Chelsea’s Homegrown Solution to the Credit Crunch: Reality or Mere Rhetoric?

The global financial crisis has left a lot of victims in its wake. Banks have been bailed out, jobs have been lost, and revered financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers have gone under. Even Roman Abramovich has been feeling the pinch. The Russian oligarch has seen his fortune dwindle as the Russian stock market has taken a battering.

Chelsea are also feeling the effects. Peter Kenyon and Bruce Buck have been talking in recent weeks of how the downturn will affect the club. The message is that cuts and sacrifices will have to be made to ensure that the club emerges from this economic peril in a stable position.

At the start of the month, Chelsea announced that a number of scouts would be released and the club would focus its attention on a few key areas, rather than the pre-existing wider approach.

Speaking at the International Football Arena symposium at FIFA House in Zurich yesterday, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon outlined ways in which the West London club would cope with the effects of the financial crisis.

"The financial crisis has affected everybody who has shares, property or a pension, nobody has been immune, and neither is football.

"There is less money than before. We are keeping a close eye on our costs and reining back in other areas to put the business in better shape."

"Realigning the scouting system was about looking at where we want to be," he said.

"We've made a commitment to having the core of our team English; we are developing our youth.

"The rules from Uefa on home-grown players and Fifa's proposal for 6+5 puts a real onus on clubs to develop their own talent much more fully. With that comes a lot of benefits, and so we looked at our scouting programme to be more focused."

Kenyon also suggested that Luiz Felipe Scolari will have to sell before he can buy anyone in the January transfer window.

“I have said before it is extremely unlikely we will spend in January and increase our squad. Felipe is on board with that,” Kenyon said.

“He has an excellent squad and he is doing a great job. We would have to sell someone if we decided to bring someone in to balance that situation, but at this stage we are not planning to bring anyone in.”

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