Let me be the first Shed-Ender to acknowledge an unheralded talent - the brilliance of his performance so far this summer, the perfection of his work, adherence to plan, and his complete carrying-out of the manager’s instructions in every detail being second to none. Nobody has done more to lay the on-pitch foundations for a successful season than he has and I am, of course, referring to… Mr Ron Gourlay, the Chelsea chief executive and deal-maker par excellence. Fair enough, this guy’s forte may not be within usual plaudit territory for fans, nor are the terraces ever likely to fashion a chant in remembrance of him, but Jose has already seen fit to lavish praise on ‘behind-the-scenes’ efforts to get those players he most wanted (Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas) so, as it is Ron Gourlay spearheading that operation, recognition of achievement in this area has to be important. Why so? Well, you only have to look elsewhere to see what happens if the whole shebang goes horribly wrong…

 

In fact, we need have looked no further than Manchester United and the midsummer mire they found themselves in last year. Then, more significantly, we can look again this season and see the same mess right there, viewed by the gimlet eye of an increasingly crestfallen Louis van Gaal. Indeed, even their most loyal positives- finder, Jim White of the Daily Telegraph, is having the [red] devil’s own job absolving everyone from blame for the current situation at Old Trafford, just so he can land the sorry lot in executive vice chairman Ed Woodward’s lap. This operation has been going on over the last few days, with White writing the following series of heartfelt, illuminating paragraphs designed to shift the blame, much like deckchairs on HMS Titanic:-

 

“…Ed Woodward must strike the right deals in the remaining days of the transfer window if the club are to make a real impact on the pitch. The person on whose efforts over the next fortnight the well-being of the enterprise depends is the club’s executive vice chairman, a man who, thus far into his tenure, boasts a significantly longer job description than list of achievements.

 

His first transfer window was abject, characterised by a panicky attempts to land unattainable assets, culminating in the overpriced purchase of Marouane Fellaini, who only most naive could mistake for a Manchester United footballer. His second resulted in the hugely expensive purchase of Juan Mata, a decent, inventive player, but one who has yet to demonstrate any significant match-winning prowess.

 

In a way, Woodward is now obliged to wrestle with the consequences of policy he inherited. Latterly, under Sir Alex Ferguson the approach in the market was to buy young players who could be developed on the training pitch.

 

Whatever the cost, Woodward needs to land at least three players already at the top of their game: a centre back, a central midfielder and a pacy wide man. Anything less and another season of disappointment and frustration beckons. On Woodward everything depends.“

 

So there you have it - if everything seemingly hangs by a perceived amateurish executive thread at United, it only goes to show how lucky we are to have Gourlay dealing on our behalf at Chelsea and delivering the goods as stated on Jose’s wish list. Whilst impending implosion threatens at United, scapegoat sceptics will point to a growing need for the Mancs to finger anyone other than Ferguson, Gill, Moyes or, heaven forbid, a newly-installed LvG, for what Jim White describes as ‘disguised poor planning, unscientific recruitment and lacklustre purchasing’, therefore Woodward becomes ideal cannon fodder, primed for firing, despite his unparalleled success in securing commercial revenues that are supposedly at record levels.

 

And yet even here, amidst their one glimmer of hope, we see favourable comparison for Chelsea, with Gourlay proving equally adept in this arena, a level of expertise borne of ten years experience at a coal face that has mined the financial ore from sponsorship and partnership deals on a global scale, and once extracted used to fuel a thriving Academy and the purchase of any number of world class players that seem to always slip through the United net - a procedure that the dying breed of ‘Green and Golds’ used to refer to as ‘Glazernomics‘. Little wonder the present generation of Glazers want to hold on to the club for at least another five years, taking full advantage of Premiership popularity abroad - well you would, wouldn’t you? - especially when support for your executive vice chairman can be [usefully] construed as loyalty shown towards an employee being unfairly blamed for everything.

 

Then again, if we are honest with ourselves when talking about the blame game down here at the Bridge, just before Ron Gourlay took over a certain Peter Kenyon was deemed responsible for every mishap imaginable, and such was his cult (if that’s the right word) status, he’s been accountable for everything bad that’s happened to us ever since. History looked like repeating itself when a direct ‘exec-versus-exec’ comparison arose over the transfer of Juan Mata, a sale that with hindsight encompasses the problems and passions of both clubs perfectly. Like it or not, and many didn’t at the time, Mata wanted to go, intent on being appreciated elsewhere, and Woodward was desperate to find someone [anyone] of status prepared to kick-start his term in office. As it turned out, Juan’s limitations, both as a player and a catalyst, have since been exposed, thereby justifying Jose’s stance on the matter, and Ron Gourlay’s maximisation of the transfer fee proved to be no false dawn….

 

Book-balancing under Financial Fair Play is now seen by the club as a necessity, if not a virtue, and it meant that Costa and Fabregas had to be purchased within our means, and Gourlay duly obliged, the £5Om obtained for David Luiz almost funding both and the Cesc deal destined to be hailed as a masterstroke. Negotiations over the sale of Lukaku might still be viewed in differing lights, but there are no doubts over the price obtained and who could argue that we should have got more for him than we did, selling to Everton in similar circumstances to Mata’s transfer. Only time will tell regarding assessment of his ability, but that’s Jose’s area of expertise, not the chief exec’s. He simply displays the business acumen to get the deals done and thereafter takes none of the credit…. until now.

.

Good post Dorset. Just thought about this the other day.

The entire board deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the work they have done this summer. We are all very quick to condemn them when they do something we don't agree with, but this summer they delivered spectacularly.

Excellent post. Great job behind the scenes by everyone involved in the transfers. We have been swift and effective during the window this summer.

Kudos Dorset... You bring up a very valid point to praise Chelsea's management. Nobody can be 100% correct but looking at the overall picture they have done an excellent job.

Queue the opposing clubs supporters to say how we bought our success. And certainly queue the Scouse scum to say we only win by parking the bus.

Cheers Ron.

I think guys like Ron should recive way more appreciation for all the hard work they do for this club. To bad not many know about them. Great post.

Thanks Mr Gourlay, for bringing in Fernando Torres.

 

Only joking, he does deserve credit for his work, particularly from this summer. Did well to get Fabregas in.

Colin Hutchinson brought the likes off guillt Zola and so on when we had a sh*t training ground and a unfinished stadium and not exactly millions to spend. Wonder how Ron would have doing back then. Easy sign players when you have plenty to offer them financial. Saying that our squad looks good and I'm happy looking forward to a good season.

The board has made some major cock ups with managerial appointments and sackings in the last ten years and some questionable choices with regards to the squad such as leaving Ancelotti short on depth and experience in his second season but still expecting a title challenge.

That said we look pretty settled and balanced right now and let's hope the apparent settled atmosphere helps us toward a successful season.

I feel we've done pretty well in the transfer market the last few years (Eden Hazard onwards).

Maybe Torres was the wake up call the club needed to get it's act together

Do we still have that bloke Emenalo doing the transfers? Or is he long gone?

That's a good question

Do we still have that bloke Emenalo doing the transfers? Or is he long gone?

He's still working with Chelsea. f**k knows what he does

a very good active summer by ron. he and the board have learned a lot from past experience.

He's still working with Chelsea. f**k knows what he does

Yeah, his signings the last few years have been terrible.

I still can't believe we probably have a balanced book after exchanging Torres, Ba, Lukaku and David Luiz with Diego Costa, Fabregas, Drogba, Filipe Luis and Loic Remy. That is if you take into account money earned from loaning out players like T.Hazard, Traore, Piazon, Bertrand and Moses. We also save alot in wages with Ashley Cole, Lampard, Torres and Eto gone as well.

This is easily one of our best transfer window

(Assuming Remy deal goes through)

Gourlay is leaving: http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/10/club-statement.html