The fall-out from Chelsea’s controversial dismissal of assistant manager Ray Wilkins earlier this month continues to cast a shadow over the club, both on and off the field.

And Chelsea’s recent on-field struggles have not been helped by their continuing injury crisis, with worries increasing particularly over the immediate futures of talismanic players John Terry and Frank Lampard.

Yet Chelsea still lead the EPL and have qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League in record-breaking fashion, despite losing three EPL matches out of the last four, scoring just one goal.

In his first public statement since his departure on November 11, Wilkins said he was seeking advice from the League Managers’ Association on “my undoubtedly unfair dismissal.”

 

He added: “I am very disappointed that the board decided that I had no further contribution to make at Chelsea Football Club, which has played such a huge part in my life.”

The club merely confirmed that “we’re having amicable discussions with Ray’s legal advisors. We’ll honour the termination provisions in Ray’s contract.”

This, however, has not been the key aspect of the story. And the controversy continued when head opposition scout, Nigerian Michael Emenalo, was promoted to replace Wilkins.

Blues supposed supremo, Carlo Ancelotti had stressed that “the club made this decision after the decision on Ray. It was not my decision.”

And he fanned the flames of controversy by adding: “(Emelano) will not be involved in training because (coach) Paul Clement has been and will remain doing that.”

This was clear from the dug-out at Birmingham, where Clement was more active than the Nigerian.

Ancelotti has subsequently denied rumours that he is on the verge of quitting over these decisions, telling a press conference before Chelsea’s 2-1 Champions League victory over MKS Zilinia: “These rumours are untrue. I’ve no idea where they’ve come from.”

A young Chelsea side struggled against the Slovak champions and were 1-0 down at half-time before the experienced Salomon Kalou and Nicolas Anelka left the bench at half-time to inspire the win. Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda were the goalscorers.

But they will still be without the long-term injured Lampard and centre-back pairing Terry and Alex.

The Brazilian will be out for up to two months as he needs knee surgery. Terry has a long-standing nerve problem which will sideline him for the foreseeable future.