Michael Emenalo was the subject of scorn – but Chelsea will miss him badly now he's gone
By Sam Wallace, The Telegraph.
Michael Emenalo had not realised at the time, but as he sat on a plastic chair outside the drug testing room in Massachusetts’ Foxborough Stadium in June 1994 - still in his kit, and totally exhausted - Diego Maradona was trying to tell him something.
Maradona, who had also been selected for doping control, wanted to change shirts with his midfield opponent who, aged 28, and not a Nigeria regular, had just played one of the games of his life against Argentina. Emenalo was still lost in his thoughts and never realised. He passed his drugs test; Maradona tested positive for ephedrine, was sent home from the 1994 World Cup finals in disgrace and never played for Argentina again. That sweaty blue and white shirt would have been his last national team jersey, and quite a memento.
A small lesson in taking your opportunity in football wherever it arises, and one heeded by Emenalo after his playing days were finished, when he had a call from Avram Grant, one of his many former managers, to come to Chelsea in 2007 to be part of the Israeli’s backroom staff. Grant did not make it beyond the end of the 2007-2008 season but Emenalo stayed and has fulfilled a number of roles, a rare island of stability in a club that changes so much so often.
His departure on Monday was at least done on his terms. He will leave to try something new, even though his friend and boss Roman Abramovich preferred that he stay. The news of his departure came just four days after two of Chelsea’s most promising young guns, both of them south London boys in Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham, got their senior England call-ups from Gareth Southgate.
The club has had much criticism over the years, some of it my own, for the mistakes they have made in player development but as Emenalo goes the system is starting to bear fruit for the England team. There have been an extraordinary number of Chelsea boys in the England junior teams, including six in the Under-19s’ European championship winning squad and five in the Under-17 World Cup winners, a record that only Everton have got close to over the Football Association’s summer of trophies.
Much of that is due to the work of academy director Neil Bath and Emenalo himself. They organise the scouting and development of many of the best players in the country and then meticulously plot their path through the loan system.
Chelsea have dominated the FA Youth Cup in recent years. Yes, they have paid big salaries but their programme has raised the bar in youth development over the last decade to the extent that traditional powerhouses such as Manchester United and Arsenal have had to fight to keep up.
It is not easy to plot a path amongst the creative tensions at work in Chelsea – not so much a management hierarchy as a management plateau, where territory and influence is grabbed. Emenalo’s departure suggests that Marina Granovskaia and Antonio Conte have that now.
Emenalo’s input included championing young players such as Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamad Salah, Ryan Bertrand and Filipe Luis, all of whom were ultimately judged expendable at Chelsea but have thrived elsewhere. He also help coordinate the massive worldwide scouting programme that has found the likes of Bertrand Traore, boys who grew up a long way from south-west London, and in very different circumstances.
Who better to do so than Emenalo, a man who built his own career from scratch, coming from Nigeria to first do a college scholarship in Boston. His peripatetic playing CV attracted scorn from some but this was a talented African footballer, who had a fine game against Maradona in 1994.
Had he been born a generation later he would probably have benefited from the guidance in the European game that a club like Chelsea, with their bespoke career plans, can now offer.
He understands young footballers, and the way in which they think - be they a talented young English hopeful like Mason Mount, keen to make progress, or a talented young Kenedy or Charley Musonda getting themselves in trouble on social media. Keeping so many of them challenged and motivated has been a key part of his job.
For all the criticism of Chelsea, and much of it justified, it has been heartening to see that they have achieved the kind of diversity in their hierarchy that few others have managed, with Granovskaia and Emenalo. This coming when there are serious concerns about the absence of women and BAME figures in the higher echelons of football.
The club were also not averse to putting Emenalo on the frontline when required, and never more so when he stepped forward in the aftermath of Jose Mourinho’s sacking in December 2015. There are not many football people who, on the spot, could have come up with his delicately understated description of the tension between players and manager.
“Palpable discord” was Emenalo’s phrase and if ever anyone gets round to writing the history of the Abramovich years at Chelsea, then that should be the book’s title.
Where the power lies at ChelseaRoman Abramovich
Owner
Bought out Ken Bates in 2003. Has invested over £1 billion on the club since and will also fund the club’s new stadium.
Bruce Buck
Chairman
American lawyer who is often the public face of the board. A fixture at matches and close to Abramovich, having worked with him on a deal to sell his Sibneft oil firm to Gazprom in 2005.
Eugene Tenenbaum
Director
Former head of corporate finance at Sibneft. The Ukrainian-born accountant is not known to be a strong football fan but is one of Abramovich's most trusted allies.
Marina Granovskaia
Director
One of the most powerful women in world football, Russian-born Granovskaia has been an Abramovich ally since 1997. Key figure in negotiating contracts and player transfers.
Michael Emenalo
Technical director
Only member of Abramovich’s executive team with playing experience, the former Nigerian international also held positions in the scouting and academy programme and has overseen the vast loan system that is now bearing fruit for the club.
Antonio Conte
First team coach
Former Italian international has responsibility for first team matters but does not have complete control around issues such as player recruitment.
David Barnard
Club secretary
Deals with the day-to-day running of the football department, although it is a largely administrative role. One of the last links to the pre-Abramovich era.
Neil Bath
Academy director
Very influential at Cobham, having built the most successful player development system in modern English football. Highly regarded at club and in wider football, even if many Chelsea managers have not given his proteges a first team chance.
