Hasty Thaksin misses a home treat as City's next generation of superstars clinch Youth Cup

If he did, then the man who seems intent on undermining steady progress made by his manager Sven Goran Eriksson this season will perhaps have begun to appreciate that there is more to running a football club than short-term returns.

City's head of youth development Jim Cassell, for example, has built a career and a formidable reputation on his ability to spot, develop and educate young footballers.

For Cassell — and indeed Chelsea's Paul Clement — football is not about personal glory. Cassell has been in charge of City's youth academy for 11 years. In that time he has brought through 25 players for the first team.

A remarkable nine have played for Eriksson in league and cup this season. So when Thaksin sits and ponders the progress of his new toy from some distant land, he may stop to wonder about how he evaluates success and failure.

Maybe he will begin to appreciate the value of planning, patience and the rewards that can bring. Or maybe he won't.

At the City of Manchester Stadium, where Thaksin and his cronies like to sit and entertain representatives of players they will never buy and talk big about trophies they may never win, Cassell's young charges won him a competition that means everything to the club and perhaps very little at all to the man who owns it.

The FA Youth Cup will do nothing for Thaksin's standing back in Thailand. It certainly will not make him any money or see his face plastered over banners in Bangkok.

But for a club that understands its place and its role in the community better than most, this was an evening that provided the perfect antidote to the boardroom nonsense that is threatening to spiral out of control.

Last night's game ended with some ill temper as the disappointment of the Chelsea youngsters spilled over into a late challenge by Jacob Mellis that saw him receive a red card and left City right back Kieran Trippier requiring oxygen as he was helped on to a stretcher.

Happily, he was not badly hurt and that was pleasing as what had preceded that challenge was a game played in the right spirit. The two teams could not have more different backgrounds.

Most of the Chelsea players have been brought in from other clubs at some expense. City, meanwhile, fielded more local players.

Chelsea prepared for the game with a week of warm weather work in Sardinia, while City trained at their base near Manchester's Curry Mile.

But in the way the teams approached their football, there was no difference. Both passed the ball well, attacked with pace and both had good goalkeepers.

City deserved victory and must take credit for the way that they recovered from conceding an early goal. But Chelsea certainly played their part in a vibrant contest.

The visitors took the lead in bizarre fashion in the sixth minute when a shot from Mellis — a £1.3million buy from Sheffield United — was saved by Greg Hartley but rebounded into the net off City defender Ryan McGivern's face.

With Chelsea now leading 2-1 on aggregate in front of a crowd of almost 20,000, Cassell's players could have gone to pieces. But they showed admirable reserves of mental fortitude and thoroughly deserved their 25th-minute equaliser.

Andrew Tutte, an excellent influence on City's attacking play, crossed from the right for captain and centre half Ben Mee to head in from five yards.

City's best player was probably Slovakian midfielder Vladimir Weiss and he gave his team the lead with a superb free-kick in the 36th minute and then towards the end of a second half that saw Chelsea press hard he ran 45 yards to win a penalty after a desperate and rather tired challenge from Sergio Rodriguez.

Centre forward David Ball put away the spot-kick as he sent Rhys Taylor the wrong way and City had their hands on the trophy.

City coach Alex Gibson, in direct charge of the team, said: 'It's a great night for us. The fans and the board are itching for a trophy. To put some silverware on the table is great.'

City's supporters stayed behind to salute their players as they paraded a trophy they narrowly failed to secure in losing to Liverpool two years ago.

As for Thaksin, he will probably just complain that the ground was not full.

MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2): Hartley; Trippier, Mee, Boyata, McGivern; Weiss, Kay, Tutte, McDermott; Ball, Mak.

CHELSEA (4-4-2): Taylor; Ofori-Twumasi, Bruma, Van Aanholt, Gordon; Kakuta, Mellis, Woods, Stoch; Nielsen, Tejera.

Referee: Peter Walton.