford club's former chief made it clear that he believes the Blues can overtake the Reds as the world's biggest club.
Kenyon admits that Chelsea do not have the "heritage" of United, but claims that their aggressive approach to building their fanbase means that they have the potential to grow faster than any other club.
"By 2014 we want to be internationally recognised as the No 1 club," said Kenyon. "Our revenue has grown dramatically and is now on a par with United. It's a very ballsy vision but one that has captured the interest of the owner.
"Chelsea as a football club and a brand is more dynamic, more relevant," he said when asked to pinpoint the difference between the two clubs.
"They are fundamentally different. Manchester United was built around heritage, whether that was the Busby Babes, 1958 and Munich, winning the European Cup in 1968 or the Fergie years. Their record of eight Premiership titles, two doubles and the treble in 1999 has set the benchmark for every English club.
"Chelsea's success was sporadic and we did not have the depth of heritage to pull back on. We're probably expected to do things that bit different and that's part of the DNA of Chelsea. We're based in one of the top three cities in the world, which is another difference from Manchester.
"That's not a criticism of United, it's in the context of where we differ. Chelsea didn't have a tragedy, didn't have ten years of unbelievable success in the Sixties, which culminated in winning the European Cup, and then the Fergie years. It was a fairly soulless place, so it was about starting again."
His comments are bound to go down well at Old Trafford, where Kenyon was in charge before being lured south to take the reins at Chelsea after the takeover of Roman Abramovich.
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