The Board

[Leif 6,006]

The media writing about this scenario, saying how it furthers our 'crisis' etc. (which is the narrative), are surely clueless.
They normally spend most of their time talking about managers + players - are we to believe they're suddenly deeply informed about the Technical Directors / DoF's in the league? I don't really know shit about the board at United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool. But i do know my club. How on earth would they have even a scratch of knowledge regarding this compared to us, the actual club ourselves? It's just not something either a casual fan nor a journalist really takes an interest in (the staff at clubs they don't support.)

We only let those fools put doubt in our minds because of their clout. And they have to write stories, it's their job. But, they know nothing. Maybe 2 established journalists in the UK are knee-deep in Chelsea knowledge.

[Leif 6,006]

My last words (hopefully) on this -

Whether him or Marina, regarding 1 or 2 particular, big things, there is no 'scapegoating' involved - 

No buy-back clause on De Bruyne. No buy-back clause on Lukaku. Allowing Matic to go directly to United. Did we even include a sell-on fee in the De Bruyne/Lukaku deals? What about a buy-back clause on Bertrand who was god damn decent, and is now god damn great? (I really miss him, and we could really use him.)
Nevermind stupidity like signing Cuadrado (I don't think a manager (Jose?) requested him) just to loan him out etc, and continually holding onto players beyond their best days (Willian being the most obvious culprit).

Those moves weren't Roman's responsibility, nor Buck, nor the managers. It was the responsibility of 1 or even both of the supposedly good-enough Emenalo/Marina.

Passive and reckless way of handling things at the same time. More like a man throwing darts praying for a bullseye, hitting it 1 time out of 10, instead of a viper who hits his target perfectly 9 times out of 10. 

I'm excited to see who we bring in, only because it really is a position that can change your game entirely (look at Roma, improving with Monchi, and Sevilla, going from a great team to nobodies the moment Monchi leaves. That said, Monchi is an entirely great figure, so his impact good or bad will always be big.)

 

[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

FINALLY! Away with you!
That Grasvoiaska woman next, please!

 

Should we say....there was palpable discord between Conte and the individual? 

[Jase 43,479]

Uh oh.

[Special Juan 27,103]

We have penny pinched for ages in the transfer market, of course it will happen with staff behind the scenes.

[manpe 10,855]

27 minutes ago, Jason said:

Uh oh.

Director Marina Granovskaia, who is primarily in charge of transfer negotiations, is taking over his duties for the time being. That means the scouting network and academy director Neil Bath is reporting directly to her.

 

Great, proper football people reporting to a bureaucrat who has no clue about that field. Sounds just like how real life works for common folk.

[quickpassnmove 924]

If true, more responsibility and blame for Granovskaia, so one step closer to her being gone.

[Blusan Alamb 295]

Bad news for Conte if Marina gets more power. Emenalo was siding with Conte in this three-way power struggle.

[DDA 9,570]

23 hours ago, Styles said:

Left on his terms like a real man. Even down to the end he kept his dignity and never once embarrassed the club.

And who can blame him for leaving? Four years of working with clowns like Mourinho and Conte would drive anybody crazy. Kudos to him for lasting this long.

He deserves so much better and I'm sure he will be a success wherever he goes.

Thank you, thank you and thank you.

Conte is not a clown. Mourinho, yes. Conte, No.

[LAB 1,030]

Not sure now if this is good news. We just have to wait and see, but power concentrated in a single person doesn't sound good to me.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Quite seriously, do the people who hate him and are happy to see him leave know why they are happy?

Just to take a step back and take an overview of his role and time at the club: When he was promoted to Technical Director in 2011, we had an aging squad with an alarming player power playing a dying style of football while the club was synonymous with ridiculous over-spending in the transfer market on big names that made it virtually impossible for any youth player to break through.

Over the past 6 years, we've moved steadily towards younger squads, with more flamboyant and modern style of football. The player power in the dressing room is all but gone as the Costa saga proved. We've finally reached the stage where our youth academy is actually turning a profit as we've seen this summer with Christensen, Ake and Chalobah. We've also become one of the most astute clubs in the transfer market, especially on selling players that we no longer need (so much so that opposition fans accuse us of bribing other clubs into buying our players!  ).

Despite the drop in our budget (relatively to the rise of prices) and our inability to compete financially with the Manchester clubs, we've still managed to steadily improve our team with FFP-compliant low net spending (even lower than Arsenal!) which has allowed us to remain the most successful team in England during these years. 

I know, I'm painting quite a rosy picture here, and of course there has been many mistakes and blunders, but I think it is undeniable that when looking at the overall trends the club has moved in those general directions in the right way in the past 6 years which have arguably been the most successful period in the clubs history with 2 PLs, the holy grail, a EL, the FA cup, and the league cup.

Now, I'm in no way attributing all of that or any of the above solely (or even mostly) to Emenalo, but when I look at the progress and achievements of the club since 2011, I can only sincerely thank Michael for any part he played in helping us get to where we are now and wish all the best with his life after CFC. 

[Tomo 21,681]

18 minutes ago, CHOULO19 said:

Quite seriously, do the people who hate him and are happy to see him leave know why they are happy?

Just to take a step back and take an overview of his role and time at the club: When he was promoted to Technical Director in 2011, we had an aging squad with an alarming player power playing a dying style of football while the club was synonymous with ridiculous over-spending in the transfer market on big names that made it virtually impossible for any youth player to break through.

Over the past 6 years, we've moved steadily towards younger squads, with more flamboyant and modern style of football. The player power in the dressing room is all but gone as the Costa saga proved. We've finally reached the stage where our youth academy is actually turning a profit as we've seen this summer with Christensen, Ake and Chalobah. We've also become one of the most astute clubs in the transfer market, especially on selling players that we no longer need (so much so that opposition fans accuse us of bribing other clubs into buying our players!  ).

Despite the drop in our budget (relatively to the rise of prices) and our inability to compete financially with the Manchester clubs, we've still managed to steadily improve our team with FFP-compliant low net spending (even lower than Arsenal!) which has allowed us to remain the most successful team in England during these years. 

I know, I'm painting quite a rosy picture here, and of course there has been many mistakes and blunders, but I think it is undeniable that when looking at the overall trends the club has moved in those general directions in the right way in the past 6 years which have arguably been the most successful period in the clubs history with 2 PLs, the holy grail, a EL, the FA cup, and the league cup.

Now, I'm in no way attributing all of that or any of the above solely (or even mostly) to Emenalo, but when I look at the progress and achievements of the club since 2011, I can only sincerely thank Michael for any part he played in helping us get to where we are now and wish all the best with his life after CFC. 

I think MOST of the hatred towards him was for two reason's. Him replacing Wilkins as assistant, which while Ray was a great player for us and i appreciate him as part of our history, every time i listen to him speak football my first thought in my mind is idiot and that included his post match interviews with us. Hiddink and Carlo are quite mild mannered so probably tolerated the bizzare things he came out with but lord knows what Jose, Conte or even Benitez would have made of him.

Secondly was his interview after Jose got sacked, which was very poorly timed and worded yes but if someone still thinks sacking Jose was the wrong decision i'd love to hear from them. The average Chelsea fan tends to act with the heart over head method, which is positive in many ways but can also tend to make us look a bit silly at times, ala booing our player's home game after Jose's sacking and some ridiculous comments about Lamps and Cole when AVB left.

[Jase 43,479]

 

 

[quickpassnmove 924]

3 hours ago, Tomo said:

I think MOST of the hatred towards him was for two reason's. Him replacing Wilkins as assistant, which while Ray was a great player for us and i appreciate him as part of our history, every time i listen to him speak football my first thought in my mind is idiot and that included his post match interviews with us. Hiddink and Carlo are quite mild mannered so probably tolerated the bizzare things he came out with but lord knows what Jose, Conte or even Benitez would have made of him.

Secondly was his interview after Jose got sacked, which was very poorly timed and worded yes but if someone still thinks sacking Jose was the wrong decision i'd love to hear from them. The average Chelsea fan tends to act with the heart over head method, which is positive in many ways but can also tend to make us look a bit silly at times, ala booing our player's home game after Jose's sacking and some ridiculous comments about Lamps and Cole when AVB left.

I doubt that it's one moment for anyone who did not like Emenalo.

For me it's the general ineptitude at Chelsea that fails to build a strong squad 2 men deep across the formation with quality throughout year after year after year. Combine this with the fact that we had a well-rounded squad in 2005 and our relative strength at that moment put us on solid ground in England and across Europe then compare those early Abramovich years to what we've seen since and for me CFC haven't not risen to expectations since. Do I care if my disgust is misdirected because I don't know who is making the decisions at Chelsea? No. Why give a fuck? What I saw through the years was a number of years wherein Chelsea failed to surround Drogba with top talent after Robben and Duff departed and now we're seeing it again with Hazard.

No one demonstrates vision and execution at a club that many of us (one decade ago) thought WOULD reflect Roman's supposed ambitions and the hope of fans around the globe. At what point did Chelsea became a consistent threat to the big clubs across Europe while being able (not every single match) to shift into total football gear domestically regardless of who is packing it in deep defensively? 

Emenalo did things for the club, but he wasn't the one to make the difference for the 1st team squad (on and off the pitch and throughout the squad).

I'm tired of seeing squad shortcomings then bullshit about expectations and blaming managers. Someone at this club needs to take responsibility and execute a vision that gets reflected through quality on the pitch.

[Fulham Broadway 16,393]

.....the palpable delight

[CHOULO19 24,332]

12 hours ago, Tomo said:

I think MOST of the hatred towards him was for two reason's. Him replacing Wilkins as assistant, which while Ray was a great player for us and i appreciate him as part of our history, every time i listen to him speak football my first thought in my mind is idiot and that included his post match interviews with us. Hiddink and Carlo are quite mild mannered so probably tolerated the bizzare things he came out with but lord knows what Jose, Conte or even Benitez would have made of him.

Secondly was his interview after Jose got sacked, which was very poorly timed and worded yes but if someone still thinks sacking Jose was the wrong decision i'd love to hear from them. The average Chelsea fan tends to act with the heart over head method, which is positive in many ways but can also tend to make us look a bit silly at times, ala booing our player's home game after Jose's sacking and some ridiculous comments about Lamps and Cole when AVB left.

I do love Ray, but he does come off like an idiot!  

As for Jose, they never got along (I wonder whom of the two is more to blame there ) but as far as we can tell Michael always put the interest of the club ahead of this 'rivalry' as he proved when he formally asked to terminate his contract with the club in 2013 to facilitate the return of Jose.

The problem is, a lot of people are worried about Granovskaia taking over his duties because they say that we need someone who's played the sport in that position instead of bureaucrat. And I can see the logic in that argument. But many of those same people were the biggest bashers and critiques when we did have an ex-professional in that role in Michael. 

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

On 11/7/2017 at 9:15 AM, Leif said:

The more Conte and Marina speak face to face without a diplomatic middleman, the more chance they have of finding a common ground IMO.

Or the quicker it all falls apart

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

22 hours ago, Jason said:

Uh oh.

It may get even worse. Rightful moaning about are recent penny pinching seem to come down to Marina who is great at getting deals but not great at buying!