The Marina Granovskaia Thread

[Bluesince66]

Matt Law said the rumours of Sarri were 100% untrue. 

That's good enough for me,would have been another major mistake, and we do make plenty of those.

 

[Kev56]

This is the thing though, who? She doesn’t answer to anyone. She is clearly a terrific negotiator and if that’s her sole job perfect. However, I don’t believe it is, it’s reported a lot that she has the final say on all transfer dealings on who we eventually go after hence why we signed Kepa. It’s not that far fetched given she holds the purse strings that she would be the one to OK the signings. That’s the problem I have with her, keep her to negotiations and get her away from the footballing assessment side of things as she’s clearly not capable. Alternatively, whoever is having the final say on the Kepa’s etc shouldn’t have a job. I can’t imagine any other line of work where you could mismanage £70m+ of company funds that badly and still be employed.

There was reports the other day TT will be forced to get the German duo firing, previously there was reports Lamps was forced to give Kepa more chances. Could be bo**ocks, could be true - I would say there’s no smoke without fire & she’s more involved than she should be. We’re crying out for a DOF in my opinion.

She answers to Roman.

 

[Deino]

Sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere, but apparently Marina wanted Sarri back after Frank was sacked,it had even got as far as Sarri saying yes,but then Roman said no. Don't know if I believe any of it.

If it's from the Daily Mail, don't bother. Their articles regarding football are hearsays with very minimal statements made by any parties involved

 

[Sindre]

This upcoming summer will be very, very interesting. She will again be in charge of it as our club director but there are seemingly a lot of big problems to face.

Contract situations in defense, Jorginho and Kante on outgoing contracts, no attackers performing and no cover at wingback that also need to be addressed.

I think there is a lot to like about the job she's done here at the club. She's done very well at selling first and foremost. But she's been in charge since late 2014 now and at the time she took over we were the best club in the league. Now we certainly are not, as a matter of fact we are hopelessly far behind both City & Liverpool and have been for the last five years.

I have to say I am slightly worried. She's been in charge of six summer windows at the club with the seventh coming up in a few months. And I don't think we've nailed any of those windows like we did in 2014 for example. That makes me nervous with the amount of incomings we need.

 

[strider6004]

The way I see it is we will still have our WBs, James and Chilwell.

Midfield, Mount and Gallager not sure about the rest.

Front Men: Havertz, Broja will stay

Keepers no change

CBs - Chalobah, Sar will stay

The ones I haven't mentioned I consider all possible departees.

Of course they won't all go, chances are we will still have Alonso, RLC and Barkley and likely others re not matching our valuations.

The CBs are likely to test us, can we get Kounde or another top CB, will Silva stay another season?

If all CBs go would be wise to keep Azpi re his experience.

Potentially a very busy summer transfer window.

 

[axman2526]

Personally think Birch, Kenyon, Gourley and Michael Emenalo all did better in their roles than Marina. 

 

[Sindre]

Michael Emenalo

Emenalos job for the club is actually severely underrated.

He was essentially our sporting director as long as Gourlay was our Chief Excecutive. Gourlay smartly let the most competent football man handle that part of the business and Emenalo brought in the likes of Salah, Courtois, De Bruyne, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Lukaku, Azpi, Cahill, Matic, Zouma, Kante among others. Obviously there were some mistakes too but in general we were a lot better in the transfer market when he was in charge between 2011-2016 than we have been since.

He did of course resign in 2017 after losing a power struggle with Granovskaia. Then the club decided it was a good idea to absorb Emenalo's role into hers and it's not gone great. Conte was devestated when he left and saw the writing on the wall from that moment on in my opinion.
Emenalo was also a great defender and contributor to our academy as well back in his time at the club.

I think this club would have been in a much better place if Granovskaia stuck with what's she good at and we had a football man in charge of the football related.

Here is a list of all the significant players we bought when Emenalo and Gourlay were working in tandem between 2011-2014.

2011: Mata, Lukaku, Meireles, Courtois, Cahill, De Bruyne,
2012: Hazard, Oscar, Moses, Azpi, Demba Ba
2013: Willian, Matic. Schurrle, Salah, Zouma,
2014: Costa, Fabregas, Cuadrado, F.Luis,, Remy,

Obviously the highlighted two were flops but that is one hell of a recruitment job over those years.

It's a shame he's gone. It genuinly is.

 

[KonaKai Blue]

Emenalos job for the club is actually severely underrated.

He was essentially our sporting director as long as Gourlay was our Chief Excecutive. Gourlay smartly let the most competent football man handle that part of the business and Emenalo brought in the likes of Salah, Courtois, De Bruyne, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Lukaku, Azpi, Cahill, Matic, Zouma, Kante among others. Obviously there were some mistakes too but in general we were a lot better in the transfer market when he was in charge between 2011-2016 than we have been since.

He did of course resign in 2017 after losing a power struggle with Granovskaia. Then the club decided it was a good idea to absorb Emenalo's role into hers and it's not gone great. Conte was devestated when he left and saw the writing on the wall from that moment on in my opinion.
Emenalo was also a great defender and contributor to our academy as well back in his time at the club.

I think this club would have been in a much better place if Granovskaia stuck with what's she good at and we had a football man in charge of the football related.

It's a shame he's gone really. 

I genuinely think fan pressure forced Emanalo out and to do this day it leaves a bitter taste in  my mouth. Let's be honest, him being Nigerian, his face didn't sit well with many fans who would use any excuse to blame him. Was even blamed for Jose's meltdown and sacking. God some fans make me sick sometimes. 

 

[axman2526]

Emenalos job for the club is actually severely underrated.

He was essentially our sporting director as long as Gourlay was our Chief Excecutive. Gourlay smartly let the most competent football man handle that part of the business and Emenalo brought in the likes of Salah, Courtois, De Bruyne, Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Lukaku, Azpi, Cahill, Matic, Zouma, Kante among others. Obviously there were some mistakes too but in general we were a lot better in the transfer market when he was in charge between 2011-2016 than we have been since.

He did of course resign in 2017 after losing a power struggle with Granovskaia. Then the club decided it was a good idea to absorb Emenalo's role into hers and it's not gone great. Conte was devestated when he left and saw the writing on the wall from that moment on in my opinion.
Emenalo was also a great defender and contributor to our academy as well back in his time at the club.

I think this club would have been in a much better place if Granovskaia stuck with what's she good at and we had a football man in charge of the football related.

Here is a list of all the significant players we bought when Emenalo and Gourlay were working in tandem between 2011-2014.

2011: Mata, Lukaku, Meireles, Courtois, Cahill, De Bruyne,
2012: Hazard, Oscar, Moses, Azpi, Demba Ba
2013: Willian, Matic. Schurrle, Salah, Zouma,
2014: Costa, Fabregas, Cuadrado, F.Luis,, Remy,

Obviously the highlighted two were flops but that is one hell of a recruitment job over those years.

It's a shame he's gone. It genuinly is.

Was a good list. Like I said don't think Marina has done that well and is protected by her relationship with Roman. And fair enough is his club. So he can do what he wants.

 

[Drogba1]

I genuinely think fan pressure forced Emanalo out and to do this day it leaves a bitter taste in  my mouth. Let's be honest, him being Nigerian, his face didn't sit well with many fans who would use any excuse to blame him. Was even blamed for Jose's meltdown and sacking. God some fans make me sick sometimes. 

In fairness the fan pressure was aimed at the players as well after the Jose meltdown but I think his interview right after the sacking really didn't help, Jose at the time was a club legend here and it felt like he'd been thrown under the bus. 

In hindsight though it was a really bad decision getting rid of him, we've wasted so much money since then

 

[Drogba1]

Personally think Birch, Kenyon, Gourley and Michael Emenalo all did better in their roles than Marina. 

Marina is very good at selling players for good money but we clearly need someone else for the buy-side

 

[Gol15]

Was a good list. Like I said don't think Marina has done that well and is protected by her relationship with Roman. And fair enough is his club. So he can do what he wants.

What exactly did she do wrong? Lampard and Cech were responsible for approaching the players not her, she has always been the person that gives the players the pen and points to them where to sign. Public information that Lampard personally called Ziyech, that Cech personally flew to Germany in order to talk with Werner and so on...

I don't buy this whole "power struggle" between Marina and Emenalo, they both did their roles for years and for multiple managers. In fact I believe that it was Conte that influenced at some degree Emenalo's decision to quit after they didn't agree on the players to sign and Conte didn't even stop there he kept fighting the whole club over the course of that season, him saying that he was sad that Emenalo left doesn't change the fact that he kept pointing fingers at everyone else that didn't quit their position. 

So who was getting the players if not Emenalo and any given manager at the time? Also Emenalo contributed to the club getting into the transfer ban despite his youth project being great because one of the main problems was having youth players without registering them and if he had a slightly better relationship with Conte we would have signed Lukaku that summer and not Morata, "potato-potato".

Fits that Emenalo quit that year right after getting Bakayoko and Drinkwater, if the relationship between Conte and him really was great then how come none of them ever wanted to take any responsibility for those terrible transfers? Clearly the two main people at fault covered for each other because Marina is still working for the club while the other two did their best to abandon ship as soon as they f**ked up.

 

[LongtimerLurker]

I genuinely think fan pressure forced Emanalo out and to do this day it leaves a bitter taste in  my mouth. Let's be honest, him being Nigerian, his face didn't sit well with many fans who would use any excuse to blame him. Was even blamed for Jose's meltdown and sacking. God some fans make me sick sometimes. 

Blame the media for that mate, I remember reading stories placing our nightmare transfer window 2017 all on him amongst other stuff that went wrong around that period 15-17 I think when we had an underwhelming window after winning the league with Jose he was also blamed. 

A lot of people know now he was made a scapegoat but at the time imo I think they all saw him as an issue and couldn't wait to see the back off him

 

[axman2526]

What exactly did she do wrong? Lampard and Cech were responsible for approaching the players not her, she has always been the person that gives the players the pen and points to them where to sign. Public information that Lampard personally called Ziyech, that Cech personally flew to Germany in order to talk with Werner and so on...

I don't buy this whole "power struggle" between Marina and Emenalo, they both did their roles for years and for multiple managers. In fact I believe that it was Conte that influenced at some degree Emenalo's decision to quit after they didn't agree on the players to sign and Conte didn't even stop there he kept fighting the whole club over the course of that season, him saying that he was sad that Emenalo left doesn't change the fact that he kept pointing fingers at everyone else that didn't quit their position. 

So who was getting the players if not Emenalo and any given manager at the time? Also Emenalo contributed to the club getting into the transfer ban despite his youth project being great because one of the main problems was having youth players without registering them and if he had a slightly better relationship with Conte we would have signed Lukaku that summer and not Morata, "potato-potato".

Fits that Emenalo quit that year right after getting Bakayoko and Drinkwater, if the relationship between Conte and him really was great then how come none of them ever wanted to take any responsibility for those terrible transfers? Clearly the two main people at fault covered for each other because Marina is still working for the club while the other two did their best to abandon ship as soon as they f**ked up.

Depends what you believe gol. That same public information has stated that, aside from Roman, nobody at the club has more power and final say than Marina.

So as to who really makes the choices about which players are signed I don't know, do you? My belief is Marina has a lot of say in it, as Kenyon and Emanalo did before/during her time.

 

[Sindre]

What exactly did she do wrong? Lampard and Cech were responsible for approaching the players not her, she has always been the person that gives the players the pen and points to them where to sign. Public information that Lampard personally called Ziyech, that Cech personally flew to Germany in order to talk with Werner and so on...

I don't buy this whole "power struggle" between Marina and Emenalo, they both did their roles for years and for multiple managers. In fact I believe that it was Conte that influenced at some degree Emenalo's decision to quit after they didn't agree on the players to sign and Conte didn't even stop there he kept fighting the whole club over the course of that season, him saying that he was sad that Emenalo left doesn't change the fact that he kept pointing fingers at everyone else that didn't quit their position. 

So who was getting the players if not Emenalo and any given manager at the time? Also Emenalo contributed to the club getting into the transfer ban despite his youth project being great because one of the main problems was having youth players without registering them and if he had a slightly better relationship with Conte we would have signed Lukaku that summer and not Morata, "potato-potato".

Fits that Emenalo quit that year right after getting Bakayoko and Drinkwater, if the relationship between Conte and him really was great then how come none of them ever wanted to take any responsibility for those terrible transfers? Clearly the two main people at fault covered for each other because Marina is still working for the club while the other two did their best to abandon ship as soon as they f**ked up.

That isn't the way it works at Chelsea.
Listen to this little outtake from an interview with Ray Wilkins in 2017 and you get a sense of how the club works in terms of recruitment.

 

[dkw]

I genuinely think fan pressure forced Emanalo out and to do this day it leaves a bitter taste in  my mouth. Let's be honest, him being Nigerian, his face didn't sit well with many fans who would use any excuse to blame him. Was even blamed for Jose's meltdown and sacking. God some fans make me sick sometimes. 

Absolute massive load of sh*t, do you have any evidence of that or are you just claiming were all racist on the basis of nothing?

 

[Upsetter]

I genuinely think fan pressure forced Emanalo out and to do this day it leaves a bitter taste in  my mouth. Let's be honest, him being Nigerian, his face didn't sit well with many fans who would use any excuse to blame him. Was even blamed for Jose's meltdown and sacking. God some fans make me sick sometimes. 

Utter sh*te. I do remember there was a massive amount of piss taking over the fact that he’d previously coached an under 12’s girls team, but there was no hint of any negativities based on either his race or nationality. 
 

Some fans do make me sick though, especially those fans with a tendency to look form and even invent problems within the club and it’s fanbase where none exist.

 

[RomansRoubles]

I remember I was always pissed with Emenalo given his CV was coaching under 12 girls and he kept calling Jose "individual" without a modicum of respect after he was sacked. Nothing to do with nationality or race. 

 

[Gol15]

That isn't the way it works at Chelsea.
Listen to this little outtake from an interview with Ray Wilkins in 2017 and you get a sense of how the club works in terms of recruitment.

This doesn't really go against anything I said though. Somehow Conte blamed everyone but Emenalo after he quit, the two made a mess out of that summer transfer window and none wanted to take any responsibility, that's how I see it.

 

[Sindre]

This doesn't really go against anything I said though. Somehow Conte blamed everyone but Emenalo after he quit, the two made a mess out of that summer transfer window and none wanted to take any responsibility, that's how I see it.

You are entitled to your opinion. But it's fairly common knowledge that Conte & Emenalo was targeting entirely different players than we ended up signing. Emenalo realized he was about to lose all power due to Granovskaias powergrab (in my opinion) and he resigned. She should have left the recruitment process to Emenalo which had worked so great for several years but she wanted control over that too. Which she also got when Emenalo's role was absorbed into hers after he left. Bit of a Game of Thrones really that she won but not sure it's been beneficial to the club.