Chelsea are battling to save the jobs of first-team coaches Michael Emenalo and Paul Clement.
Both are respected within the boardroom at SW6 for differing reasons.
Clement is highly-respected as a technical coach and as a person.
He has the loyalty gene that is virtually unknown in football in general which has impressed Roman Abramovich and chief executive Ron Gourlay and chairman Bruce Buck.
However with the arrival of Andre Villas-Boas this week as coach, both he and the former coach of an American girls U-14 team Emenalo are sweating over their futures.
Chelsea-Mad understands that Villas-Boas will be asked to consider keeping one or both on his management team.
That decision will form part of the tense negotiations expected today between Villa-Boas's agent and Chelsea's top brass.
An agreement has already being reached in principle for the 33-year-old rookie manager to take over the coaching reins at Stamford Bridge.
But the make-up of his backroom staff is a sticking point.
Villa-Boas failed to bring his own Porto right-hand man with him - Vitor Pereira opted to stay in Portugal with Porto who have named him as Villas-Boas's successor.
Will Villas-Boas follow in the footsteps of Jose Mourinho who used respected Chelsea stalwart Steve Clarke as his number two during his reign at SW6?
If he does then Clement is the obvious choice.
He is well liked by the players. Emenalo is perceived in some quarters as a Roman Abramovich mole within the playing camp.
Villas-Boas first test will be to win that particular battle - it will set-up the relationship between him and the Chelsea board for the future.#
Chelsea hierarchy have learnt from their experiences of dealing with tough-minded coaches and it's expected that Villas-Boas will get the backroom staff he wants.
Will Clement and Emenalo be down at Cobham coaching next month? - Watch this space.