Mourinho Quits Chelsea
Posted by Oasisboy on September 19th, 2007
Jose Mourinho resigned as manager of Chelsea last night, after ‘showdown’ talks with Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich. Rumours started circulating on internet forums and RSS news feeds shortly after 11pm GMT on the 19th of September. Mourinho sent a text message to a select group of key players in his squad informing them of his decision – one of whom forwarded it to a press contact. In this day and age, that’s pretty much it, as far as public knowledge is concerned.
Mourinho, hailed as one of the best coaches in the world after his Porto side lifted the European Cup, joined Chelsea in the summer of 2004. “I am the Special Oneâ€, he said at the time, and there were few who dared to contradict him. And he went on to prove it – two consecutive league titles, a League Cup and an FA cup in three seasons at Stamford Bridge says it all. The one trophy that eluded him during his tenure at the west London club was the Champions League – two semi-final defeats to Liverpool, both of which could have gone either way, were as close as he could get.
Jose’s teams haven’t always been pleasing on the eye – his first season in charge notwithstanding. In 11 breathtaking months during the 2004-05 season, Chelsea won the league almost at a canter, demolishing all who came before them with a mixture of exhilarating wing-play and resolute defending. Since then, his methods have become more circumspect, with the emphasis on defence. A second league title followed, but this was thanks to watertight defending more than anything else. Some people went so far as to call them boring.
On the pitch that may have been the case, but off the pitch Mourinho was anything but boring. He held sway over the English media like few before him – Ferguson and Wenger were mere flutes in comparison to Jose’s trumpet and crashing cymbals. Press hacks everywhere lapped it up. Not a day would go by without some sort of news item on Mourinho – most of which focused on his unrelenting verbal outpourings. It was a form of entertainment.
Regardless of what people may say about Chelsea being bankrolled, it was still Mourinho’s responsibility to make them play like a team. A large part of the pensioners success over the last three seasons has been due to his tactical nous and man-management/motivational skills. Whether Chelsea will reach those heights again remains to be seen.
Possible replacements for Mourinho: Juande Ramos (Sevilla), Guus Hiddink (Russian national team), Avram Grant (current Sporting Director of Chelsea, now interim manager for their trip to Old Trafford this weekend)
Where will Jose go? – Tottenham (whisper it quietly), Juventus (Ranieri must hate the sight of him)
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September 24th, 2007 at 1:30 am
Guess who was sitting with Roman Abromovich and Peter Kenyon at Chelsea away match with ManU at Old Trafford? Dutch Manager and legend Marco Van Basten! Now, that’s a manager who would want his team to play attacking football.