{"id":8546,"date":"2026-05-15T01:04:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=8546"},"modified":"2026-05-15T01:04:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T01:04:59","slug":"how-the-kinetic-foundation-helped-launch-mcfarlanes-rise-at-chelsea-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=8546","title":{"rendered":"How the Kinetic Foundation helped launch McFarlane\u2019s rise at Chelsea | Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A<\/span>s meteoric rises go, Calum McFarlane\u2019s takes some beating. Six years after he and his assistants Harry Hudson and Dan Hogan were working for a south London charity that provides football and education for disadvantaged children, they will lead out Chelsea to face Manchester City in Saturday\u2019s FA Cup final.<\/p>\n

There have been accusations of cronyism given they have connections to Joe Shields, Chelsea\u2019s co\u2011head of recruitment, that go back years, to when McFarlane, Hudson and Hogan were at the charity, the Kinetic Foundation, or beyond. But James Fotheringham, Kinetic\u2019s co-founder, is dismissive of that.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe narrative is of people being given an unfair opportunity,\u201d he says of a backlash that has led to abusive messages being posted on Kinetic\u2019s social media sites since McFarlane was appointed as Chelsea\u2019s interim manager for the second time this season. \u201cCalum did the hard yards at City, Southampton and Chelsea and has got seasons under his belt to get to that position. I think if anyone gets thrown into a six-game environment, you bring someone who you\u2019ve been on the touchline with for 300 games and who knows how you work \u2026 That\u2019s the truth of the situation Calum\u2019s in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shields, who met Hudson when both worked at Crystal Palace\u2019s academy, has never had a formal connection to Kinetic, although he scouted players from its academy in previous roles at City and Southampton. He had departed Southampton for Stamford Bridge before McFarlane moved to the south-coast club as the under-18s coach. McFarlane then joined Chelsea in the summer, as did Hudson and Hogan.<\/p>\n

In January, McFarlane was promoted to Liam Rosenior\u2019s coaching team from his role with the under-21s, having impressed in his first spell as interim manager, during which Chelsea drew at City. An academy reshuffle then led to Chelsea\u2019s long-serving under-18s coach Hassan Sulaiman moving to a role as pathways relationship manager and being replaced by Hogan, who had been the under-16s manager, while Hudson stepped up from assistant to Sulaiman to replace McFarlane as the under-21s head coach. \u201cHarry doesn\u2019t have social media,\u201d says Fotheringham. \u201cHe\u2019s always been like: \u2018People can say whatever they want.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Calum McFarlane and Harry Hudson, who worked together at the Kinetic Foundation, on the touchline at Wembley during Chelsea\u2019s FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds.<\/span> Photograph: Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He points out that Hogan, who was captain of Crystal Palace\u2019s under-18s before starting his coaching career at Kinetic, has led Chelsea\u2019s under-18s to the Premier League\u2019s national final after winning their league. \u201cHe\u2019s already been coaching for 10 years and is probably the youngest coach ever to do that,\u201d he says. \u201cDan is Calum and Harry\u2019s apprentice. He lapped everything up at Kinetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since McFarlane was appointed in April as interim head coach for the rest of the season, Hudson and Hogan have been by his side. It is a long way from Kinetic, which was established by Fotheringham and his school friend Hudson in the wake of the 2011 riots in what Fotheringham describes as a \u201cpassion project\u201d that quickly gathered momentum.<\/p>\n

More than 80 players who have come through Kinetic\u2019s thriving programme for 16 to 18-year-olds have been signed by professional clubs, including Joe Aribo of Leicester, Watford\u2019s Kwadwo Baah and the West Brom striker Josh Maja. The priority, though, has been ensuring that the 400 boys and girls who sign up each year to its Futures programme are given opportunities beyond the pitch. More than 60% went to university last year and Fotheringham hopes a new partnership with St Mary\u2019s University in south-west London will encourage more to follow in those footsteps.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cWe\u2019re trying to change mindsets \u2026 We spend two hard years making sure that they broaden their horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n

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McFarlane joined Kinetic in 2014 after a spell with the Norwegian side Troms\u00f8 and his partnership with Hudson blossomed. With Hudson as manager and McFarlane his assistant, in a reverse of their Chelsea roles, they took charge of their local side Croydon FC in 2017 after forming a partnership with the Southern <\/strong>Counties East league club under which Kinetic took over the youth team. McFarlane remained Hudson\u2019s No 2 when they were poached by Whyteleafe in the Isthmian Division One South before departing for City in 2020. Hudson went on to work at Brentford and left Kinetic in 2024 when appointed Wycombe\u2019s under-18s coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry had a passion for coaching and having the book of contacts within football to get trials and opportunities for the kids,\u201d Fotheringham says. \u201cThat\u2019s all he\u2019s ever cared about. I remember he said when he was leaving: \u2018If I was on my deathbed, and I never gave it a shot, then I wouldn\u2019t forgive myself. I need to start now to see if I can prove myself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

McFarlane has a chance to become the first English manager since Harry Redknapp in 2008 to win the FA Cup. His credentials to deal with a squad that cost more than \u00a31bn to assemble has been questioned given his lack of experience at the highest level, but Fotheringham hopes McFarlane, with his trusted lieutenants Hudson and Hogan at his side, can make history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible pedestal for the three of them,\u201d he says. \u201cIf they can win the FA Cup then it would be some way to start your careers off in management. Harry has always said about whatever level he works at, it\u2019s not about the person or the ego, it\u2019s about treating them as a player and coaching them as a player, as opposed to worrying about what they might think of you. You\u2019ve got to be pretty strong-willed and strong-minded in your own ability to do that and they are definitely that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As meteoric rises go, Calum McFarlane\u2019s takes some beating. Six years after he and his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}