Emanalo The Problem

[PedroMendez]

What I believe Emenalo's role is at the club, is that he is there to find and bring in future first team prospects your KDB's Lukaku's Courtois' etc and even to find the slightly more obscure talents the like of Azpilicueta or players just simply to make a profit your Hector's and the majority of our loan conveyor and in my eyes this has been done extremely well, and I believe the decision on first team specific targets like Fabragas Costa even Pogba will come mainly from the manager with maybe Emenalo providing the options. This is just my take though and Emenalo might have more power or even less power but if what I believe is the case then he is doing a very good job and can't really be faulted except for maybe Marin and Cuadrado (if that was him).

Our problems this transfer window have been speculated to be either failing to acquire specific targets which I don't believe is Emenalo's responsibility so I don't assign him the blame for this, or a club directive to conntinue with the strong squad we have and bring through some youth which again if this were true my belief is this comes from higher up than Emenalo more likely an Abramovich decision or a full board directive if this is the case can we assign him the blame here. 
 

 

[lesblues]

If it's Emenalo's job to oversee player recruitment and to work with the manager to strengthen the squad - in accordance with the manager's needs - then something went wrong over the Summer. Because Jose was strongly rumoured to be unhappy with the lack of and quality of recruitment. And this is reflected in results this season.

In this case, Emenalo should be sacked because he screwed up and is likely to cost the club a lot of money in lost Champions League revenue and inflated future transfer fees. This could well run into hundreds of millions of pounds.

OTOH it might be Emenalo/the Board's position that the squad was good enough for another season and the manager should be using this as an opportunity to bring on some younger players. If so, this hasn't worked out either as the team has imploded and the manager clearly has no confidence in using the academy kids.

So either Emenalo didn't fulfill the manager's demands, screwed up badly and so should be sacked. Or he made a judgement call over the manager's head on what the squad should be this season which has turned out to be a huge mistake and so should be sacked.

I can't think of a scenario in which Emenalo can keep his job. The last transfer window was a clusterf**k and it's only down to one man as far as I can see.

Since Jose's return he 'supposed' signings have been Eto, Matic, Cesc, Costa, Drogba, Pedro all between the ages of 26 - 35. I don't see future prospects in these buys, just experienced, ready players and most have proven to be short-term. This summer transfer had papers link us to the likes of stones, koke, griezmann, bale, sterling, pogba, benteke. If these players were truly Jose targets, I see no reason to cry wolf for emenalo failing to sign any of them as most are still at their respective clubs as the clubs were very reluctant to sell and given our options on the wing, I don't see how paying ~45million pounds for sterling is logical. Jose isn't one to sign prospects or youths, he prefers them now and ready but how long would the club have an open cheque book?. I'm quite happy with the approach the club has taken because we have to plan for the future. We need to groom and blood youngsters into the senior team. Except Varane, history has shown us Jose isn't great with youngsters ( if wrong, pls prove otherwise). If we give Jose total control over transfer dealings, I don't see a future for youngsters in our team.

 

[Jon Stakes]

Blaming Emenalo is just beyond stupid.

Even this year he may not have had superb purchases but we got Pedro (overrated IMO, but he's a decent winger), Baba Rahman (very highly rated, even if he's having trouble adjusting) and Papy (who despite the ridicule we can't really say he was a bad purchase, because he hasn't played a single game; I personally believe it was a very astute signing, if only Mourinho would give him the chance to prove himself).

 

[PythonLu]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelseas-nightmare-start-and-poor-transfer-business-could-cost-technical-director-michael-emenalo-a6729641.html

Just looking at that photo of him in fancy sunglasses agitates me. Reminds me of the corrupt FIFA officials.

This quote is interesting: 'The former Nigerian footballer, who has a spell with Notts County during his playing career, joined the Blues in 2007 during Avram Grant's reign in charge of the side'

Basically a friend of a friend of Abramovich. Is this fair?

 

[Tea Bar Boy]

If Emanalo is the guy bringing players in why is he never pictured with the new signings? Always seems to be the Maria lady.

err no check out the Chelsea website he is next to every new player ..............

 

[Kev56]

Just looking at that photo of him in fancy sunglasses agitates me. Reminds me of the corrupt FIFA officials.

This quote is interesting: 'The former Nigerian footballer, who has a spell with Notts County during his playing career, joined the Blues in 2007 during Avram Grant's reign in charge of the side'

Basically a friend of a friend of Abramovich. Is this fair?

Fair enough.

 

[Socrates]

Since Jose's return he 'supposed' signings have been Eto, Matic, Cesc, Costa, Drogba, Pedro all between the ages of 26 - 35. I don't see future prospects in these buys, just experienced, ready players and most have proven to be short-term .

No doubt that Eto’o and Drogba mark 2 were brought in at the tail-end of their careers - to perform a role within the squad as the manager saw it. But are you seriously claiming that Matic, Fabregas, Costa and Pedro were intended as short-term buys?

And can you name me a successful team made up entirely of players under the age of 25 as you seem to think that players over this age are past it?

 

[Remodez]

Just looking at that photo of him in fancy sunglasses agitates me. Reminds me of the corrupt FIFA officials.

This quote is interesting: 'The former Nigerian footballer, who has a spell with Notts County during his playing career, joined the Blues in 2007 during Avram Grant's reign in charge of the side'

Basically a friend of a friend of Abramovich. Is this fair?

He is quite close with Abramovich but I don't think he would hire someone incompetent for the DOF role just because they are friends. I think Emanalo has done a good job personally, he's targeted a few poor players but we've almost always got a profit on them afterwards. Can't say the same about most other DOF's. The targets Jose had in mind in the summer were unrealistic in my opinion as they were never going to leave their current clubs or were too expensive. Then you had players like Lewandowski who simply didn't want to join under any circumstances, can't do much about that.

I have no idea why we bought the likes of Hector, etc but this isn't something I would blame Emanalo for. It's been happening with the club for a while now, before Emanalo got into this position, and we end up with players who don't fit into the manager's ideas.

 

[lesblues]

I don't disagree that Eto’o and Drogba Mark 2 were brought in at the tail-end of their careers. But are you seriously claiming that Matic, Fabregas, Costa and Pedro were intended as short-term buys?

Not intended, I said 'most' (with the exclusion of pedro and matic) have 'proven' to be short-term. Cesc has last put in a decent shift in december, he form has been so-so ever since, likewise Costa since Feb till now he has only scored 5 league goals as he's been plagued by injury and woefully off form which means both players have only performed for half a season only. That looks short-term to me

 

[Socrates]

I think Emanalo has done a good job personally, he's targeted a few poor players but we've almost always got a profit on them afterwards. Can't say the same about most other DOF's. The targets Jose had in mind in the summer were unrealistic in my opinion as they were never going to leave their current clubs or were too expensive. Then you had players like Lewandowski who simply didn't want to join under any circumstances, can't do much about that.

I have no idea why we bought the likes of Hector, etc but this isn't something I would blame Emanalo for.

It's true we made a decent profit on players like Luiz, De Bruyne, Mata and Lukaku (though not Salah, Cuadrado and Marin.) But we are now trying to replace the players we made a profit on as the net effect has been to weaken the squad.

Last summer, realising the holes in our squad we tried to sign Pogba, unrealistically as it turned out, and made a mess of the Stones deal - and ended up with none of our main targets. We had no back up plan other than signing Djilibodgi as a cheap backstop. Who the manager has pointedly refused to play. Plus we signed Falcao despite all evidence that this was going to be a terrible move.

So the net effect of all our transfer (mis) dealings has been the manager got none of his targets and we ended up with the weakest squad in the Abramovich area with the results to follow.

So overall we're not better off, the team's performance has imploded, we're likely going to miss out on Champions League football next season and are probably going to have to spend our way out of the mess we find ourselves in as the much vaunted academy players are just not good enough.

If a private company had gotten itself into this predicament: a collapse in performance, revenues and prospects, you can be sure that the Board would take responsibility. But seeing as Abramovich is not going to sack himself then Emenalo as the ‘sporting director’ is rightly in the firing line.

And there's a simple reason why we signed Michael Hector. It's because we can make a small profit on him by selling him on even though he's probably not good enough to ever play for Chelsea.

That's where we are now.

 

[Coxy15]

If Emenalo does get fired, and I dont think he should, then Mourinho should be called in to meet the new director before he is hired to make sure we dont have a phase of hiring and firing directors of football. Make sure the next guy is someone who is on Jose's wavelength in terms of the profile of players he wants and the squad he wants to build and then we can genuinely look at a long term plan

 

[Socrates]

Not intended, I said 'most' (with the exclusion of pedro and matic) have 'proven' to be short-term. Cesc has last put in a decent shift in december, he form has been so-so ever since, likewise Costa since Feb till now he has only scored 5 league goals as he's been plagued by injury and woefully off form which means both players have only performed for half a season only. That looks short-term to me

No, it's not short term. It's a drop in form for various reasons. Just as Hazard has lost form, but you don't mention him as a short term signing.You bracketed the signings of Matic, Fabregas, Costa and Pedro with the decisions to bring back Eto'o and Drogba. These are different things.

The squad needed freshening up, competition for places and serious strengthening over the summer. For whatever reason the Board messed up. We got a bit of tinkering around the edges which has proved a serious miscalculation. This is why Emenalo's role at the club is being questioned.

 

[lesblues]

No, it's not short term. It's a drop in form for various reasons. Just as Hazard has lost form, but you don't mention him as a short term signing.You bracketed the signings of Matic, Fabregas, Costa and Pedro with the decisions to bring back Eto'o and Drogba. These are different things.

The squad needed freshening up, competition for places and serious strengthening over the summer. For whatever reason the Board messed up. We got a bit of tinkering around the edges which has proved a serious miscalculation. This is why Emenalo's role at the club is being questioned.

No. Hazard's been here since 2012 and this should be his first poor spell ( if memory serves me right) for us. Cesc and Costa have been here a year and half of it was spent playing poorly.

I bracketed Matic and Pedro as the exception in Jose's 'supposed' buys which I said most have proven to be short-term

The Club's recent transfer policy has been one in- one out. They replaced players who left and still spent circa 72.8 million pounds this summer. As stated previously the transfer targets we read in the papers were next to impossible as either clubs were reluctant or were too expensive. The same squad just won the league, yes it needed few adjustment but I don't think we needed serious strengthening, also we had third most expensive squad in the league, we weren't in a dire need of players.

There's no guarantee if we had signed these supposed targets we would be performing in the league as its the whole team that's playing badly not just the new recruits.

 

[Socrates]

As stated previously the transfer targets we read in the papers were next to impossible as either clubs were reluctant or were too expensive. The same squad just won the league, yes it needed few adjustment but I don't think we needed serious strengthening, also we had third most expensive squad in the league, we weren't in a dire need of players.

There's no guarantee if we had signed these supposed targets we would be performing in the league as its the whole team that's playing badly not just the new recruits.

So we spent an entire window pursuing ‘impossible’ transfer targets and you think this is acceptable?

And if we didn't need strengthening, as you claim, why on earth were we pursuing Stones and Pogba? For a laugh? To waste everyone's time?

Clearly the squad needed strengthening in key areas but the Board screwed up. It didn't get its main targets and had no real back up solutions. We were left with Djilibodji, Kenedy and Rahman who the manager doesn't trust or think is ready. Pedro is the only signing getting significant game time and his impact has been limited.

The argument that we won the league with these players last season is irrelevant. We won the league with the same manager last season but that hasn't stopped some demanding we sack the manager.

Things have moved on. And we haven't. If anything we've gone backwards while other teams have strengthened. There's a reason we're getting beaten by the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Crystal Palace. And it's not all down to bad luck and lousy refereeing.

There's an argument that we won the league last season in spite of the team's limitations and that was down to Mourinho's astute but brutal management of a small squad. But that took its toll and we haven't been able to repeat it this year. Mourinho knew this was the situation but was let down ultimately by the Board and now we are paying the price.

 

[1905.]

The problem certainly ain't Emenalo, we won the league last season! I do think that a manager should have full control of virtually everything pitch related though, can't stand this bullsh*t director of football role - seems like the worlds easiest job!

 

[lesblues]

So we spent an entire window pursuing ‘impossible’ transfer targets and you think this is acceptable?

And if we didn't need strengthening, as you claim, why on earth were we pursuing Stones and Pogba? For a laugh? To waste everyone's time?

Clearly the squad needed strengthening in key areas but the Board screwed up. It didn't get its main targets and had no real back up solutions. We were left with Djilibodji, Kenedy and Rahman who the manager doesn't trust or think is ready. Pedro is the only signing getting significant game time and his impact has been limited.

The argument that we won the league with these players last season is irrelevant. We won the league with the same manager last season but that hasn't stopped some demanding we sack the manager.

Things have moved on. And we haven't. If anything we've gone backwards while other teams have strengthened. There's a reason we're getting beaten by the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Crystal Palace. And it's not all down to bad luck and lousy refereeing.

"There's an argument that we won the league last season in spite of the team's limitations and that was down to Mourinho's astute but brutal management of a small squad. But that took its toll and we haven't been able to repeat it this year. Mourinho knew this was the situation but was let down ultimately by the Board and now we are paying the price.

So we spent an entire window pursuing ‘impossible’ transfer targets and you think this is acceptable?" Nope. We didn't spend the entire window purchasing targets, we were quite quiet during the window as we only replaced those who left. We started pushing for stones at the tail end of July and Pogba towards the end of the window.

"And if we didn't need strengthening, as you claim, why on earth were we pursuing Stones and Pogba? For a laugh? To waste everyone's time?"

It was clear they were going to be panic buys as we started the season on a wrong foot. We would have bought any player with a reputation if they had become available.

"Clearly the squad needed strengthening in key areas but the Board screwed up. It didn't get its main targets and had no real back up solutions. We were left with Djilibodji, Kenedy and Rahman who the manager doesn't trust or think is ready. Pedro is the only signing getting significant game time and his impact has been limited.

"

The main targets were who? Koke? Pogba? Griezmann? Stones? I ask, at what cost?

"The argument that we won the league with these players last season is irrelevant. We won the league with the same manager last season but that hasn't stopped some demanding we sack the manager."

You actually have a point here, but in football, I haven't seen where the squad is sacked instead of the manager. If results are poor the manager's head is called for, unless something changes, that's how it would always be in football.

"Things have moved on. And we haven't. If anything we've gone backwards while other teams have strengthened. There's a reason we're getting beaten by the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Crystal Palace. And it's not all down to bad luck and lousy refereeing."

Arsenal signed on Cech, I don't see how that is massive strengthening yet they are 15 points ahead of us. Spurs signed a korean, A.Madrid's back-up defender and Dele Alli and are faring better than us. We have better squads than everyone ahead of us bar City and perhaps Utd. We getting beaten isn't down to lack of strenghtening either.

"There's an argument that we won the league last season in spite of the team's limitations and that was down to Mourinho's astute but brutal management of a small squad. But that took its toll and we haven't been able to repeat it this year. Mourinho knew this was the situation but was let down ultimately by the Board and now we are paying the price"

Good to see Jose getting all the credits for last season's success then he should be getting the blame for this season's failures also, don't you think?

 

[Chippy]

"There's an argument that we won the league last season in spite of the team's limitations and that was down to Mourinho's astute but brutal management of a small squad. But that took its toll and we haven't been able to repeat it this year. Mourinho knew this was the situation but was let down ultimately by the Board and now we are paying the price"

Good to see Jose getting all the credits for last season's success then he should be getting the blame for this season's failures also, don't you think?

I'm personally leaning towards the argument you mention here and if that argument stands up then your last paragraph is really shown to be wrong.

Are you arguing with yourself or saying you don't agree with the argument mentioned above?

 

[Socrates]

Nope. We didn't spend the entire window purchasing targets, we were quite quiet during the window as we only replaced those who left. We started pushing for stones at the tail end of July and Pogba towards the end of the window....It was clear they were going to be panic buys as we started the season on a wrong foot. We would have bought any player with a reputation if they had become available.

Hardly quiet. The whole world knew we were after Pogba and Stones from the start. Stones as a long term successor to Terry and Pogba as the box-to-box midfielder we haven't had since Lampard. To argue that Stones and Pogba were attempted panic buys while Djilibodgi wasn't is a pretty strange argument.

The main targets were who? Koke? Pogba? Griezmann? Stones? I ask, at what cost?

We offered 40m for Stones apparently and 70m for Pogba. Their clubs didn't want to sell or possibly in Pogba's case the player didn't want to leave. Are you saying there were no other alternatives worth considering? Because my main criticism is we put all our eggs in one basket. And left the manager with a weakened squad. 

We getting beaten isn't down to lack of strenghtening either.

Then how come we have an ageing defence, a struggling midfield and an ineffective forward line? You don’t think any of these areas needed strengthening? I suggest results prove that we should've strengthened to give the manager alternatives, the players motivation and the squad a sense of progress. Instead we've gone backwards and the best we can hope for now is a top half finish. And it's only November.

Good to see Jose getting all the credits for last season's success then he should be getting the blame for this season's failures also, don't you think?

Not even Jose would take all the credit for last season's success. It's no secret that Jose asked for top quality reinforcements over the summer as he probably felt that we were unlikely to repeat last season's success with the same squad. It's no coincidence we were looking to reinforce in key areas. Unfortunately the Board couldn't get the main Pogba or Stones' deals done. They also messed up the replacements for outgoing players. Falcao in for Drogba was a mistake. Rahman doesn't look better than Luis. Or even Bertrand for that matter. Djilibodgi hasn't got a look in. Neither has Traore. Kenedy has been deployed as a left back and Pedro is wondering what he's let himself in for. Meanwhile we're relying once more on Hazard and Costa to do everything. It's a complete balls up.

Jose hasn't helped himself at times both on an off the pitch. But he's not been a happy bunny since pre-season and it's pretty obvious why. 

 

[lesblues]

I'm personally leaning towards the argument you mention here and if that argument stands up then your last paragraph is really shown to be wrong.

Are you arguing with yourself or saying you don't agree with the argument mentioned above?

Chippy its no problem if you lean towards the argument. For me, if we are going to disregard the fact Jose himself said he prefers having a small squad also he brought in his required targets and had the 2014/2015 squad molded to his satisfaction and still say the squad was "limited" and say last season's success was all Jose irrespective of those who worked behind the scenes to ensure everything was satisfactory, then this season failures so far should be his fault irrespective of those who failed their objectives

 

[lesblues]

"Hardly quiet. The whole world knew we were after Pogba and Stones from the start. Stones as a long term successor to Terry and Pogba as the box-to-box midfielder we haven't had since Lampard. To argue that Stones and Pogba were attempted panic buys while Djilibodgi wasn't is a pretty strange argument."

Mate there's a difference between being linked to a player and having bids rejected/accepted and made known to the public. Pogba until Aug was bidded for by Barca and City (at least those were bids known publically) we were rumored to have made a bid in late Aug. Jose was asked sometime before about Pogba and he said he didn't need him as he had RLC . Stones bid was made in late July before everton's pre-season game against arsenal as I recall Martinez moaning during his press conference.

"We offered 40m for Stones apparently and 70m for Pogba. Their clubs didn't want to sell or possibly in Pogba's case the player didn't want to leave. Are you saying there were no other alternatives worth considering? Because my main criticism is we put all our eggs in one basket. And left the manager with a weakened squad."

There were alternatives. We also bidded for marquinho (40 million euros) but PSG also refused to sell. If we compare both targets (Varane included) we could see Jose preferred a younger ready made defender, their clubs were reluctant to let go. How many of these types of players are out there?

"Then how come we have an ageing defence, a struggling midfield and an ineffective forward line? You don’t think any of these areas needed strengthening

When David Luiz was sold I didn't see Jose saying he needed a new defender. He said he was ok with Terry/Cahill/Brana/Zouma. The struggling midfield has players termed as 'Jose's buys (matic, cesc_ surely he doesn't intend changing it every summer

"I suggest results prove that we should've strengthened to give the manager alternatives, the players motivation and the squad a sense of progress. Instead we've gone backwards and the best we can hope for now is a top half finish. And it's only November."

Because we didn't make expensive purchases doesn't mean the squad should be lingering in bottom half of the table

"Not even Jose would take all the credit for last season's success."

Then why the silly argument that it was all down to his 'brutal management" and 'astuteness'

"It's no secret that Jose asked for top quality reinforcements over the summer as he probably felt that we were unlikely to repeat last season's success with the same squad. It's no coincidence we were looking to reinforce in key areas. Unfortunately the Board couldn't get the main Pogba or Stones' deals done. They also messed up the replacements for outgoing players. Falcao in for Drogba was a mistake. Rahman doesn't look better than Luis. Or even Bertrand for that matter. Djilibodgi hasn't got a look in. Neither has Traore. Kenedy has been deployed as a left back and Pedro is wondering what he's let himself in for. Meanwhile we're relying once more on Hazard and Costa to do everything. It's a complete balls up."

It would be silly for the board to tell Jose that the title must be retained. Surely top four/title challenge was the objective. Once again, not spending massively don't mean we should be lingering in the bottom half.

"Jose hasn't helped himself at times both on an off the pitch. But he's not been a happy bunny since pre-season and it's pretty obvious why".

If he is throwing toys out of the pram because we didn't use the open cheque book then he's in the wrong job. Our days of large spendings are over and I think he was told that before he rejoined.