Jody Morris makes staggering Chelsea claim - Gives honest answer to that question of our Academy.

When Roman Abramovich first took over at Chelsea and invested significantly in the clubs infrastructure in addition to the playing staff, he did it with a view to the club become self-sufficient and providing first-team players from our Academy. With only a couple of note, Jody Morris has given a staggering insight into why so many players have left the club through lack of opportunities.

The ex-Chelsea midfielder - vastly underrated for his time at our club as a player - had spent the last few seasons back in the fold coaching our under-19's. In that period, he won two FA Youth Cup trophies and has played an instrumental part in the development of players such as Callum Hudson-Odoi. Now, as we all know he has joined Derby County as Assistant Manager alongside Frank Lampard and both shared fantastic success the other night beating Jose Mourinho's Manchester United on penalties in the League Cup.

Morris was a guest pundit on SkySport's coverage of Chelsea's victory over Liverpool the other night with that goal from Eden Hazard that everyone is still talking about. Ahead of the game with Hudson-Odoi on the bench, Morris was asked the age-old question of our Academy and where is the next John Terry. It's a question that is asked of our club every single year and has been ever since the investment was put in place with a five-year goal. The ex-Chelsea man was quick to give a staggering opinion from his time working with the youngsters and provides the answers we have all been looking for. He said:

"You've got to have a manager that, first and foremost, wants to look.

We've had managers at Chelsea where they'd be 50 yards away, there'd be a Champions League U19s game going on, and the manager's sat in his office, rather than coming out to watch. It's very disheartening.

It's not my place to go over there and start talking to managers, but some managers aren't interested - they don't care about youth. They judge the first team and want to get their own players in.

The thing about Chelsea is I don't think there's an academy in this country that's better, but it doesn't look like that on paper because of the amount of players who are not playing in the first team.

The players are good enough, most definitely, but the managers are not, for one, aware of them. It's alright someone going in and talking up a player and saying 'this player's got European Player of the Year in an U19 tournament, won the World Cup, and is one of the best players at his age group' - if they don't see him, physically, that doesn't get you him.

You need to see it - Claudio Ranieri's point of playing John Terry was the fact that he went to watch him. He saw him, said 'right, he's playing for me' - and in. There's nothing better than seeing players in the flesh. It's alright people talking them up but you have to see it in the flesh.

Chelsea have got players who are good enough to play in the first team, no doubt - no question about it. I don't know if it could change (generally) under this manager. It's too early to say. It could change overnight - that's the beauty of it." - Source: SkySports.

It's the most ridiculous situation you could ever possibly imagine at a training ground! Who on earth does not have the time to take an interest in a Champions League game at youth level just yards away if they plan on being here to deliver success coupled with the next John Terry??

Take John Terry for example during his time at the club as Captain. He would always take an interest in the youngsters, would always stay and watch the games and give advice or encouragement which, for any youth player looking at what he had personally achieved in his time at the club would mean everything.

It's all well and good stockpiling these youngsters to send out on loan and invest time and money in following their progress with the hope that one day they will make it here. How about, as Jody says, that we take more of an interest in these players and watch them week-in, week-out in the flesh at the club to help them improve and develop to eventually give them a chance?

The problem is, and as I have always said, Chelsea are labelled as a club that wants success now, results now and unfortunately, with all the mega monies in the game these days, the pressure to be successful and to just finish inside the top four has become immense meaning that some people do what Jody Morris has claimed and ignore the home-grown talent we have for players that can step in now and deliver performances instantly.

I wanted to post this up because the idea that some ex-Chelsea managers literally ignored the youth players is shocking. What do you think? Does it finally give an answer to question of our Academy or is there more to it?