Chasing History:

Tomorrow afternoon Carlo Ancelotti will lead Chelsea out onto Wembley Stadium’s much maligned pitch. The Italian tactician is chasing history – the first manager in the Premiership era (1992 onwards) to win the double in his first season. Arsenal’s longest serving and most successful manager Arsène Wenger achieved the distinction in his first full season. Wenger joined the Gunners in November 1996, but tasted success for the first time in 1998.

Ancelotti has the opportunity to achieve the double in his first season in top flight English football. The last man to win the double in his first season of manangement in England’s top league was Kenny Dalglish almost a quarter of a century ago with Liverpool. Not even Chelsea’s special former manager José Mourinho could manage it, although he won the Premiership in his first season after a long wait. But Chelsea are chasing a different type of history too – a legacy.

Making A Different History:

Chelsea is often maligned because of owner Roman Abramovich’s wealth, yet the club has a social conscience that is misunderstood at best – slandered even. Take their Search for Asian Soccer Star initiative for example. The club’s Head of Corporate and Social Responsibility, Simon Taylor is busy making history of his own – a history that will benefit a traditionally disadvantaged community.

Taylor used to work for the Football Foundation and is a man after our own hearts. He saw an injustice, was tired not just of it, but of the bleating and complaining that surrounded it for years. He decided that he was going to do something about it and did with the aid of Chelsea. Good for him and them too.

Asians had not made the hoped for breakthrough in professional football. Frank Soo – a mixed-race player of Chinese extraction was the closest that England had come to producing a British-Asian international – he played in wartime internationals that were not recognised as full internationals between 1942 and 1945. No player with heritage from the Indian sub-continent had got that close.

Michael Chopra and Zesh Rehman both played at youth level for England and have carved out professional careers, having played in the Premier League. Chopra may return soon as Cardiff reached the play-off against Blackpool, but there are not enough British-Asians playing professional football. Taylor was determined to do something about it.

Historic Opportunities:

350 boys got an opportunity last year at the first Search for an Asian Soccer Star. Taylor is rightly proud. “This isn’t a one-off show-case project,” he says. “This is one initiative that I’ve always had a personal interest in and in my previous job – I was with the Football Foundation – obviously we were aware of the problems facing Asian participation for many years, but I think the way we looked at it is with the new initiative with Chelsea Football Club to influence Asian participation rates by using the power of football and the prestige of Chelsea.”

He has high hopes for the scheme. “We hope to create something that would make a long-lasting difference to Asian participation rates, not just at professional level, but throughout the grass-roots level of football,” says Taylor. “What we wanted to do was also invite others clubs and organisations down. We invited scouts, managers, representatives of other clubs so they could actually go around and see the talent that is available. We had scouts from Liverpool, Arsenal – a number of other clubs, Crystal Palace, for example, but also other clubs and from Sunday Leagues.”

Plan:

Taylor’ plan wasn’t just at elite level. He wanted football to understand that Asian players had talent – an abundance of it – and encourage them to play. This initiative was never about finding top future players for Chelsea, although that would not be scoffed at. First and foremost it was about getting Asian boys playing football. Taylor also wanted the sport to realise the talent that is available in these communities and keep a traditionally alienated community interested in football.

“What we were hoping would come from it was that these guys would see that there is massive potential within the Asian community and hopefully pick up some good young players,” he says. “What we are going to do this year is invite the FA along, so any parents interested in getting their boys into affiliated clubs should come, because it’s vital. The coaching and support they get is second to none. They can bring their sons and get them involved with the FA’s affiliated clubs.”

For information on how to register for the second Search for An Asian Soccer Star visit  www.chelseafc.com/asiansoccerstar but hurry – time is running out to register.