Chelsea were the leading producer of Premier League players for the 2022/23 season, research by the PA has found.
The West London club’s academy products racked up just over 21,000 minutes of action in England’s top flight last season, narrowly surpassing rivals Arsenal.
However, there is one figure at the heart of the youth revolution occurring at Stamford Bridge, a man who can only be described as ‘Mr. Wimbledon’.
Former Wombles manager Mark Robinson is the development squad head coach of the two-time Champions League winners and a familiar face to visitors of Plough Lane.
Robinson joined the Dons in 2004, two years after the club’s formation, and served for 18 years in various roles before his departure in March last year.
A talented youth player himself before injury ended his career early, the Englishman went on to structure a highly successful academy from scratch with roles as academy manager, head of coaching, lead professional phase coach and loans manager.
Highly regarded for youth development, the former Fulham player guided Wimbledon to the last-16 of the FA Youth Cup in consecutive seasons, beating many Premier League clubs along the way.
A first taste of senior management in Southwest London would arrive on an interim basis, as Robinson stepped in following the sacking of Glyn Hodges in January 2021.
Rewarded with the permanent job less than three weeks later, over the course of 21 games he dramatically transformed the playing style and form of the then League One strugglers, putting together the club’s most consecutive wins as a professional football club to steer them away from relegation.
Continuing to favour his roots in developing young players, Wimbledon assembled the youngest squad in the EFL the following season, and they were vindicated with a start which saw them embark on the Dons’ best start to a season in eight years, whilst being the top scorers in English football after eight games.
The sale of top scorer Ollie Palmer in January and the season-ending injury to the only other forward in the team, Aaron Pressley, highlighted a lack of firepower which saw the trust-owned club become draw specialists, eventually leading to the departure of Robinson by mutual consent.
Appointed in May and tasked with using his expertise from the platform provided to him at Wimbledon, the development squad head coach at the Blues has toppled the stronghold held by Manchester United, who were leaders in every previous edition of the academy study.
In his first season in charge of Chelsea’s U21 side, the youth architect turned a squad that had narrowly avoided relegation into title challengers, achieving a five-month unbeaten run in the process, the longest run in 23 years for the reserve squad.
The study also revealed Sheffield United were the top EFL club to the produce Premier League players, ranking 17th out of clubs in world football, as they secured promotion back to the top division in England, while League One’s Charlton Athletic recorded 20th place.
Writer’s View
There is no doubt that some of the success coming out of Cobham can be attributed to the platform supplied at Wimbledon.
The Wombles provided Robinson with his first role in coaching and gave him freedom to structure a fresh academy, before allowing a steady progression through the ranks which led to him becoming first-team manager.
Chelsea have since benefitted from his expertise in his new role, as he returned to the club he served as a stadium tour guide over 15 years ago.
