Sidney Richard 'Dickie' Foss (28 November 1912 - 1991) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 player and coach, who had a 30 year association with Chelsea

Chelsea F.C.

Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...

.

Born in Barking

Barking

Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in East London, England. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies east of Charing Cross. Barking was in the historic county of Essex until it was absorbed by Greater London. The area is...

, Foss started out with amateur side Southall

Southall F.C.

Southall F.C. is a semi-professional football club based in the Southall area of west London, in the London Borough of Ealing, England. Football has been played in Southall from at least 1871.-History:...

, before signing for Chelsea in 1936. Playing at half-back, Foss made 48 appearances for the club, and was one of only a handful of players to play for Chelsea both before and after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 (the others being Dick Spence

Dick Spence

Richard "Dick" Spence was an English footballer.Born and raised in Yorkshire, Spence began his professional club career with Barnsley, before joining Chelsea in October 1934 for £5000. Standing at only 5ft7 tall, he was a tricky and nimble winger who could play on either flank, and also chipped in...

 and Jimmy Argue

Jimmy Argue

James "Jimmy" Argue was a Scottish footballer who played as an inside forward. He was born in Glasgow and began his career at junior club St Roch's before joining Birmingham in 1931, where he failed to make any appearances for the first team. He moved to Chelsea in 1933...

). However, it was behind the scenes that Foss would make his most significant contribution to Chelsea. He was one of the founders of the club's new youth system

Youth system

Youth system is a sporting terminology used to refer to a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show enough promise, and to fill up squads numbers in some teams...

 in 1947, and subsequently became youth team manager.

Under Foss's charge, Chelsea's youth set-up flourished, producing players such as Jimmy Greaves

Jimmy Greaves

James Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves is an English former football player, England's third highest international goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top flight football and more recently a television pundit -...

, Peter Osgood

Peter Osgood

Peter Leslie Osgood was an English footballer who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. He is best remembered for representing Chelsea and Southampton at club level, and was also capped four times by England in the early 1970s.-Chelsea:Born in a small road named Kentons Lane in Windsor, Osgood...

, Terry Venables

Terry Venables

Terence Frederick "Terry" Venables , often referred to as "El Tel", is a former football player and manager, as well as being a media pundit. During the 1960s and 70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers, and gained two caps for England...

, Peter Bonetti

Peter Bonetti

Peter Phillip Bonetti is a former football goalkeeper for Chelsea, the St. Louis Stars, Dundee United and England. Bonetti was known for his safe handling, lightning reflexes and his graceful style, for which he was given the nickname, "The Cat"...

, John Hollins

John Hollins

John William Hollins MBE is a retired English footballer and manager. He was initially a midfielder who, later in his career, became an effective centre back.Hollins' son, Chris Hollins is the main sport presenter on BBC Breakfast....

 and Bobby Tambling

Bobby Tambling

Robert Victor 'Bobby' Tambling is a retired English footballer, who played most notably for Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the 1960s and 1970s...

, the core of the team which saw the club become a force in English football for the first time during the 1960s and early 1970s. Chelsea's youth team won the FA Youth Cup

FA Youth Cup

The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under–18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part...

in 1960 and 1961, and were champions of their youth league three times in five years between 1954 and 1959.

He left the job in the late 1960s and died during the 1990s.