Michael Emenalo (Technical Director, Chelsea)

[English Freak 456]

Rafa, his pet, Benayoun, Malouda and Emenalo all need to leave Chelsea at the end of the season.

Hopefully our next manager doesn't have to deal with Emenalo.

[Styles 9,790]

Not much of that is on Mike Forde in my opinion.

I got it from speaking to people within the game...sorry, but that wasn't on the record. He was one of the first people in this country who looked at a way of implementing analytics into the game of football which is why he's invited to conferences on the issue (analytics is essentially what the book/film Moneyball focused on and what the Red Sox used in order to help win the 04 World Series, and is what Henry has tried to bring to Liverpool). He's also become something of a go to guy for teams in other sports.

His 'expertise' and use of analytics somehow hasn't stopped useless transfers, unbalanced squads year after year, wasting resources, mismanagement and just rank incompetence. Isn't this some of the stuff he's supposed to help abolish? We've been on a steady decline for years (arguably since he first showed up in 2007) and have been a glorified cup team winning one League title in nearly 7 years.

But hey, he speaks at conferences so it's all good.

[bushman 2,043]

To look at new ways of analysing data in order to enhance future performance.

Well, perhaps you might have something there. However, when I read about any American know how, I am a bit skeptical.

Amstrong comes to my mind recently.

[The only place to be 11,313]

His 'expertise' and use of analytics somehow hasn't stopped useless transfers, unbalanced squads year after year, wasting resources, mismanagement and just rank incompetence. Isn't this some of the stuff he's supposed to help abolish? We've been on a steady decline for years (arguably since he first showed up in 2007) and have been a glorified cup team winning one League title in nearly 7 years.

But hey, he speaks at conferences so it's all good.

Again, it's hard to say how much of that is down to Forde. He's by no means the final say on transfers and I'm not sure who you'd get in to replace him if we went down that route.

[bushman 2,043]

Personally, I´d like to see Hiddink at the role of DOF.

However, if Jose comes in, I am not sure how these two could work together though.

[Kostas 1,468]

I know I don't post much but it's funny how I was about to echo Style's posts almost as they are. Emenalo isn't even on the Football board, it's laughable to place significant blame on him unless someone thinks that we didn't get 20 more points in the league in the last few seasons (including this one) because our U21 scouting underachieved.

Buck and Gourley are more about the business side of the club so as much as people hate them they're irrelevant. I one wants to look past Russian millionaires I can only think of 3 people on the Footbal Board who in the last 5 years held footballing positions and could be blamed for our decline. One of them left a couple years ago one is Tenenbaum who we know nothing about and then there's Forde the performance director at one of the most consistently underperforming clubs in Europe.

[bushman 2,043]

Do you realize who is the DOF currently ?

[MHL 47 378]

That's just factually incorrect. Sorry. Maybe we just have different sources and one of them is wrong, but I'm fairly sure that the Technical Director would have the final say on such things.

I'll just say that he wouldn't be the first person at Chelsea to have things that perhaps he should be consulted with on, to be by passed, and it's my understanding that's exactly what occurred.

I wouldn't just guess something in the hopes of it sounding right. At this point in time he still has Roman's ear which (if the story is true) might be the source of Jose's objections.

And again it's my understanding that Roman may well have trusted him, however the situation has changed, largely down to his prominent role in the appointment of the second least successful Manager (during Roman's tenure) and in fact he was on 'duty' when the least successful Manager was appointed. Doesn't make good reading for Emenalo those last two bits.

Interesting view here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michael-emenalo-must-take-responsibility-1735980

I'm not sure why you'd think Mike Forde would be in trouble. The guy's massively respected within the game and one of the best sports minds in this country in my opinion. If you're looking for a scapegoat who isn't a Russian billionaire then I'd personally look at Bruce Buck - the guy you put on your 'dream team', despite him being here for the entirety of Roman's reign even when we were acting in a kamikaze, short-term manner which is the root of many of our current problems in my opinion. In fact, you put Peter Kenyon alongside him as well who I think also bears the responsibility of many of our actions then. Yet you'd have both of them back in a 'dream team'?

Too much faith and too high a level of importance is put into 'philosophies' or 'vogues'. Sports science is a part of success, but players and tactics win matches and if you fail to have the right players and tactics you'll lose matches. The science bit provides small parts of competitive advantage. He might be able to present a good case and be a good politician, and sometimes bullshit baffles brains but only for so long. Another case of over-promotion or a person who makes a small part of the machine being given power beyond his capability. I'd absolutely back Bruce Buck, he has a legal background and advises Roman from legal and regulatory perspectives and as far as I can see has little to do with footballing matters, that's why I'd keep him. He also, in the past has drawn the short-straw when having to face the fans, probably because he says he is and the other board members are not and baulk when faced with doing it. If you're blaming Kenyon for the malaise now, you're on the wrong horse. He left because of the in-fighting and power struggles, as far as I can ascertain he wanted Jose to remain for the very purpose of stability.

I see our current predicament as the culmination of years of mismanagement. We simply didn't plan for the future which is why we're suffering now and we're actually building something sustainable. If you actually had expectations that it would be a faultless transition then I can see why you'd be disappointed in Emenalo

Maybe so regards years of mismanagement, however when you change you expect certain things and Emenalo will have disappointed. What I expect is unimportant, what Roman and the Board expects is a whole different matter, do you think they expect us struggling for fourth, out of the CL in the group stages, losing two-legged semi's to Swansea, getting hammered by A. Madrid, losing to Corinthians, having no better a style of football now than we had in 2004/5? That's Emenalo's baby there, along with the managers of course.

But there is a consistent system which is fairly amazing considering the change in managers we've had to endure. Each one comes in and wants to treat the youth differently yet Neil Bath and his coaches have done a remarkable job in engendering an ethos that goes from age-group to age-group. You say he's had two years, I say he's only had two years and that it's fair too early in his tenure to judge him based on the massive task he had after years of mistakes. We neglected players in the age group 18-24 for almost two seasons and now we're surprised that we're lacking key players in that age-group?

What system is that? I cannot see it. You're right Neil Bath and the coaches seem to be doing good jobs at their age group levels. The stated aim of the acadamy was to produce one player a season into the first-team squad, failed and failed during Emenalo's time here. How long does he need? In two major roles at the club he's now had 5 seasons. If a 5-year plan has produced almost zip, then we've the wrong man. We've not neglected players, they've not been good enough! Again I've stated the fact that we've developed Jack Cork as a regular PL first team squad member and no others for any PL side during the last 5-6 seasons and brought Ryan Bertrand into the squad here, in no way can that be classed as success.

I don't know at this stage. I'd personally like to see what the squad make-up would be at the start of next season before making a judgment because I don't think I can make a fair one at this stage. If we have Chalobah, Lukaku, De Bruyne and one other (possibly Piazon, maybe one of the younger defenders current in Holland) in the first-team squad, and we sign the right players (a midfielder is essential, other positions are up for debate) then I don't think he'd deserve to go. If he doesn't do that then I'll be calling for his head too.

He's had his time for me, we'll pay close to £18m for Lukaku, under Emenalo's watch and he didn't have the faintest idea of how to use him or what to do with him until others became involved, exactly the same was happening with Piazon. There are too many instances of Emenalo failing - He's a dud, a fraud and a political mover just like the guy who got him appointed to the club in the first place. He's in it to make a good few quid out of Roman's football naivety/desire to prove you can run a football club this way. Cut our losses with him and get some quality in there. the key is that the Boss has to recognise his way of doing things has failed and he has to change his own mindset. If that doesn't change, we'll be where we are right now consistently and the Boss will be paying for it. That's fine until he gets pissed off completely and calls it a day. Sometimes better the one you know, with their faults than the ones you don't know.

I think that Roman is a football fan (an extremely rich one) with the ultimate hobby tool, our club and he's made mistakes. They are forgiveable of course, in my mind anyway, but he needs to learn from them.

[Styles 9,790]

Again, it's hard to say how much of that is down to Forde. He's by no means the final say on transfers and I'm not sure who you'd get in to replace him if we went down that route.

This is Mike Forde's own words:

"In any leading business there's always someone whose job is to pinpoint what's around the corner because what was extraordinary yesterday is very ordinary tomorrow," said Forde in an interview with the Guardian earlier this year, with his role having been very much aimed at giving Bolton any competitive edge that was possible.

He has been an abject failure if that is his remit at Chelsea.

[Styles 9,790]

I know I don't post much but it's funny how I was about to echo Style's posts almost as they are. Emenalo isn't even on the Football board, it's laughable to place significant blame on him unless someone thinks that we didn't get 20 more points in the league in the last few seasons (including this one) because our U21 scouting underachieved.

Buck and Gourley are more about the business side of the club so as much as people hate them they're irrelevant. I one wants to look past Russian millionaires I can only think of 3 people on the Footbal Board who in the last 5 years held footballing positions and could be blamed for our decline. One of them left a couple years ago one is Tenenbaum who we know nothing about and then there's Forde the performance director at one of the most consistently underperforming clubs in Europe.

...and that's a shame! Hope everything is ok mate.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I'll just say that he wouldn't be the first person at Chelsea to have things that perhaps he should be consulted with on, to be by passed, and it's my understanding that's exactly what occurred.

That type of behaviour was actually not uncommon before Emenalo's appointment. The departments were too disparate which meant people were occasionally working at crossed purposes. To me, that is the value in having a Technical Director, especially when you don't have a long-standing manager in place.

And again it's my understanding that Roman may well have trusted him, however the situation has changed, largely down to his prominent role in the appointment of the second least successful Manager (during Roman's tenure) and in fact he was on 'duty' when the least successful Manager was appointed. Doesn't make good reading for Emenalo those last two bits.

Interesting view here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/michael-emenalo-must-take-responsibility-1735980

The problem with that appointment was that the club (Roman in particular) was focused on getting Guardiola. That pursuit is another thing that caused a lot of problems at the club. The problem the club faced was finding someone who was available, prepared to accept that they wouldn't be able to make their own signings in January and was happy to leave after six months to be replaced by Pep. That was a very, very short list of candidates and Benitez was viewed by some as having the best resume for the job.

I think everyone underestimated the depth of feeling amongst certain supporters.

Too much faith and too high a level of importance is put into 'philosophies' or 'vogues'. Sports science is a part of success, but players and tactics win matches and if you fail to have the right players and tactics you'll lose matches. The science bit provides small parts of competitive advantage.

And matches at the top level come down to 1-2% in certain areas. We lost a Champions League final by the width of a goal post.

He might be able to present a good case and be a good politician, and sometimes bullshit baffles brains but only for so long. Another case of over-promotion or a person who makes a small part of the machine being given power beyond his capability. I'd absolutely back Bruce Buck, he has a legal background and advises Roman from legal and regulatory perspectives and as far as I can see has little to do with footballing matters, that's why I'd keep him. He also, in the past has drawn the short-straw when having to face the fans, probably because he says he is and the other board members are not and baulk when faced with doing it. If you're blaming Kenyon for the malaise now, you're on the wrong horse. He left because of the in-fighting and power struggles, as far as I can ascertain he wanted Jose to remain for the very purpose of stability.

I like Buck. I think his (and Gourlay's) support of JT during the trial and in the aftermath was exemplary behaviour from a chairman but you can't ignore what went on at the club for those 7 years after Roman bought it. The same goes for Kenyon. I'm not entirely sure why some people are immune from blame yet others aren't if we're going to simply judge them on the results. We're having to change course now precisely because we didn't do the right things in those years and surely these people have to shoulder some of the blame because they were there.

Maybe so regards years of mismanagement, however when you change you expect certain things and Emenalo will have disappointed. What I expect is unimportant, what Roman and the Board expects is a whole different matter, do you think they expect us struggling for fourth, out of the CL in the group stages, losing two-legged semi's to Swansea, getting hammered by A. Madrid, losing to Corinthians, having no better a style of football now than we had in 2004/5? That's Emenalo's baby there, along with the managers of course.

So you accept that we had years of mismanagement? Would that've been under Kenyon and Buck perchance?

so Emenalo gets the blame for that after two years in the job? I'm going to take a wild guess that he doesn't get any credit for what happened in Munich. That's good, because he doesn't deserve any. You can't pick and choose what you want to acknowledge. That success came on the backs of key men like Drogba and Lamps carrying the team, but we didn't have a plan for what came after that and that's a plan that should've been started in 2008.

If you want to talk about his baby, then look at what's going on at the club as a whole. Look at the prospects we have and the team we might be fielding next August. I know football fans can be prisoners of the moment, but any Chelsea fan who isn't excited by the prospect of a team featuring Hazard, Oscar, Mata, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Chalobah, Azpi, Courtois, Piazon, Ake and maybe even kids like Feruz and Swifty might as well hand in their season tickets now. That to me is as much Chelsea as the struggles we're having now (although we did finish sixth last year so yay for us).

What system is that? I cannot see it. You're right Neil Bath and the coaches seem to be doing good jobs at their age group levels. The stated aim of the acadamy was to produce one player a season into the first-team squad, failed and failed during Emenalo's time here. How long does he need? In two major roles at the club he's now had 5 seasons. If a 5-year plan has produced almost zip, then we've the wrong man. We've not neglected players, they've not been good enough! Again I've stated the fact that we've developed Jack Cork as a regular PL first team squad member and no others for any PL side during the last 5-6 seasons and brought Ryan Bertrand into the squad here, in no way can that be classed as success.

Emenalo has been in charge for less than two seasons and the simple fact is that the development paths for players before he took over was FUCKING SHIT. I think you're being massively unfair on him now. As I've said, if Lukaku, Chalobah, De Bruyne and one other (possibly Ake or one of the young defenders) doesn't make it into the squad next season I'll be calling for his head but I think you're being massively premature on this one. We've got 24 players out on loan now, and they're good loans in my opinion. We weren't doing this under Arnesen but I give him a pass too because youth team development doesn't happen overnight. Now we're got a great system and it's starting to bear fruits.

He's had his time for me, we'll pay close to £18m for Lukaku, under Emenalo's watch and he didn't have the faintest idea of how to use him or what to do with him until others became involved, exactly the same was happening with Piazon. There are too many instances of Emenalo failing - He's a dud, a fraud and a political mover just like the guy who got him appointed to the club in the first place. He's in it to make a good few quid out of Roman's football naivety/desire to prove you can run a football club this way. Cut our losses with him and get some quality in there. the key is that the Boss has to recognise his way of doing things has failed and he has to change his own mindset. If that doesn't change, we'll be where we are right now consistently and the Boss will be paying for it. That's fine until he gets pissed off completely and calls it a day. Sometimes better the one you know,

with their faults than the ones you don't know.

Again, I don't recognise any of what you're saying as being close to reality. Lukaku wasn't ready for PL football in his first season. He was overweight and in the summer plenty of people wrote him off. In the same thread on this forum people are now saying he should be PL young player of the year. Piazon's development was textbook - youth team success, first team experience, first team loan with CL experience. That came as a direct result of our dealings with Malaga for Isco apparently, something I'm sure you're aware Emenalo was involved in.

And the idea that Roman is naive is absurd. Do you know many naive billionaires?

I think that Roman is a football fan (an extremely rich one) with the ultimate hobby tool, our club and he's made mistakes. They are forgiveable of course, in my mind anyway, but he needs to learn from them.

I think he has. I think the change in direction that the club has taken shows that but it's not a change that will happen overnight. It can't do. This is our penance for doing things the wrong way for so long (of course the people in charge then weren't to blame) but now we're doing them properly and I'm encouraged by that.

[bushman 2,043]

If I may, just one little thing out of it all.

Roman is NAIVE, I read. Holy macaroni.

Personally, I have never heard of any naive billionaires, I might add.

The guy is not some stupid kid out of Russia, just trust me on it.

I also believe he studies & knows plenty about football.

[Kostas 1,468]

...and that's a shame! Hope everything is ok mate.

Likewise! As far as as I'm concerned everything's probably better than what it was when I was posting regularly I'll hopefully deside one fine day to get on a coach and attend an away game (within this year).

It's just that I barely have enough time to watch Chelsea nevermind have discussions around it. My only exposure to Chelsea related arguments comes from twitter so I'd love to follow you there if you've got an account.

[MHL 47 378]

@Theonlyplacetobe & @bushman

I know a few very wealthy men who are naive and foolish, they might not be naive with their profession and what made them rich in the first place. However when it comes to a passion they've wasted, been taken for millions.

If you read my post you'll see that it was qualified. How would you class the billion or so it cost Roman because he fancied a new model/maiden at home - so you see a Billionaire and his money can be quite easily parted. As can his judgement be flawed by a 'pretty young thing'. As have countless others.

We're his football version of a 'pretty young thing'.

Football mis-management came from Roman. He clearly has believed the things preached to him about being able to run a club with the know-nothings, who needed a get rich quick scheme and recognised Roman as being able to fund their futures.

I'd like to respond in greater detail but I've a game to go to, maybe later.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Emenalo has been in chelsea since 2007 but became director of football in 2011.

Positives -

We started planning more for the future as most of our recent signings(mata, hazard, oscar, azpi, moses, piazon, kdb, lukaku, courtois, etc) point to that fact, especially compared to how it was before (torres, ballack, shevchenko, etc).

The older ones we signed (merieles, benayoun, Ba) were all CHEAP signings to solve present situations at that time. Especially the case of missing out on an original target, (modric) so they filled some gaps in the squad.

We have about 15 young players on loan gaining experience in order to break into chelsea squad as a good talented player. Some of them are a success so far, (Lukaku, Debruyne, chalobah, courtois and hopefully piazon)

They have been given the opportunites to break into chelsea using the same methods sir alex used for welbeck, cleverly, and wenger used for wilshere.

We finally made some profit in accordance with the FFP. Big thanks to RDM for that. We are also up for a deal with a company which will take effect in the records next season to add some profit to us. I never thought we would cope before, but i see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Negatives

Responsible for hiring FSW. He could be blamed for the thin squad we HAD before the january transfer because of afcon and injuries. The fact we had only one striker this season is Ron Goulray's fault and not emenalo. Proof is the comment goulray made about trusting torres at the begining of the season.

In general, i think he was brought in to chip in ideas to cope with FFP, which is one hell of a job on its own, and to help with building a team for the future. Its hard but we are better in terms of money spending than before 2011 when he arrived.

I read somewhere that jose coming back depends on Emenalo stepping down, unfortunately its a no brainer, he should move back to the scouts if that is what it takes to get Jose here.

Our managerial situation is a bigger priority, hence i think emenalo can come back only if jose moves on from us.

[Styles 9,790]

Likewise! As far as as I'm concerned everything's probably better than what it was when I was posting regularly I'll hopefully deside one fine day to get on a coach and attend an away game (within this year).

It's just that I barely have enough time to watch Chelsea nevermind have discussions around it. My only exposure to Chelsea related arguments comes from twitter so I'd love to follow you there if you've got an account.

That's great to hear man :tophat:

I haven't joined the twitter craze just yet haha, I always think I'll end up wasting far more time on there than I should so I've resisted temptation so far lol.

[The only place to be 11,313]

@Theonlyplacetobe & @bushman

I know a few very wealthy men who are naive and foolish, they might not be naive with their profession and what made them rich in the first place. However when it comes to a passion they've wasted, been taken for millions.

If you read my post you'll see that it was qualified. How would you class the billion or so it cost Roman because he fancied a new model/maiden at home - so you see a Billionaire and his money can be quite easily parted. As can his judgement be flawed by a 'pretty young thing'. As have countless others.

As well as being somewhat misogynistic, that's a little disrespectful to a man who has done a lot for this club when neither you nor I know the full circumstances of the situation. Divorces happen and I'm not one of these people who likes the tabloid intrusion into people's lives and the way complete strangers feel like they can pass judgment with few facts. I don't think it reflects on his judgment in the slightest and is a bit of a cheap shot.

We're his football version of a 'pretty young thing'.

Football mis-management came from Roman. He clearly has believed the things preached to him about being able to run a club with the know-nothings, who needed a get rich quick scheme and recognised Roman as being able to fund their futures.

I'd like to respond in greater detail but I've a game to go to, maybe later.

Again, I think this is a very slanted view. You can judge these guys on their results but passing judgment on their motives as if they're nothing more than caricatures is a bit out of bounds and really adds nothing to the real debate.

I don't buy into the view that they're strippers taking advantage of a wealthy benefactor - I think Roman has made mistakes, and I also think the people who were involved in the early days of his reign (Buck and Kenyon who you seem loathe to assail in even the merest of ways) made mistakes which have had far reaching consequences.

In this thread it would be nice to stick to criticising the results and I'll agree they are a mixed bag but in terms of assessing what is actually under Emenalo's remit, I think things are moving in the right direction.

[MHL 47 378]

As well as being somewhat misogynistic, that's a little disrespectful to a man who has done a lot for this club when neither you nor I know the full circumstances of the situation. Divorces happen and I'm not one of these people who likes the tabloid intrusion into people's lives and the way complete strangers feel like they can pass judgment with few facts. I don't think it reflects on his judgment in the slightest and is a bit of a cheap shot.

Again, I think this is a very slanted view. You can judge these guys on their results but passing judgment on their motives as if they're nothing more than caricatures is a bit out of bounds and really adds nothing to the real debate.

I don't buy into the view that they're strippers taking advantage of a wealthy benefactor - I think Roman has made mistakes, and I also think the people who were involved in the early days of his reign (Buck and Kenyon who you seem loathe to assail in even the merest of ways) made mistakes which have had far reaching consequences.

In this thread it would be nice to stick to criticising the results and I'll agree they are a mixed bag but in terms of assessing what is actually under Emenalo's remit, I think things are moving in the right direction.

You called a view of mine 'absurd' on the basis that Billionaires aren't naive, I qualified that view and gave a perfectly reasonable 'view' of how they can be, I don't know the detail of his personal life and don't want to either, however I think it's a reasonable view and one supported by a number of sources of information at the time.

"Disrespectful" - Get over yourself, you think he's beyond critisism in all this? If his head can be turned by one thing, it can be turned by another, what was given was an example. I don't know him and unless he's your Dad I guess you don't either. He seems to act like a fan (and good on him) and if he is, perhaps he'll act like one i.e. sometimes taking decisions with a passion and heart rather than his head.

I personally think Roman has been poorly advised by people already mentioned and people who haven't generally been mentioned. Grant had far to much influence with Roman and maybe still has. If I'm correct your view is that you seem to think the new people he has with him are better than the last set, I disagree, we're in crisis, f**k me they bring in a manager who was never, ever going to work (and believe me I'm not a person who thought Di Matteo was the long term answer and sings his name every game), if they can't get that simple decision right, and that is who not to bring in, because he'll never be accepted and the anti-feelings about him are so strong it'll make it impossible for the fella, even if he was the messiah.

The results since Emenalo have been generally poor, the worst league form since Roman bought the club. He's the technical director and he takes his share of the blame - fair enough? 3 managers sacked since his appointment into that role, he'd have some part in appointing them? Once in his timeframe is perhaps unlucky, twice is suspect, three times shows that you really shouldn't be doing that part of your job because you're not very good at it.

You have a view (I think) that the future of the club is the youth and that that development is going swimmingly well and part of that is down to him. I've a diametrically opposed view to that and I think he's an imposter of the worst kind.

We'll have to wait and see how it turns out.