have brought in Gilbert Enoka, a veteran mental skills coach who made his name working with the All Blacks and will be tasked with creating a winning mentality at Stamford Bridge.
reports that Enoka has been snapped up on a short-term consultancy role and will be working in football for the first time after years in rugby, while he has also worked with the New Zealand cricket and netball sides.
After the string of new signings in January, adding to the new arrivals over the summer and taking over as manager earlier this season, part of Enoka’s role will also be to help bed all these people in and create some unity in the squad.
The 57-year-old’s most famous mantra is the ‘no d***head policy’ he sticks to, in an effort to make squads united and insist that everyone is held accountable for their own actions.
Chelsea will be hoping that they have not signed any such ‘d***heads’ over the last year, because Enoka has said that this policy means any bad apples will need to be exiled as quickly as possible.
He said: ‘A d***head makes everything about them. Often teams put up with it because a player has so much talent. We look for early warning signs and wean the big egos out pretty quickly. Our motto is, “if you can’t change the people, change the people”.’
The Chelsea hierarchy will be hoping he has a very swift impact as the Blues are really struggling, with just one win in their last seven games and just three goals scored in that time.
Graham Potter’s side are back in action at West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday before returning to the Champions League with a trip to Borussia Dortmund next week.
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