One thing I`ve noticed since I`ve been looking on this website is the polarising opinions relating to the ownership and upper echelon’s of Chelsea FC`s company structure. Away from the stuff we`re really interested in, on that patch of green in West London, a lot attention is given to Roman Abramovich and his minions. I`m going to stay away from my personal opinion and focus on facts.
The brunt of most of this criticism is aimed at current Technical Director Michael Emanalo. First off a bit of background. Emanalo was born in Nigeria in 1965 and was a defender who played football professionally across the world. That said his 15 year career as a player only resulted in 175 appearances and he scored just 7 goals. He gained 14 international caps for Nigeria, most notably playing in the 1994 World Cup.
Emanalo finished his playing career at Maccabi Tel Aviv, here he met Avram Grant. When Grant replaced Jose Mourinho in 2007, he asked Emanalo to carry out some scouting for him. He went on to become Chief Scout?… I thought that was Bear Grylls. When Ray Wilkins was sacked in 2010 Emanalo was promoted to assistant first team coach. 9 months later he became the clubs Technical Director.
The official Chelsea website describe his current position as ‘supporting the work of the first team manager, leading the club`s international and domestic scouting network and driving the Academies` technical programmes.`
If we focus on the area where Emenalo gets most of criticism, transfers, I`ve had a look at the players that have come into the first team and played regularly whilst he has been in his current position.
His first transfer window in 2011, saw the arrival of Juan Mata, Raul Miereles, Thibaut Courtois and Gary Cahill. Total spend £48.93M In the league that season we finished 6th and won the Champions League. Andre Villas-Boas was sacked mid-season.
Following on from his Champions League win Robbie di Matteo was taken on as manager. Incomings were Eden Hazard, Oscar, Victor Moses, Cesar Azpilicueta and Demba Ba. Total spend £81.44M. In the league we finished 3rd and won the Europa League with Rafa Benitez in charge after di Matteo was sacked mid-season.
Prior to the return of the ‘special one` Emanalo tendered his resignation as he believed it would hinder Jose`s return. The board didn`t accept it. On the pitch, Willian and Nemanja Matic arrived. Total spend £51.33M. Jose`s first season back saw us finish 3rd.
The following season saw two major signings in Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. Total spend £60.35M. We won the league. Then came the turmoil, with just Pedro joining the squad for £23M, the next season, disaster followed disaster. We went from Champions to finish in 10th place. Jose didn`t make it to the end of the season and was replaced by Guus Hiddink.
The arrival of Antonio Conte at the start of last season saw 4 prominent signings, N`golo Kante, David Luiz, Marcos Alonso, and Michy Batshuayi. Total spend £112.88M. For the second time in 3 years we won the league.
If you consider how the academy have done since Emanalo took over and you`ll see we`ve won the FA youth cup 5 times and the Uefa Youth League twice.
Those are the facts. Feel free to add anything relevant in the comments section below.
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