Michael Emenalo has backed the decision of the Chelsea owner to fire Jose Mourinho.
The Nigerian, who joined Chelsea when former manager Avram Grant was in charge and has since rose to the post of Technical Director, made the declaration on Chelsea TV a few minutes after the former Inter Milan boss was sacked.
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| Emenalo standing beside a disappointed Roman |
‘The owner was forced to make a very tough decision for the good of the club,’ he said. ‘Make no mistake about it, Chelsea football club, one of the biggest clubs in the world, is one point above relegation in the English Premier League and that’s not good enough.
‘Anybody, or any fan, even those who are not fans who love the club or have any kind of affiliation to the club, can understand that this club is in trouble. Something needed to be done.’
Jose Mourinho’s dismissal came as a shock as Chelsea head into a busy Christmas period starting with a survival battle against Sunderland on Saturday. However, the 14-time capped former Super Eagles defender insisted that the Stamford Bridge giants had a capable Plan B lined up.
‘You’re not a big club if you don’t have contingency plans for situations like this. We’re a big club that have quality coaches embedded within the club. I think we will be OK for Saturday”. Emenalo quipped.
‘We will have competent people come up and help with the preparation for the game on Saturday. Make no mistake about it, the club is working vigorously and actively to make sure that the situation in regards to a managerial appointment is taken care of as soon as possible.’
The club’s former caretaker manager, Guus Hiddink is primed to return to Stamford Bridge on a caretaker basis until the end of the season. Roman Abrahamovic is believed to be eyeing Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola and Athlico Madrid’s Diego Simeone has long term replacement options.