On Thursday, Portugese manager Jose Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea and the Technical Director of the club, Michael Emenalo, has said that it was because he lost the faith of his squad.
Chelsea’s most successful manager was recently relieved of his duties after a devastating run of results that saw the Blues lose 9 times in their opening 16 matches, their worst start to a season since 1978-79. While the fans have voiced their backing of the manager, it is a different story with the board and, as it emerges, even the players.
Michael Emenalo, Chelsea’s technical director, spoke out about the reasoning behind the decision to sack Jose Mourinho on the club’s TV channel and said that it was due, in large part, to the fact that Mourinho had lost the faith of his players.
a The new contract signifies that what happened today was not a premeditated decision. It was a decision taken to protect the interests of the club. While there is huge sentiment for the individual, who has done so much for the club, the fact remains Chelsea football club is in trouble. The results have not been good.”, he said, according to The Guardian . .
a There obviously seemed to be a palpable discord between manager and players and we feel it was time to act. The owner is forced to make what was a very tough decision for the good of the club. We are one point above relegation and thata s not good enough. Any fan can understand this club is in trouble and something needed to be done.a
Players over Manager
While Mourinho is generally known to be very supportive of his players, he recently stated that they had ‘betrayed’ him and it seems that it immediately struck a bad note with the board.
a This is the same group of players who won the league and the League Cup last season, they did it by sweating tears and blood. They played to instruction, they adhered to everything the manager asked them to do. Ita s very easy to make that kind of inference [about the players] but ita s not one that club accepts.” Emenalo said.
The ever controversial Mourinho has had a lot of great moments at Chelsea, but we didn’t see many this season. It looks like he will be looking for a new challenge next season, while Dutchman Guus Hiddink is reportedly taking his place as the interim manager for the season at Chelsea.