I didn’t want Emenalo – Ancelotti

Former Chelsea coach, Carlo Ancelotti, has revealed that he did not want Michael Emenalo as his assistant when the former Nigerian defender was named his deputy.

 Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich named the former Super Eagles defender Ancelotti’s assistant in November 2010 after a former England international Ray Wilkins was sacked from the position.

In his memoirs, titled ‘Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches’ and set for release to the public, Ancelotti claimed Emenalo was appointed without his knowledge.

In the diary of which extracts were published by several British newspapers on Monday he wrote, “We lost to Liverpool, 2-0, and my assistant Ray Wilkins was fired days later. Another lesson learnt. I could have fought harder, but I knew that it was a done deal. Michael Emenalo, the club’s head of opposition scouting, was made assistant manager and I had to introduce him to the squad. The English players in particular were not happy with the way things had been done.

“I was surprised when the club changed Wilkins. It was not discussed with me first. In my first year at the club Ray was, of course, important because of the language – he spoke Italian – and he was a good reference for the players. In my second year in the job, although I certainly didn’t want to, I could do without him.

“The club had made the decision – Ray was already gone. When Abramovich decided to make Emenalo the assistant manager – my assistant – I told the club that I didn’t need another assistant. I already had Paul Clement and Bruno Demichelis, and between us we had everything covered.

“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.”

Emenalo, who is now technical director of Chelsea, had been linked by Nigerian football officials over the years as possible coach of the Eagles. The player who made his mark with the Eagles at the USA ’94 World, though, has never showed any interest in working with the Nigerian side.