At the time, as all things Chelsea do, the “story” naturally attracted a lot of media attention.  One Leeds academy director apparently wanted a seven figure sum for Woods, claiming cash, time and patience had been invested and therefore any compensation must reflect this;

"If compensation is not significant than people in youth-development structures will worry."

"The two Leeds players are very, very good players," said Dave Parnaby, of Middlesbrough's academy director.

So, Chelsea paid 250,000 rising to 1M if Woods plays for the first team and then 5M if he gets capped at full England level.

Kenyon said at the time that “a few rivals were elbowed out of the way” (I wonder who they were?) and defended Chelsea’s actions by stating that we had to take an aggressive approach to "break up the cartel” formed by the other top PL clubs.

So, despite the manner of approach, it would do well to remind certain hypocritical oppo fans that their own clubs are no different.

“Illegal approaches are rife” reported one broadsheet,  “and the Premier League, when they consider compensation levels and possible punishment for Chelsea, must send out a message to all those who want to piggy-back on the hard work of youth coaches like Thompson (of Leeds) . If the academy system is to flourish, its rules must be respected.”

One Premiership manager had upset Leicester City by phoning the parents of two of their most prominent youngsters, a left-back and a striker - One promising teenage striker at a northern club even received a letter from a famous forward at a southern club, inviting him to visit!

Jermain Defoe went from Charlton to West Ham also in controversial circumstances, and his figure ended up being 1M – and that was 8 years ago.  

It’s estimated that a decent academy costs around 2M a year to run,  whilst Of course, academy’s can cite that they don’t want other bigger clubs getting the benefit of their hard work,  they could also take solace in that the figures that can NOW be awarded for promising youngsters can more than compensate.  Gone are the days of the big clubs phoning parents and brown envelopes where the losing, smaller club gets sweet FA for their kids.  The Woods signing was seen as a test case at the time and now a precedent has been set – yet another reason for our rivals to hate us more – NOW they’ll have to pay!

Anyway, onto Woods again:

During our pre-season tour, he came on for the match against Feyernoord and has already been capped for the England U17´s.

Woods recently made his first-team debut at Stamford Bridge against Macclesfield Town in the third round of the FA Cup.  This was an historic occasion as he was the fourth-youngest player to ever play for Chelsea at 16 years and 275 days old.

The youngster has now made 2 appearances in the FA Cup for Chelsea and has been described as “the new Paul Scholes” by Ron Atkinson.  I must admit, from what I’ve seen he does seem to be a very industrious midfielder who passes the ball very well.

Mourinho has already stated that “1 or 2…maybe more” youngsters will be incorporated into the first team squad next season – don´t be surprised if Woods is one of those.

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