Former Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo believes his "aptitude and competence" have "not been presented correctly" because he is black.
The former Nigeria international joined Chelsea as chief scout in 2007, before progressing to assistant first-team coach and then technical director in 2011. He oversaw sustained domestic and continental success at the club, while also developing an academy system which is now recognised as one of the best in the world.
Along with QPR director of football Les Ferdinand, Emenalo is one of two black people to have held such roles at a Premier League club, and he admits consciously keeping a low profile at Chelsea due to the additional scrutiny his race created.
Emenalo points to the example of black manager Chris Hughton, who has been sacked three times in the last decade - by Newcastle, Norwich and most recently Brighton - despite having delivered significant achievements at each club.
"One of the reasons I stayed discreet during my time at Chelsea was because I was in a unique situation," Emenalo told the Guardian. "I had to choose whether I would let my activism be a distraction or allow my presence to be an inspiration. Some people were waiting for me to become an activist so that was very difficult for me.
"I don't think my story was told the right way to influence the attention. I feel my aptitude and competence has not been presented correctly. And now people are co-opting my work and trying to mask my contribution.
"The narrative has to change. The narrative right now is always that white is good. So it doesn't matter what Chris Hughton produces as a manager. There's always someone saying a white guy can do it better. People need to do the right thing. Like Martin Luther King said: 'Judge me by my competence - not my skin colour'."
Chelsea won three Premier League titles and achieved their sole Champions League triumph while Emenalo was in central roles from 2009 to 2017, but his greatest achievement may have been the development of the club's academy.
Owner Roman Abramovich's desire for immediate success has made it difficult to integrate younger players into the first-team squad during the Russian's time with the club, but several academy products are now flourishing under the guidance of head coach Frank Lampard.
In addition to developing the academy, Emenalo was heavily involved in recruiting several high-quality young players, a trio of whom left the club before going on to achieve notable success elsewhere.
Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Mohamed Salah joined the club between the ages of 18 and 21, before being allowed to leave after failing to break into the first team.
"My argument was that all big clubs had great academies. Ajax, Barcelona, Real Madrid. But creating a new identity at Chelsea, rooted in the academy, while his ambition is to win trophies, was difficult," said Emenalo, who chose to leave the club in 2017.
"At first, everybody said: 'Nobody's come from the academy.' But a kid who comes to the academy at seven won't be ready to challenge Frank Lampard when he's 19. It became key to look at that space between 19 and 22 where we can prepare him to be a Chelsea player. We did that with De Bruyne.
"He was 18, a super talent, but the first time I mentioned that De Bruyne can eventually replace Lampard there was a guffaw of laughter. [Romelu] Lukaku was the same. He's 18 and I say you have to put five years into him.
"My scouts had identified something was happening in Belgium. Hazard, De Bruyne, Lukaku, Chadli, Vertonghen, Courtois. The manager looked at me and said: 'When did Belgium become Brazil? Who's this Kevin De Bruyne?' I told him: 'I don't look at passports. I just watch the player. And this player doesn't miss a pass. I don't know if he will be a superstar but there's something here'."