Michael Emenalo (Technical Director, Chelsea)

[The only place to be 11,313]

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.

I don't think it's 'perfectly reasonable' in the slightest considering the lack of information you, I and the media at large has on the issue. The fact you actually admit you don't know the details should possibly lead you to not passing comment or judgment on it.

"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 do not believe he's beyond criticism, hence me criticising him. You're commenting on his personal life and his relationships which is an area he tends to keep secret and you're confusing the issues here. I have no problem with commenting and criticising his ownership of Chelsea, but his relationships and the way he views women (a new model/maiden at home? Come on, really?) are things you aren't qualified to comment on (remember that time you said you don't know the details of his personal life?) and don't really have a place outside a women's gossip mag.

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.

I agree with some of that, but obviously I think that we're moving in a positive direction at the moment in regards our recruitment and development of playing staff.

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.

And again, I think it's too early to judge him. AVB and RDM were popular choices brought in under different circumstances and my personal view is that they both failed in part due to mistakes made 3 years before they joined the club. We simply made too many mistakes in the first 7 years of Roman's ownership.

In short, both managers weren't given the best eggs.

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.

I could not agree more with your final point. We do have to wait and see because we're in the middle of a transition from one way of doing business to another. I don't think it's all down to him though. Arnesen deserves credit for what he put in motion as do people like De Visser. My view is that these things don't happen overnight. They take time and they're very rarely smooth, faultless operations but arduous, painful processes - but nothing worth doing in life is easy.

To put it in terms of another of Roman's loves, football clubs aren't speedboats. You don't just flick a wrist and do a 180 - they're great big barges which take time, planning and occasionally a little luck to make a course change but to me we're making that change.

I've even said that I'll join you in calling for his head if I don't see more young players in the squad at the start of next season because that is going to be the key indicator of the job he's doing in my opinion.

If he ain't delivering those eggs then he can fuck off.

[MHL 47 378]

The fact you actually admit you don't know the details should possibly lead you to not passing comment or judgment on it.

This must be like the comment regarding 'baggage' you made about John Terry then, clearly none of know the detail on this either, unfair to comment or pass judgement? - touche

[The only place to be 11,313]

This must be like the comment regarding 'baggage' you made about John Terry then, clearly none of know the detail on this either, unfair to comment or pass judgement? - touche

But I know the details of his court case, and the FA report on him. That's what I was referring to when I mentioned it and subsequently referred to the race issues when talking about him going to the Chinese, Russian and US leagues. I even made a remark about him and Zenit.

So not really touche.

[MHL 47 378]

But I know the details of his court case, and the FA report on him. That's what I was referring to when I mentioned it and subsequently referred to the race issues when talking about him going to the Chinese, Russian and US leagues. I even made a remark about him and Zenit.

So not really touche.

You said 'baggage', that by inferance would include other supposed incidents, would it not

On the other matters, do you know what he said, how it was said.

Just using your 'rules'. Point is we all do this at times.

Have at thee.

[The only place to be 11,313]

You said 'baggage', that by inferance would include other supposed incidents, would it not

On the other matters, do you know what he said, how it was said.

Just using your 'rules'. Point is we all do this at times.

Have at thee.

It could, but I didn't mean it like that. I personally have no interest in his personal life unless it impacts his football.

The fact is that he did have a court case and he was found guilty by the FA of something related to race - that in itself affects his image in certain markets if he's looking to move to one of them.

[MHL 47 378]

It could, but I didn't mean it like that. I personally have no interest in his personal life unless it impacts his football.

The fact is that he did have a court case and he was found guilty by the FA of something related to race - that in itself affects his image in certain markets if he's looking to move to one of them.

Terry was proved not guilty in a court of law, the highest court in the country - No 'baggage' at all for me.

Do you seriously believe his image has been effected by a kangeroo court the FA convened because they had to find him guilty of something to appease the FA's desire to be seen as being hard on racism and all the Chelsea and JT hating media plus the other clubs fans, many of the latter being far more guilty of racially aggravated language and meaning than Terry would have ever been. I'm playing devil's advocate now and to quote you perhaps Terry 'didn't mean it like that'.

Would the MLS take JT? How about PSG? A German club? The only one who might not are other English clubs and that's more about tribalism than it would be about racism.

Anyway back to the point it's what you write that gets seen, not the meaning - do you see what I mean.

[Fernando 6,498]

So now that Schurrle is officially signed, we can thank Emanolo for that.

Another part from his scouting resources.

Weather it comes good or bad, we will see. But someone like Schurrle is what we really needed to help us give a balance to the squad.

There is still a bit more work to do, but I'm liking what this guy has done for our club.

[Tomo 21,736]

Nobody seems to divide opinion from Chelsea fans like Emenalo does (not even Mikel) some don't think he has done a good job, some do but won't admit it because they still have the hump he replaced Wilkins as assistant manager and some think he has done a great job.

I am in the latter of those people.

When he got the job in the first place understandably their was some skepticism, after all he didn't have much experience and didn't really pull up any tree's as the assistant manager, but for me he has done a sterling job in the last two years and im surprised their are still many doubters.

When he took over the role in 2011, we just came out of an absolutely horrific season, since 2008 their has been warning sign's that our team are getting on and we need to slowly replace these players sooner rather than later, we didn't and it all came to a horrifying head in the 2010-2011 season. The team completely stagnated, no creativity, lethargic, none of the power and will we became accustomed to seeing from these bunch of players. Apart from the first game of the season against West Brom and an FA Cup 3rd round tie against a woeful Ipswich, i can't think of a single convincing performance we had all season, at times we were borderline comatose.

In the 2 years he has been DOF, his work has played a big part of changing us to the most ageing stagnant teams in the country to a side bursting with young talent and a very bright future at the top of English football. Courtois, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard, Oscar, Van Ginkel have all been signed since he took the role and (with the exception of McEachran to Swansea) the loans we are sending our young players on have been very successful.

For me is doing a great job and played a big part in overhauling the average age of our squad so successfully and quickly, given the state our squad looked in 2011 seeing it now is the stuff of dreams in comparison.

[Jase 43,479]

Sorry @Tomo. Had to merge that piece to this Emenalo thread. Didn't think it was extensive or contain enough in-depth reasons/analysis as to why you said Emenalo has done a great job. You basically only mentioned one point, which was overhauling an aging squad.

Hope you understand.

[We Hate Scouse 10,287]

The guy came from absolutely no where. He's different class.

[Kostas 1,468]

Probably offtopic but since I couldn't find another Football Board related topic: Apparently Mike Forde (you know the person who actually is a member of the Board) has resigned and left the club. Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Probably offtopic but since I couldn't find another Football Board related topic: Apparently Mike Forde (you know the person who actually is a member of the Board) has resigned and left the club. Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere.

I wonder why he resigned

[hjperdeath 2,226]

I wonder why he resigned

He had a developmental role at the club, but all the systems were in palce. So he basically was getting paid for just making sure everything is right instead of creating something new. He wanted a new challenge , so he left.

[coolhead23 1,146]

EMENALO: PLANS IN PLACE

Posted on: Sun 08 Sep 2013

The nine months ahead are the testing ground for much hard work, preparation and thinking that went before, but with the pre-season completed and the squad finalised until January at least with the closing of the transfer window, now is the time to sit down with technical director Michael Emenalo to review the summer moves, plus the planning for the current campaign and seasons to come.

The official Chelsea website did just that this week and in part two of the interview tomorrow, Emenalo will look in detail at the use of the loan system by the club. Today he considers player recruitment, youth development and this summer's pre-season.

'The first thing to say is we are happy to have Jose [Mourinho] back,' Emenalo says.

'He is a very good decision maker and a trusted component in the decision-making process due to what he has achieved here. He came in with clear ideas of what he wanted to do, which were not dissimilar from what we were already in the process of doing, and that helped.

'I am very happy with the squad we have created. You can't always get exactly what you want but in the main we were very close.

'With the ambition of the club and the owner, and his goodwill in following that ambition with investment, we try to have a short-term and a long-term project and we feel we are satisfying that.'

Those projects mean recruiting players who can deliver on the pitch in the immediate future and players who will help the club continue to grow for a long time ahead. The squad additions for this season include young players purchased during the last few years but then loaned to play at a high level elsewhere before returning, a policy Emenalo will discuss tomorrow.

They also include totally fresh faces including young ones of great potential plus the experience of Mark Schwarzer and Samuel Eto'o. The striker's arrival last week showed the club will still sign well-established star names when the time is right.

'We are looking for continuity at the top level, a very high standard, so when we recruit an older player we hope it is one that will give us that continuity, and we also look to have the right base in that particular position.

'In the case of Samuel Eto'o, it was an open secret that we wanted Wayne Rooney and I don't need to explain what the idea is behind wanting a player like Rooney.

'But we are not desperate and we know for the future we have Romelu Lukaku and incredible hope that he will come through and lead the line. People keep forgetting that he is only 20 and looking at the short-term plan, we don't want to put too much pressure on a young player like him.

'So if we weren't able to get Rooney and we had Lukaku, Ba and Torres, we felt comfortable with them but we also felt comfortable to bring Eto'o to give us a little bit of competition, because we wanted to freshen up that position. We have every confidence in Torres, Ba and Lukaku but with Eto'o we have bought experience.'

The younger players added to the squad have been acquired from other clubs but hopes are high that the Chelsea Academy is soon to be a main source. Changes to competition structure for the teams below first team level are considered crucial in allowing that to happen.

'We are very happy we now have a system for both academy and Under-21 teams that allows the young players to play a lot of games, because the only way you develop young players is for them to play,' insists Emenalo.

'When I first came to Chelsea, the reserves had an 18-game schedule and that was not going to prepare a young player for the first team and to compete with someone like Frank Lampard who was playing 60 games, or Michael Essien who was playing 55.

'It wasn't right and it unfortunately affected some young players who were in the first team squad and weren't playing a lot. At the end of the season some had a combined total at all levels of 16 games or even less, so you lose a season and I feel convinced that if those players over a two-year period had played 35 games a season like Lewis Baker has just done, they would be much closer to the first team than they are now.'

Emenalo highlights the importance especially of an increased game load for the Under-21 team due to their league format changing, and has already noted the benefit.

'When Nathan Ake had his chance with the first team last season he did not have one single moment of cramp. When we took Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Andreas Christensen to play in America against Manchester City at the end of the season, they survived it without cramps too and that is because they play a huge amount of games now which helps their lung capacity and their legs, and they are able to sustain difficult games at high intensity so that is a big change.

'When the next batch of players come from the Academy or come back from loan, they are much more ready than they used to be, and we have very good young English players and young foreign players we have developed here who we feel in the near future will come to the first team and will stay.'

First team physical, technical and tactical preparation this summer took place in Asia and the United States as well as a week at Cobham at the start and at the end, and our technical director reports very positively on an important six weeks.

'The pre-season was outstanding,' he says.

'The manager was incredible, with great ideas which he started to implement with the players from day one. The players responded amazingly and it was one of the best pre-seasons I have seen here.

'We had to do a lot of travelling to make it all happen and in the early games against Hull and Aston Villa we suffered physically a little because we came back and players had to go on international duties, but in terms of preparation, work and bonding it was absolutely wonderful and the level of matches we played was good preparation.'

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3451487/title/emenalo-plans-in-place?

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/8/4706636/chelsea-technical-director-michael-emenalo-mourinho-lukaku-youth-development

[English Freak 456]

Emenalo has done well in the role given to him at Chelsea.

Pleased at the signings we've made in this transfer window...the only thing that doesn't make sense is Moses on loan at Liverpool.

Our academy is finally heading in the right direction...with the likes of Nathan Aké getting opportunities in the Europa league and RLC getting some valuable pre-season games.

Also, our club seems to have found better loan destinations for the young players..rather than sending players to the Championship or League 1.

The Vitesse partnership will be valuable for both clubs (our fringe players get development time and Vitesse get the chance to play in European competition).

[kellzfresh 7,229]

The best thing that can happen to chelsea youth development is if vitesse make it into champions league. With our partnership, it would be absolutely massive for us.

[Phil Driver 503]

So long as he sticks to his brief of scouting and not interfering with Jose than he will be ok and Jose should still have the final say on who we sign ,he is an advisor to Jose in my opinion.

[coolhead23 1,146]

EMENALO: PLANS IN PLACE - PART TWO

Yesterday, Chelsea's technical director Michael Emenalo spoke about players coming into the squad, youth development and the pre-season. In part two of the interview today, he looks at loans…

Anyone who observed Chelsea in the transfer market and our use of the loan system in the last couple of years is likely to have noticed a trend.

Players with youth on their side but good first team experience in other leagues, and often with international caps to their names too, have been signed and then loaned out to play top-flight football elsewhere.

Potentially those players had an immediate part to play in the Chelsea squad but in the case of Kevin De Bruyne, an extra season impressing in the Bundesliga following a half-season loan at his former club in Belgium made sure he was ready for this season at the Bridge.

Regular action at Vitesse Arnhem helped Tomas Kalas win his first Czech Republic cap and convince Jose Mourinho he could play a part this year.

This summer Wallace went on loan to Inter Milan and current Ghana international Christian Atsu is at Vitesse having been recruited from Porto. Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtios continue as loan players in top-level leagues, and there are a range of other loans through the younger ages at the club.

'It is a pattern,' confirms Chelsea's technical director Michael Emenalo, 'and this season is a good test for what we've implemented with young players given the stipulations of Financial Fair Play, but even regardless of the Financial Fair Play regulations, we think this is the best way to go.'

The loan policy is one the club believes has merit in ensuring the conveyor belt of developing players heading towards the first team has an even spread of potential along its length, and not just clusters at particular ages. Young players coming into the first team at Chelsea are asked to begin at a very high standard indeed, and they need to be ready for that.

'When I came here six years ago we had great players but what we had below those great players were players too young and too far apart to be able to integrate them. Now we have great players and they are not so far apart. Now we have a player like Frank Lampard at 35 but then we have quality players in Ramires, John Mikel Obi, Michael Essien and Marco van Ginkel, and then we have from the Academy young players who can come in and do the job like Nathaniel Chalobah and Josh McEachran.

'We are trying to bridge the gap and at left-back now behind Ashley Cole we have Ryan Bertand but we also have Patrick van Aanholt.

'We have Romelu Lukaku who soon will be able to come back in and Juan Mata is 25, Oscar and Hazard are 22 but behind them from the Academy, in terms of age, Lewis Baker, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Jeremie Boga are not too far away.

'By the time those older guys are 27, the younger ones will be around 22 and ready. The gap is not too big and that makes it easier to bring through young players.'

As current Academy players progress towards a regular place in the first team squad, time out on loan at some stage is highly likely despite optimism that the reconfigured Under-21 League is raising the standard of the competition at that level. Emenalo spoke yesterday about the importance of more games for developing players.

Comparisons have recently been made in the media between the number of players Chelsea have out on loan and the number for other top clubs in Europe, but that can be misleading given for instance the 'B' sides of the Spanish giants playing in the lower divisions there.

'We are trying to find a way because given Financial Fair Play stipulations we need to recruit young and we also need to have a reservoir of talent that we develop,' says Emenalo.

'We identified that for young players, the ages of 18 to 21 is the most difficult time as they wonder if they are good enough for the Chelsea first team and what is next for them. When they only play in the Reserves/Under-21s from 18 to 20 you don't get them to ascend to the level where they are ready to come into the first team and do a job properly.

'We felt it is better for them at that age to go on loan to somewhere where they get visibility and good competition. For psychological and physical reasons that is the best thing to do at that age. They test themselves and they feel good about competing at a higher level, and it also gives us a chance to evaluate them and know if they are ready to come back.

'While we are doing that, the players who are very talented from 16 to 18-years-old get the opportunity to play 45 games in a very good Under-21 league, the UEFA Youth League and the FA Youth Cup. So the development from 16 to 18 is perfect because they have the right games to play, and from 18 to 21 they can go on loan and have the right games to play and it gives us the opportunity to develop them properly and to evaluate them.

'What is happening with the Under-21 league is a good thing but it still doesn't help with a talented Chelsea player at 20. He is aspiring to a higher level if you look at Kenneth Omeruo who is not even 20 yet, or Tomas Kalas.'

Omeruo, who is a full Nigeria international, and Kalas (pictured above left) were on loan last season and were near-ever-presents in the Dutch top flight. Similar applies to slightly older players like Van Aanholt and Gael Kakuta.

With the reasons why players are sent on loan clear, the other question is where to send them. There are offers every year from many clubs who want an informal relationship for us to help each other out regarding loans, and plenty of clubs have been involved in loans with Chelsea.

'If it is working with Vitesse it is because the Dutch league plays in a desirable way and they have done what they promised,' explains Emenalo.

'When they say they want a player and we say are you sure you need him and they say yes, the player actually does play.

'If tomorrow a Championship team in England wants the same kind of relationship with us it is no problem, Vitesse has no exclusivity. We sent Josh McEachran to Middlesbrough and he played a lot and we were very happy with that, and if Middlesbrough want a player in the future we will be happy to send him because we think we have a good relationship and we have confidence the player will be very well looked after.

'The loan process at Chelsea has become very professional and a good deal of thought has gone into it,' Emenalo sums up.

'We don't send players out because we are trying to recover some money, we send them because we want them to play and develop and we want to monitor them. We have a system in place, headed by me and with Eddie Newton supported by [head of player welfare] Kevin Campello, that means we keep a close eye on them and the manager knows exactly what is happening at all times.'

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3452299/title/emenalo-plans-in-place---part-two?

http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2013/9/9/4710130/technical-director-michael-emenalo-explains-chelsea-loan-policy