Do you believe in providence? Then read this.
When destiny knocks at your door, pay heed to take a chance
Anonymous
This is beyond a football story, it’s a life’s lesson.
The youthful Mike Emenalo was part of the young generation of Green Eagles that lost narrowly at the last round-of-8 of the 1986 World Cup qualifier in July 1985 against Tunisia enroute Mexico ‘86.
With other youngsters then in their early 20s, like Yekini, Temile, Edobor, Sadi, Sofoluwe, Keshi, Rufai, Ehilegbu, Okorowanta, Adesina etc, complemented by experienced players like Okey Isima, Patrick Okalla, Muda Lawal, Fatai Amoo, Best Ogedegbe and many more.
After this shock exit from the 1986 World Cup race, Mike Emenalo surprisingly left for the University of Bolton in the US to pursue his academic ambition he was at the same time playing as a semi-professional for the University’s team.
Because of his huge talent and passion to fulfil his potentials, Mike abandoned his desire to pursue a degree in Law for a professional contract with FC Molenbeek, Belgium in 1989.
If you look at Michael’s coaches over the years, they’ve always gone back for him, He is really a full package.
Neil Roberts, Boston University coach
From Molenbeek, Mike Emenalo moved to Eintracht Trier in Germany, in 1993, it was at this period that the finest moment of his playing career arrived.
While the Nigerian golden generation of 1994 was camped at Faro in Portugal for the buildup to USA ‘94 World Cup, Mike having followed some of his teenage friends that survived till that golden era, like Keshi, Yekini and Rufai on the TV, drove to the Faro camp for a complimentary visit.
At this particular moment destiny knocked at his door when his old friends introduced him to the Nigeria Super Eagles’ Dutch coach, Clemence Westerhof who was at that time looking for a backup for Benedict Iroha at the left full back position of his team. Of course, Westerhof gave Mike Emenalo an opportunity which he grabbed with both hands, this was providence at its best because he went on to play full 90 minutes in all the Super Eagles outstanding matches of the World Cup campaign after Iroha picked up injury against Bulgaria in the opening game.
This was the turning point in his destiny and the occasion that announced him to the whole world, before this time he had only played 3 times for the national team and he went on to have 14 caps in total after.
Destiny smiled on him again, he became the friend of the Russian-Jew Oligarch, Roman Abramovich and rapidly rose as Chelsea’s head opposition scout to the post of an assistant manager under Carlo Ancelotti, on 23rd November 2010.
Retiring from active football in 2000 after turning out for Israeli club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Emenalo returned to the United States where he eventually joined the Tucson Soccer Academy as director of player development in 2006. But Emenalo did not stay in the role too long as only a year later he was offered a route to the big time by Avram Grant, his former coach at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Grant had been hired by Chelsea in 2007 to replace Jose Mourinho after the Portuguese was sacked in his first stint at the club. Following his appointment, Grant brought in Mike Emenalo as Chelsea’s chief opposition scout, a role he held till 2010 when he replaced Ray Wilkins as Chelsea’s assistant coach. Twelve months later, Emenalo landed his big break as he was appointed as the club’s technical director thrusting him into a key role as he became in charge of overseeing recruitment strategy and shaping the club’s playing personnel. Emenalo’s work as technical director has been crucial to changing Chelsea’s financial model as the club, in light of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rule which prevented clubs from spending beyond their revenue margins, could no longer solely depend on the deep pockets of its Russian billionaire owner.
Inevitably, his role meant constant interaction with Roman Abramovich. Now a prominent member of Chelsea’s board, Emenalo stands out as the only member with tangible football experience. The other members, Bruce Buck, Eugene Tenenbaum and Marina Granovskaia all have long standing personal or business relationships with Abramovich leaving Emenalo as the man with unique football insight and thus earning the trust of Abramovich on football related matters at the club.
He has never looked back since, having taken up a similar role in Monaco FC of France up till some few months ago, this is by far the most successful football managerial itinerary by any Nigerian in Europe till date.
Reference:
Yomi Kazeem, a reporter at Quartz, covering Africa-specific stories on politics and how it intersects with business, innovation, startups and culture, 15th November 2015.
