In the last few editions of these summaries, I’ve made a point of noting how long it’s been since the academy won the FA Youth Cup or dominated in the silverware department. After another campaign without a trophy at Under-18, 19 or 21 levels, it would be easy to do that. With each passing year, though, it becomes less relevant; an inaccurate barometer of where Chelsea find themselves right now….
Chelsea Loan Report: Mid-Season Review
The 2022-23 season has been a strange old time at Chelsea Football Club in all departments, with rapid change and general uncertainty underpinning a period of succession planning and building a platform for the future. The loan department, once a huge operation led by Eddie Newton and staffed abundantly, is now somewhat scaled back with Carlo Cudicini in charge, yet the development of some twenty-odd players remains as important now…
Previewing Chelsea’s 2022-23 FA Youth Cup Challenge
1,692 days. When Chelsea line up against Bradford City at Kingsmeadow on Saturday to kick off their 2022-23 FA Youth Cup campaign, it will have been 1,692 days since they last had their hands on the most prestigious trophy in English development football. To put that into perspective, if you rewind the exact same length of time before that famous 4-0 win at the Emirates Stadium and a fifth successive…
The Chelsea Academy Season Preview 2022-23
Last season was interesting for the Chelsea academy to say the least. They produced five first-team debutants in Trevoh Chalobah, Harvey Vale, Lewis Hall, Jude Soonsup-Bell and Xavier Simons, they reached the FA Youth Cup Semi Finals, and they won the Under-18 Premier League Cup. They continued to supply an ever-increasingly impressive number of graduates to the senior game and maintained their position as an industry leader not just within…
The Chelsea Academy Class Of 2022
The Todd Boehly era is well and truly upon us all at Chelsea, including the academy, and as we start a new season there’s an air of both excitement and trepidation that comes with great upheaval. For the time being, at least, expect business as usual down at Cobham, and that means welcoming a new class of first-year scholars inducted into their youth team careers down at the academy this…
Reflections On The 2021-22 Chelsea Academy Season
A year ago, we reflected on an academy season that, while not going exactly to plan, still featured plenty of positives among the negatives, and we speculated what the road ahead would look like in an era where competition in youth football is stronger than ever. This year, we must ask many of the same questions, particularly at the end of a journey that saw the Development Squad avoid relegation…
Previewing the 2021-22 FA Youth Cup
For a club that sits second in the all-time winners’ table and has lifted the trophy in six of the last ten editions – including five in a row – it seems far too long since Chelsea actually laid their hands on the FA Youth Cup. Reece James captained the 2017-18 vintage to a record-equalling success under Jody Morris but, not only has that success dried up more recently, the…
State of Play: Reflections on the Chelsea Academy
The dust has settled and the calm after the storm is gently guiding Chelsea Football Club from a somewhat controversial summer into the winter. Discontent is rarely far from Stamford Bridge and, though it seems unlikely to return in the next few months, in the wake of the departures of so many talented academy graduates who were far from content with their lot, thoughts inevitably drift towards what the future…
The Chelsea Academy Season Preview 2021-22
Change is frequent in youth football but, even by recent standards, Chelsea have really pushed the boat out this summer. A tumultuous transfer window has seen several talented young players depart Cobham in search of progress and pathways elsewhere, leaving an ever more inexperienced and fledgling group of players following in their footsteps. And who’s to say that those very players won’t have seen what Marc Guehi, Tino Livramento, Lewis…
The Chelsea Academy Class of 2021
Life over the last twelve months has been a world away from ‘normal’ for everyone but, for 15- and 16-year-old academy footballers, things turning upside down at a crucial time in their lives is undoubtedly an unwelcome stress and a challenge the likes of which they will scarcely have faced before. They experienced a two-month absence in their football games programme during a school year where much of their work…