It's important to note that I am quoting directly from the Chelsea website.

There are no phrases like 'Is Believed', 'Suggestions of' or 'Fingers are pointed'.

This is not the third hand description of a journalist who was told something by someone we cannot identify. We will not quote people who are on the outside looking in. All my information will be quoted directly from Chelsea website or interviews with Chelsea current/former staff.

Griffon and other readers, please stay with me.

Nihilist:
Griffon my nigga...This one is for you.

Myth Number 1. Emenalo is/was in charge of more than just scouting at Chelsea.

Emanalo was appointed as TD in 2011
As posted earlier, the Chelsea website lists his job description as:

http://www.chelseafc.com/the-club/about-chelsea-football-club/club-personnel/michael-emenalo.html

However at the time Mike Forde was the Director of Football operations....a role he had held from 2007 and till July 2013

His Job description at the time was:

https://www.speakersacademy.com/en/speaker/mike-forde/

Notice that Emenalo is listed in a support Role at this time, while Forde is responsible for ALL areas of team operations related to the first team.

This means that between July 2011 and July 2013....Emenalo had a line manager.

To quote Andre 3000, go on and marinade on that for a minute...

Between August 2007 and June 2013 Forde was Director of Football Operations and Executive Club Director at Chelsea - FACT!

1n 2011, Micheal Emenalo was appointed the technical director - FACT!

I don't see how this changes anything. Emenalo started the damage upon being appointed the TD in 2011. His job as the technical director was to produce a team that will win trophies from 2011 whilst also looking to the future (vision). But he was incompetent to handle the task. He is just a phucking scout for pete's sake. He has no business planning a squad, his only job is to recommend good players. A technical director should help strengthen weak areas but Emenalo failed in that regard.

He built a squad which was slanted toward playing high up to get the best out of MaZaCar with no regard given to the dearth of steel in the CM area. I've said this over and over again. That underlines his inane tactical knowledge of the game brah.

He never bothered to sign a good CM, his major concern was to stockpile the team with tiki-taka kinda players. The only time we bothered about having a good CM was last two seasons when Jose arrived and demanded for Matic, you of all people should know better.

So I'm right with the assertion that Emenalo did more than scouting back then, he was in charge of creating a major imbalance in the team.

Treat this as fact!

Griffon:


Between August 2007 and June 2013 Forde was Director of Football Operations and Executive Club Director at Chelsea - FACT!

1n 2011, Micheal Emenalo was appointed the technical director - FACT!

I don't see how this changes anything. Emenalo started the damage upon being appointed the TD in 2011. His job as the technical director was to produce a team that will win trophies from 2011 whilst also looking to the future (vision). But he was incompetent to handle the task. He is just a phucking scout for pete's sake. He has no business planning a squad, his only job is to recommend good players. A technical director should help strengthen weak areas but Emenalo failed in that regard.

He built a squad which was slanted toward playing high up to get the best out of MaZaCar with no regard given to the dearth of steel in the CM area. I've said this over and over again. That underlines his inane tactical knowledge of the game brah.

He never bothered to sign a good CM, his major concern was to stockpile the team with tiki-taka kinda players. The only time we bothered about having a good CM was last two seasons when Jose arrived and demanded for Matic, you of all people should know better.

So I'm right with the assertion that Emenalo did more than scouting back then, he was in charge of creating a major imbalance in the team.

Treat this as fact!

Hahaha...

I'm coming to this. Just chill.

Nihilist:
Myth Number 2. Emenalo never heeded the manager and always bought rubbish.

Transfers at Chelsea are a collaborative effort. Lets hear key people tell it.

Ray Wilkins:

http://www.chelseadaft.org/2013/01/chelsea-legend-talks-guardiola.html

Thats the testimony of Carlo's erstwhile Number 2. Ancelotti not Emenalo was responsible for signing Torres.

Mike Forde

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/forde-leaves-blues-for-a-new-field-of-dreams-279267.html

This is the big one.
Roman Abramovic:


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/76821/Roman-Im-cutting-back.html

Thats three key people in Chelsea rcruitment stating exactly how it works...The manager is ALWAYS involved.

I bumped into the article last month.

http://www.espnfc.com/club/chelsea/363/blog/post/2845538/michael-emenalo-chelsea-influence-not-boding-well-for-conte

In theory, working with the bottomless pit of money that Abramovich is able to provide should make life easy, but the sheer volume of players being bought and sold and churned through Chelsea's Academy and loan system suggests a culpable lack of strategic thinking. Emenalo got away with it for a while, which was not difficult given the scenario at Stamford Bridge. But last summer's failure to strengthen the squad, coupled with scandalous misuse of available player resources, created a perfect storm for failure which an increasingly flustered Mourinho was unable to get to grips with.

When the Special One was sacked, Emenalo spoke out on TV about a "palpable discord between players and manager," indicating there was no alternative other than to sack Mourinho. The comments infuriated Chelsea supporters and the groundswell of opinion that it was in fact the technical director and not the manager who was at the root of the club's problems gained momentum. "Emenalo Out" placards were in evidence at Chelsea games, and social media was awash with demands clamouring that the Nigerian should be fired.

Such scapegoating may seem unfair, but the unholy mess Chelsea are in hasn't happened overnight; it's happened over a period of time -- Emenalo's time -- and there is no panacea in sight. Replacing Mourinho with Antonio Conte via interim management specialist Guus Hiddink is just glossing over deep-seated problems that the Italian will have little control over.

As stories of Conte's impending appointment gathered momentum, there was talk of Roma sporting director Walter Sabatini joining his countryman at Stamford Bridge, a move which clearly would threaten Emenalo's position. But these rumours have since dissipated.

The fact that Conte has been named first team head coach and not manager suggests that Emenalo's sphere of influence won't be shrinking any time soon with reports already suggesting that he is working on summer transfer targets including an audacious bid to re-sign former striker Romelu Lukaku, who has been plundering goals for Everton since he left Chelsea in a £28 million move to Goodison Park less than two years ago.

Conte deserves a fair crack of the whip at getting Chelsea back challenging for silverware, but he may find life difficult with one arm tied behind his back as long as Abramovich persists with Emenalo. Bringing Lukaku back to the Bridge would go a long way to calming supporter ire, but there are no guarantees the deal will be done. The Blues cannot afford another shambolic transfer window, and yet it may take such an eventuality, coupled with another mediocre season, for Abramovich to realise the continued error of his ways. Of course, by that time, it will probably be too late for Conte.

This stuff was written by Mark Worrall who has penned several books on the history and success of Chelsea Football Club. You can follow him on Twitter @gate17marco.

Nihilist:
Myth Number 3....slightly related to number, but suitably different to be it's own thing.

Emenalo's refusal to buy players is what led to our downfall last season.

Let's here Jose on this:


https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/20/jose-mourinho-chelsea-board-new-players-transfer-window

If I remember correctly, this was the statement that pissed airmark off greatly.

This particular statement is very instructive.

At this point, Jose is fairly certain that with the players he has, he should be able to do better than 16th place which was where we were, alliteratively speaking

Here you have a manager that didnt believe that the solution was to buy his way out of trouble. Matic was one of the worst offenders at the time....is it coincindental that Jose is reportedly coming back for him anyway?

This is nothing new and wouldn't be the first time Emenalo would be putting the manager in the picture. He did it with Rafa Benitez. Check this out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2237633/Frank-Lampard-Ashley-Cole-leave-says-Rafa-Benitez.html#ixzz2D8vTphPs

Lampard and Cole can leave, says Rafa leaving Chelsea old guard in tatters

Chelsea legends Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole are to leave at the end of the season after Rafa Benitez confirmed the break-up of the Champions League-winning team.

Both players are out of contract next summer and Chelsea’s new coach admitted they are unlikely to stay at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of the season.

Asked directly if it was the end of a glorious era for the pair at Chelsea, Benitez said:

‘I think so, that is the case at the moment.

‘I am only here for seven months. If it is for two or three years then maybe I would have an influence.

‘Sometimes you are in a difficult position as manager because there’s too much to decide on, so it’s better to have a technical director sometimes.’


A manager under duress. Oga fear Emenalo

Before we move forward with the Emenalo case, let us step back in time to 2010, and consider his predecessor Frank Arnesen.

Frank Arnesen had a completely different remit to Emenalo as exemplified by his slightly different Job Title.

Again This is lifted directly from the Chelsea website in 2010

Frank Arnesen, Sporting Director.

Continues with his previous roles relating to the Reserves and Academy but now also takes on responsibilities relating to the co-ordination of first team activity and supporting the first team manager.

Note the small difference in Emenalo and Frank's job description...They both handled youth teams and they both supported the first team manager....

However ONLY Frank coordinated first team activity.

To further exemplify this difference in authority...Frank sat on the Board. Emenalo at least until 2013 did not

Griffon, Mike Worral does not not work and has never worked at Chelsea either at lower level, or at strategic level.

At best, all the man is giving us is his opinion based on his observations. I want to strip past all of that. I'm painstakingly pasting these facts as listed by Chelsea Website direct.

Let us focus on that for now first. Let us draw our inferences from the information we can verify, rather than 3rd hand information from a writer who is speculating in the same way that you are.

Anyway, I'm still loading...

Fight don finish? Lailai!

Nihilist, abeg answer Ibime na. Give am correct uppercut, make him go sleep for him vacation.

We trust you are more than capable. Fo imu e!

Griffon:


This is nothing new and wouldn't be the first time Emenalo would be putting the manager in the picture. He did it with Rafa Benitez. Check this out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2237633/Frank-Lampard-Ashley-Cole-leave-says-Rafa-Benitez.html#ixzz2D8vTphPs

Lampard and Cole can leave, says Rafa leaving Chelsea old guard in tatters

Chelsea legends Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole are to leave at the end of the season after Rafa Benitez confirmed the break-up of the Champions League-winning team.

Both players are out of contract next summer and Chelsea’s new coach admitted they are unlikely to stay at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of the season.

Asked directly if it was the end of a glorious era for the pair at Chelsea, Benitez said:

‘I think so, that is the case at the moment.

‘I am only here for seven months. If it is for two or three years then maybe I would have an influence.

‘Sometimes you are in a difficult position as manager because there’s too much to decide on, so it’s better to have a technical director sometimes.’


A manager under duress. Oga fear Emenalo

Haba bros. Emenalo can't be responsible for such decisions. It must have been Mike Forde. Can't you see his job description on Chelsea website? Those decisions can only be made by board members such as Mike Forde, not Emenalo.

Never mind what Benitez, RDM and Mourinho tell you. They are all liars. Mike Forde is the decision maker. Can't you see on Chelsea website?

Nihilist:


Hahaha...

I'm coming to this. Just chill.

Hehehe. I'll be back in a bit, make I go pick some groceries. Just take your time homie

Ibime:


Haba bros. Emenalo can't be responsible for such decisions. It must have been Mike Forde. Can't you see his job description on Chelsea website? Those decisions can only be made by board members such as Mike Forde, not Emenalo.

Never mind what Benitez, RDM and Mourinho tell you. They are all liars. Mike Forde is the decision maker. Can't you see on Chelsea website?

Lol. Stop this fight and say something nice about Nihilist

The Chain of Command.

Now someone asked why Benitez did not take his list of requirements to Mike Forde. The reason is simple. There is a chain of command.

We all know that Roman is the one who ultimately cuts the check for players. Yet what we find is that many managers were unable to access Roman directly....and what's more, this is actually the standard procedure

Hear AVB.

I have not spoken to him [Abramovich],” said Villas-Boas. “I have spoken to persons near to him. He is disappointed about the result and asking questions about how we set up the team and they were duly explained.
“I spoke to the people close to the owner to transmit the message. People like Emenalo and these people. That is the normal way we communicate. He just wants to know the thought process.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/9102184/Chelsea-manager-Andre-Villas-Boas-admits-owner-Roman-Abramovich-quizzed-him-over-team-selection.html

Hear Benitez

Benitez says he has not yet met or spoken with Roman Abramovich - his link is with technical director Michael Emenalo - but he thinks he will meet him later today.
'T[b]he main thing is that I have spoken to Michael Emenalo, the technical director, and he's my link[/b].'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/chelsea/9696291/Rafa-Benitez-unveiled-as-new-Chelsea-manager-live.html


Now if we know that the managers dont get to take their lists directly to the guy who cuts the cheque, why should we expect the manager to be able to take his list directly to to DoF?

The things we know for sure are the TD collects the list from the manager. And we know that the DoF is directly in charge of the TD and first team affairs. So its pretty clear from the Chelsea website that the chain of command is:

Manager presents list to TD. TD presents to DoF to ratify at board level. Owner signs off. And it goeas back down again

sigh.

Still loading.

The Chelsea board has always consisted of two kind of people whom for sake of discussion I will call the 'Suits' and the 'Track Suits'

The suits are the business people who provide the business perspective at the board meetings eg Eugene Tannenbaum, and Ron Gourlay.

The track suits are the sporting people who provide the football perspective at the board meetings eg Arnesen, Forde and from 2013 Emenalo.

Emenalo is accused of ruining the team from 2011. Between 2011 and July 2013, he was not a board member.

Does it sound plausible, that a lower ranking member of the managing cadre would be making decisions that completely bypass the highest level of management?

Is it possible that Emenalo would sideline the committee listed by Chelsea as in charge of running day to day activities, and make decisions with the highest level of impact on his own?

I've worked in corporate environments in the City of London since 2011. I can assure you, that bypassing the boardroom and strategy level management manner is impossible.

So what does this mean for the theory of Emenalo the club ruininer since 2010/11/beginning of time?

Loading.

A ninja just woke up and decides that he's been following the politics of Chelsea FC since 2011, just by looking at Chelsea website and reading out of context.

Telling us about Mike Forde, a ninja whose job role was so irrelevant, the club didn't bother to replace his role when he left.

This is the difference between someone who knows and follows something and someone who just woke up one day and decided to form ITK.

The defence of an Emenalo apologist is always:

(1.) Claim he signed good players

When confronted that good players does not make a good team

(2.) Blame the manager

When shown that the manager had difference of opinion on the team make-up, bring out the nuclear option.

(3.) Deflect attention to Mike Forde, Eugene Tennenbaum or Sani Abacha.

Now a ninja is telling us how board structure works, while the whole world is showing us multiple examples of how Emenalo is the key decision maker, and we cannot find one example for Mike Forde.

It's like a child who woke up one morning decided to "educate" us that Marina did not sit on Chelsea board in 2013, when we all know that she had taken over many of Ron Gourlays functions 2 years before she became an executive.

This is the difference between a man who knows something, and a man who woke up to form ITK.

They say a child who decides to fight his father will get blinded by his fathers loincloth.

I leave with the words of A40 in 2013 when ITK had not even known who Mike Forde is.

A40:

Mike Forde? Da phuck is Mike Forde? You think Emenalo goes through Mike Forde to table his petitions to Roman? 

Because in all of Chelsea's wheeling and dealing in the transfer market not one mention of Mike Forde is usually made! Not by the coach,not by anybody!! Chelsea is not the secret service if he played a fundamental role chances are we would know.

Even the common man on the streets knows Emenalo is RA's attack dog. You can also tell us Diya was Abacha's vice but we all know Al Mustapha was not answerable to Diya.

Omo...!!!! In airmarks voice; this gaaaaan be fun..!

I think that at this point, we need to try and figure out what is going on at Chelsea.

I lean very closely towards what Tng said here:

tng:
In all of this, the recurring decimal is Roman. He creates the enabling environment for "spies" . Unfortunately, he is the one we cant do without.

Now let's examine this with facts:

Starting with Ancelotti.

Firstly, Griffon, and this should be important to you. Roman told him straight away that he wanted a possesion based team. So it wasn't Emenalo that had a Barcelona-esque Vision. Emenalo was only still a scout when this happened back in 2009.

Hear him.

On one of the first occasions I met Abramovich he told me, “I want to find a manager that gives my team an identity, because when I watch Chelsea I’m not able to find an identity. When I see Barcelona or Manchester United, I find an identity in the team — when I watch Chelsea I cannot find an identity.” So we changed the style of play — we played with more possession.

Logically, you can see the irony of a possession wanting owner later hiring Jose Mourinho can't you? We''l come to this later. All i wanted to point out here is this Vision you attribute to Emenalo actually came from the top, a full two years before Emenalo became TD.


Next, we have a situation where Roman aggressively questions his manager's selections AND in some cases tells the manager who he wants in the squad

During that great run of games, we lost 3–1 to Wigan. It was just a blip, to my mind, something that happens in football, but Abramovich came to the training ground the next morning to demand answers...

I was asked to promote five young academy graduate players into the 25-man squad, which I did. We won the first game of the new season 6–0, but I was still summoned to Abramovich’s house that night to receive a “dressing down”...

It was a new type of relationship for me with an owner — even Berlusconi had not been so demanding.

On the appointment of Emenalo as assistant coach.

I didn’t have any personal problem with Emenalo, but he was not comfortable in his new role. He was not used to being an assistant manager — his experience was in scouting — but the club put him there anyway. He was certainly not comfortable in front of the players, because they knew him from his time in a certain role, not in his new position.

Ancelotti didn't have a problem with Emenalo, but he rightly felt he wasn't qualified to be an Assistant Manager. Cue TnG's post here.

On Roman's aggression:

In April we played Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-finals, with the feeling that we would have to win to save our season.
The night before the second leg, Abramovich addressed the players, telling them they had to win or there would be huge changes to the team. He told me individually that if we lost then I was not to bother coming back to work. I wasn’t sure if he was serious. We lost and I did go back to work, though I felt like a dead man walking. Again, I suppose I could have confronted the owner, but it seemed pointless.
We lost, 1–0 away at Everton, on the last day of the season. I’m told that the CEO was driving away from the stadium when he got the call to say, “Turn around and tell Carlo he is fired.”

His final Verdict?

The relationship with the owner, however, was not so good. To break a relationship there are little details that all add up...

I believe his main reason for letting me go was that he thought the management of the squad was not right. He thought that I was too kind in front of the players and he grew sure that it was causing something to go wrong within the group. He would try to convince me, with all my experience to the contrary, to be stronger, tougher and more rigorous with the players.
I’d heard it before and I’ve heard it since, but he was wrong — they are all wrong. I don’t change my character.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/we-won-6-0-and-i-was-ordered-to-abramovichs-house-for-a-dressing-down-wbpvpwz85


So in Ancelotti's view Roman was an aggressive meddler. This doesn't sound like Emenalo actually doing anything to undermine Ancelotti. Roman was pretty openly bullying Ancelotti.

Dayo was instructed to stick to matters of his club only when he posted a contrary opinion.

Now A40's opinion from 3 years ago counts.

Ahhh the delicious hypocrisy.

Anyway we stay loading...

Who's interview should I table next sef?

Ibime:


Emenalo was spotted in the Maksimir Stadium by Croatian reporters and was approached after the derby match. In the newspaper he was quoted as saying he “really liked” Vukusic who is described as a “born goalscorer” before adding that he was “really interested” in the teenager. Vukusic plays as a central striker and has been watched by several leading clubs for the past two years.

Emenalo also named the Dinamo midfielder Milan Badelj, who is 21, and said that he and Vukusic “definitely have the quality to play for Chelsea” although he added that he did not know whether the club would bid for the players or another, the 19-year-old right-back Sime Vrsaljko, who also plays for Dinamo and is close to making his full international debut.

Ibime dont you think emenalo should not only be the one to always blame for our transfer woes based on what you quoted and i painted red up there?

Next let's hear from Emenalo himself on Roman.

When it comes to decisions, we feel confident we have an owner who has a very good track record, who is astute at making decisions of this kind at the right time to get us to where we want to be.

"We have never put ourselves in a position where we second guess him. Part of the reasons he can make those decisions and be successful is because he has the information a lot of people don't.

"He has the whole picture of what is happening at the club, not just from certain individuals but every sector of the club. When he needs to make a decision, he can make it.

This is echoed by Ray Wilkins here:

! was surprised when Mr Abramovich dispensed with the services of Carlo a year after we won the double and when he sacked Robbie Di Matteo a few months after winning the Champions League.

But the owner doesn’t hesitate when he thinks it’s time for a change and you don’t get much warning that it’s coming. In my case, it was literally ‘crash, bang wallop and off you go’. That’s the way he works.

And when you think of the money he has spent on Chelsea, he’s entitled to do what he wants. If I’d spent £1billion on something, I wouldn’t have too many people telling me what to do, either.

Nobody is allowed to question Roman at Chelsea. Nobody.


And that is where our problem lies in my opinion.

Anyway Moving on to my final submission on this Emenalo subject...

Loading.

If Emenalo wasn't the main guy buying players between 2011 and 2013, then his traducers will at least want to hold him to his 'abysmal record' betwen 2013 and 2016.

Let's see what Chelsea have to say about that. From the Chelsea website Today.

Marina Gravaskaia, Director:

since 2010 has acted as a representative of the owner at the club and in support of the board of directors. She joined the board of Chelsea FC plc and the Football Club Board in June 2013 and is mainly responsible for player transactions.

It's even more instructive to note, even though he is now the highest ranking Tracksuit at the club, Emenalo is still NOT on the board.

Couple this Knowledge with the Interviews I posted, especially Carlo's...and the picture becomes clearer.

Emenalo has way less power at the club than we give him credit and/or abuse for.

I'm out yo!

coded01:




Thanks for alerting me dayo...

Dayo can you go and sleep as I deputize on your behalf with selling of tickets...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am selling tickets. Buy now!

Cc dcmdad, bykebyke, usbcable, pevicky, krasid, ollah1 & co... Special guest seats are available...

click for where?
my money stays in me pocket.

gimme free access

I didnt even realise Morata is still a Madrid player. Mehn we should go for that guy.

My main personal target this season though would be Wijnaldum. I love that dude so much.

usbcable:

click for where?
my money stays in me pocket.

gimme free access

Guy you dey find free access? Na how we wan use sustain the flow of events for here before season starts proper,if you know pay money?

Kindly do the needful and pay oooo!

Nihilist:
I didnt even realise Morata is still a Madrid player. Mehn we should go for that guy.

My main personal target this season though would be Wijnaldum. I love that dude so much.

Morata!? I see him struggling in CFC especially with the kind of midfielders and wingers we have.

I also think if we can't get a better option to compete directly with Diego then we should make do with traore.

Wijnaldum though, is one guy I won't mind us getting.

diggz:


Morata!? I see him struggling in CFC especially with the kind of midfielders and wingers we have.

I also think if we can't get a better option to compete directly with Diego then we should make do with traore.

Wijnaldum though, is one guy I won't mind us getting.

Morata can play up front and across the flanks. Traore has not impressed me at all, and I've kinda lost hope in Costa. That midfield conundrum though.

I remember watching Fabregas on Monday Night Football a few weeks back, and Carragher was asking him if he would be willing to play the 'Pirlo' role at the base of Midfield for Conte. The guy started yarning dust about ' he doesn't know' and 'he's not the most mobile midfielder'...etc.

I'm very interested to see what Conte does with Fab. Wijnaldum can play in Central Midfield and would be a fantastic Box-to-Box option, and may allow us to switch to 433.

Another option is Coquelin. That guy wasnt seeing shirt towards to end of the season, and with Xhaka, Ramsey, ElNeny, Wilshere, and Cazorla, Arsenal are well stocked in that department.

I don miss o .....
Shey na Emenalo dey cause dis fight, dat man na confusionist ....
Make una kontinu till dis thread reach 2000 pages .....

After carefully going through this debate, I humbly submit that Nihilist is on point.

Maybe we have been giving Emenalo way too much blame in this thread.

Roman should take the largest chunk of blame here.

Looks like a tug of war to me. First party says Emenalo is to take the lion share of the blame for how we found ourselves with such a weak, thin and spineless squad. The other party says Emenalo isnt to be blamed because he isn't the one that that recruits play or doesn't have a final say in recruiting players.

timbros:
After carefully going through this debate, I humbly submit that Nihilist is on point.

Maybe we have been giving Emenalo way too much blame in this thread.

Roman should take the largest chunk of blame here.

Forget what Chelsea says on it's own website.

Keep Calm and blame Emenalo

pamcode:
Looks like a tug of war to me. First party says Emenalo is to take the lion share of the blame for how we found ourselves with such a weak, thin and spineless squad. The other party says Emenalo isnt to be blamed because he isn't the one that that recruits play or doesn't have a final say in recruiting players.

timbros:
After carefully going through this debate, I humbly submit that Nihilist is on point.

Maybe we have been giving Emenalo way too much blame in this thread.

Roman should take the largest chunk of blame here.

Nihilist:


Forget what Chelsea says on it's own website.

Keep Calm and blame Emenalo

There's no smoke without a fire. Ibime, myself and the gazillion of writers out there can't just be traveling on the same wavelength and you get to dismiss it as coincidence. There are ugly politicking going down at the bridge which the fans aren't aware of. You only swallow the stuffs the chief media puts up on the official site of the club.

Articles upon articles are there to support this claim:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3366251/Michael-Emenalo-Roman-Abramovich-s-guy-Chelsea-technical-director-one-Russian-owner-s-closest-allies-appeared-seal-Jose-Mourinho-s-fate.html

[b]Having been promoted in 2011 by Avram Grant, another Abramovich aide, the 50-year-old has seen his role grow, including offering his opinion on the next manager and potential signings.

For example, during the previous summer transfer window a £21.7million deal for Augsburg left back Baba Rahman was dragging its heels. One of the reasons was a growing belief that Tottenham's Danny Rose was a better option. Emenalo played a key role in ensuring the Rahman deal made it over the line. Rahman got three Premier League starts under Mourinho.

Emenalo also played a key role in the unexpected move for relatively unknown Senegal international Papy Djilobodji from Nantes for £2.7m. The 27-year-old defender played one minute of football under Mourinho.

You don't have to be a detective to work out Rahman and Djilobodji were Emenalo productions.

Likewise, it was Emenalo, in 2013, who decided a move for Edinson Cavani, then at Napoli, didn't meet Chelsea's financial parameters.

Those who know Emenalo describe him as cool and distant.

Dealing with the representatives of current and prospective Chelsea players features prominently on his job specification.

Unless you've got a direct line to Abramovich's influential boardroom confidant Marina Granovskaia or the first-team manager, then Emenalo is the point of contact.

He's guarded, almost poker-faced in his discussions - giving little away in search of the best possible deal for Chelsea - and more pertinently Abramovich.[/b]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/mourinho-sacked-how-chelsea-s-technical-director-michael-emenalo-s-power-grew-at-stamford-bridge-a6779371.html

Grant always remembered Emenalo. When, in September 2007, he replaced Mourinho as Chelsea manager the team were preparing to face Valencia in the Champions League and Grant flew Emenalo to Spain to scout them.

Emenalo’s plan helped Chelsea to a 2-1 win at the Mestalla on 3 October. Grant introduced Emenalo to Abramovich afterwards and the deal was done to bring the Nigerian to Stamford Bridge as chief scout. “I am going to a club that has a manager that I have the utmost respect for, and I can learn from,” Emenalo said of Grant. “It is a wonderful soccer education for me, like studying for your PhD at Harvard.”

Had Emenalo not joined Chelsea he would still have ended up in England. Juande Ramos, his coach at Lleida in the Spanish Segunda Division in the late 1990s, had lined him up for a role at Tottenham Hotspur.

Emenalo quickly impressed Abramovich too, with his loyalty, thoughtfulness and football experience, and started his rise through the club. When Ray Wilkins was removed as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant in November 2010, it was Emenalo who officially replaced him, even if Ancelotti made clear that he would not be taking training, and would be doing largely the same job he had done before.

The following year, when Andre Villas-Boas replaced Ancelotti, Emenalo moved into the technical director role he has held ever since. In that job he has overseen transfers and largely built the current Chelsea squad.
[b]
Of course, his record is mixed. Mourinho was less than impressed with this summer’s activity, leading him to feel that it was difficult for him to succeed in the current structure of the club. Chelsea signed Baba Rahman and Papy Djilobodji, but failed to do a deal for John Stones.

This Chelsea squad is largely of Emenalo’s construction, which is why it should be no surprise that he unequivocally sided with the players over Mourinho on Thursday night. He is the only former player in a senior position at the club and that instinctive link with the squad is important.

His main loyalty, though, is to Abramovich. He told The Telegraph last month that he was confident Chelsea have “an owner who has a very good track record when it comes to making decisions”, and that “we have never put ourselves in a position where we second-guess him”. Abramovich and Emenalo – along with the rest of the board – have just made one of the biggest decisions of their Chelsea careers. Emenalo was the man trusted to defend it.[/b]

I can go on and on to provide you all with articles written by reputable news sites on this issue. Then again, there's no smoke without a fire.

Nihilist:


Morata can play up front and across the flanks. Traore has not impressed me at all, and I've kinda lost hope in Costa. That midfield conundrum though.

I remember watching Fabregas on Monday Night Football a few weeks back, and Carragher was asking him if he would be willing to play the 'Pirlo' role at the base of Midfield for Conte. The guy started yarning dust about ' he doesn't know' and 'he's not the most mobile midfielder'...etc.

I'm very interested to see what Conte does with Fab. Wijnaldum can play in Central Midfield and would be a fantastic Box-to-Box option, and may allow us to switch to 433.

Another option is Coquelin. That guy wasnt seeing shirt towards to end of the season, and with Xhaka, Ramsey, ElNeny, Wilshere, and Cazorla, Arsenal are well stocked in that department.

We actually need a striker who can compete or completely displace Costa and morata won't do that. Even the amount they are quoting for morata at the moment won't let me look his way.

If I can have my way, I will get griezman, bring back bamford and try out traore more often.

Nihilist that midfield of ours can make one have serious nightmares. At one time we had makalele,diara,mikel,joe cole,essien,ballack and lampard commanding the midfield. What do we have now, matic, Mikel,fab, oscar (fraud of a brazilian) and RCL(another Mikel when played in the DM position). We clearly need to overhaul that midfield. Fab for all his assist is still a light weight without players who can do the dirty job for him.

I sincerely doubt arsense will let one if is pet projects(coquelin) to join us.

Which brings us back to the scouting team and whoever makes or initiates the transfer dealings in the club. Sincerely speaking, all fingers still points in the direction of emenalo. I don't mind crediting him both with the good and bad signings. And for me, his bad signings outweighs the good and it simply explains why our midfield is one of the most useless in the entire Europe.