A drama of rejection and renewal was enacted at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground at the weekend and it was nothing to do with the departure of Avram Grant. It was here that Glenn Hoddle launched his new project: resurrecting the careers of teenagers discarded by clubs.

About 60 recently-released youth-team players from the top two divisions took part in trials. The former England manager will select half to spend a year at his coaching academy in Jerez, Spain, moulding his pupils into desirable commodities.

Hoddle said he turned down “six or seven” club jobs to head the scheme, his zeal spurred by painful memories from his managerial career of telling teenagers they were being let go. “I’ll be down there nine months of the year,” he said. “It’s a commitment but this is what I wanted to do, it’s been on my mind for almost 17 years.”

The theory is that as clubs fill their academies with the best of the world’s talent, capable home-grown players lose out and are cast off too soon. “How can you judge an 18-year-old?” Hoddle said. “What we will do with them is the key. No disrespect, but these lads have been working at academy level. If they’re at Manchester United they haven’t been working with Sir Alex Ferguson and his staff. At Arsenal, Arsène Wenger hasn’t been working with these boys.

“If you coach them with international footballers, we know what we can give these boys mentally, physically and technically. By the time they’re 19 they might be different players.”

As a safety net, Leeds Met Carnegie, part of Leeds Metropolitan University, will provide academic support.

There is an irony in removing British players to Spain as a consequence of the foreign invasion. In the season just ended, there were, on average, only four Englishmen per starting XI in the Barclays Premier League. As well as the ominous undertones for the future of the England team, it means a likely exodus of talent into the lower leagues. Hoddle believes that a radical restructuring of the pyramid should be considered.

“If English players are not getting into the first teams at Premiership level in the coming years, the Championship may have to become a sourcing ground for young English footballers and that concerns me,” he said.

“No disrespect to the Championship, it’s a hard league, but it’s a million miles away from international football. So we would have to look at changing the scenario at that level. It needs to be, for me, two [divisions of] 18. You’ve still got promotion and relegation but you’re not going to have 46 games a year. The pitches will be better for technical players.”

Conor McCormack, an 18-year-old right back, was released by Manchester United, but accompanied the youth team to Moscow to watch the Champions League final. After the glory, the grind: he was met at Heathrow on the way back by Hoddle’s staff, who took him straight to Cobham.

“They [United] can sign whoever they like. They signed a few Brazilians that played in my position that are my age and unfortunately I was the one that was told to go,” McCormack said. “We’re up against lads from every country in the world. In the Premiership it’s going crazy, there are too many foreigners in the game. The English, the Scottish and the Irish are getting reduced chances. It’s a pity but that’s just the way it is now.”

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