Roman Abramovich’s dynasty hides in Chelsea FC’s academy

It is often said that success is the enemy to innovation. Despite continuing to set records upon records, Chelsea FC’s failure to promote successful youth players into the first team is a perfect example of that reality.

Is there a better footballing academy than that of Chelsea FC at the moment? In the span of two weeks, the Blues academy has commandingly inserted itself into the history books by winning their third consecutive FA Youth Cup and by winning back-to-back UEFA European titles. The former hasn’t been done in 60 years since Manchester United did it, and the latter has never been done by any team at any level. Period.

So what gives? Having proven themselves so emphatically and consistently among their peers, why then is it so difficult for Chelsea academy graduates to break into the first team?

The answer may sound counterintuitive: success.

Any Chelsea supporter knows that prior to Roman Abramovich’s arrival at the club, that it was far from being the powerhouse that it is today. There was minor success towards the turn of the century, but having won the league only once in 50 years, the arrival of the Russian oligarch and his suitcases full of Rubles changed the complexity and expectation of the West London club forever.

In Chelsea’s iconic documentary Blue Revolution, former Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon spoke rather candidly of the (self-imposed) burden of expectation the club felt after winning the league so quickly in the first season of the first coming of Jose Mourinho.

In a league that had been dominated by Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and Sir Alex Ferguson’s United for so long, Chelsea had at the onset given itself a 10 year vision for the club to reach global-brand level á la United or Liverpool. But, as Kenyon admitted, the swiftness with which Roman’s Blue army began hoarding trophy after trophy (five titles in three years: 2 Premier league trophies, 1 FA cup and 2 League Cup) threw that vision right out of the window.

All of the sudden people in the front-office, the fans and pundits felt that Chelsea had become a club that must win a trophy every year. But greatness can’t be rushed, only by enduring pain can greatness be achieved.

The owner has been pretty vocal about his desire to see beautiful, attacking football played at Stamford Bridge, yet he turned to the defensive-minded Mourinho for a second time when fear of the unknown set-in after the sacking of Rafa Benitez in 2013, instead of patiently waiting for Mgr. Right to come along.

Similarly, despite having invested over £100 million on the academy, the promises of youth haven’t been powerful enough to convince a Chelsea hierarchy now so accustomed to winning, and winning quickly, to give youth a chance.

But as most psychologists would tell you, the best way to delay gratification when one finds himself stuck in a instant gratification cycle is to focus one’s attention on another pleasure that isn’t readily available.

Surely, Roman Abramovich is a smart-man. He must realize after watching the achievements of his youth sides that the two things he wants, beautiful football and trophies, are all neatly rolled into his £100 million pet-project.

Next: Which FA Youth Cup stars must Chelsea FC keep?

The question is, does he have the discipline and patience to shift his focus to the right reward? If he does Abramovich might just get what he’s always wanted and perhaps, dare we say, a lasting dynasty.