The future of Chelsea's success?

When Roman Abramovich took over the reins of Chelsea Football Club in the summer of 2003, most people predicted that it would be a short-lived, if successful era in the Chelsea history.

Since then it has certainly been successful, despite trophy less seasons under Claudio Ranieri and last season under Avram Grant, José Mourinho provided the club's first two Premier League titles since 1955, along with The FA Cup and the Carling Cup. And, despite plenty of controversy, and Roman Abramovich failing to attend many important games at the tail end last season, so far there has been little mention of the Abramovich era coming to an end.

What is worrying however; is the direction that Chelsea appear to be moving towards. The noted best players in the world today appear to be getting younger (the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Torres etc.) compared to a few years ago when the golden oldies of Zidane, Ronaldo and Inzaghi reined supreme.

Meanwhile, an almost all over-30, World Cup winning Italian side slumped to a penalty shoot-out loss to Spain in the quarter finals of Euro 2008.

Despite the recent trend towards youth, consistently shown by Arsene Wenger's ability to buy talented youngsters, and despite the expensive and illegal recruitment of Head Scout Frank Arnesen from rivals Spurs, Chelsea's squad appears to be getting older. A natural sequence of events one may feel, however it has left the squad beleaguered and in desperate need of energetic young attackers who can run at opponents.

The injury-prone but vibrant winger Arjen Robben left the then champions 12 months ago, leaving Joe Cole to do his best to open up teams on his own, while Robben's replacement, the useless Florent Malouda struggled to make any impact whatsoever and Shaun Wright-Phillips impatiently warmed the bench.

The first team squad can now almost entirely be made up of aging players, bar Michael Essien and Petr Cech and perhaps John Terry, the likes of Drogba (30), Ballack (30), Lampard (30), Makelele (35), Carvalho (31) are the core of the team.

The squad however clearly does not lack creative midfielders who can make a pass from the middle of the park; Ballack, Essien, Lampard and Makelele fought for competition last year, but who is Scolari's first signing? The 30 year old creative central midfielder Deco.

Not many people would argue that there wasn’t a huge difference between Manchester United and Chelsea last season, and yet, Chelsea had their worst season for three years, missing out on three trophies, while it was the second greatest in United history, netting the Champions League and Premier League double.

Perhaps the only difference between the sides was the energy, youthfulness, and downright brilliance of 23 year old Cristiano Ronaldo, now rated as the best player in the world. Even Spurs have got the idea of bringing in the best youth players despite having their youth director Arnesen headhunted.

They have signed Aaron Lennon, Giovani Dos Santos, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, all younger than most of Chelsea’s reserve team players. Is Spurs’ surprising and impressive run against the Blues’ last season, including a famous Carling Cup victory a coincidence?

This all begs the question why? Are the senior staff at Chelsea just unaware of these trends or feel that experience is most vital over youth? Perhaps, but what is most worrying, is that as a Chelsea fan it feels that all of Chelsea’s targets are directed at the short term.

It feels like rather than assert Chelsea as a global force in European and World football for the years to come; the club are intent on winning as many trophies as possible now. This may explain the sacking of the quietly impressive but unlucky Avram Grant, rather than letting him build a squad for the future.

A squad which he had almost entirely inherited from Mourinho. For all we know, John Terry’s slip at the vital moment (and the width of a post) in what seemed to be the most important game of the club’s history may have been a blessing in disguise which would have saved Chelsea.

Would Abramovich still be interested in a club that had won everything within reach in just three years?

So, despite Peter Kenyon’s continuing implorations that Roman is here to stay and that he has invested love, not just money into Chelsea, we cannot be certain that the “Golden Period” of Chelsea’s history will last in the long term.

My advice to Chelsea fans is simply to enjoy it while it lasts. And if it doesn’t; NEVER to desert the Football Club that welcomed the glory-hunters and new fans as openly as those whose ancestors have followed the Club for decades.