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How flawed is the Chelsea model?

Chelsea's policy of frequently changing managers has in many respects paid off, but it also has its limits. It has encouraged a culture of a strong dressing room with players willing to defy the manager as the Kepa incident illustrates. The enforced absence of Roman Abramovich through visa restrictions means that there is less of a strong guiding hand on the tiller.

The events at the Carabao Cup final are, however, less significant than the threatened transfer ban, although appeals by both Chelsea and the FA mean that it may not come into effect in the summer. However, the effects are potentially serious for Chelsea, given the need to refresh an ageing and under performing squad and the likelihood that Eden Hazard will join Real Madrid in the summer. A transfer ban could also make the job of coaching Chelsea less attractive to top managers.

Fifa's disciplinary committee found that Chelsea broke the rules on hiring foreign minors on 26 occasions. As a result, the club has been banned from participating in the next two transfer windows and fined £460,000. The FA was fined SFr10,000 for allegedly failing to properly apply Fifa's rules on minors.

In recent years only a handful of players in the Chelsea youth academy have gone to establish themselves in the first team. Chelsea has used the loan system to farm out its academy graduates and has then often sold them at a profit. In that sense, the model has also worked, but again it has its limits.

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