I was hoping that this was all a nightmare and when Avram Grant was appointed I was so sure that this was nothing but a nightmare. But, it’s all real. Jose has really left Chelsea. It takes many weeks and months and seasons to come to terms with this but he’s gone. Like many pointed out, he left Benfica, the biggest Portuguese club, for similar reasons. And now we all know, who repents that decision. He revived and made Porto, Benfica’s arch-rival, a real force not just in Portuguese football but also in European football. Now again, boardroom reasons and the best manager is gone.
We all love Jose Mourinho just as the way we love John Terry or any other Chelsea player. Just like it happens with the transfers, we’d like to know how good a transfer this is. If Terry goes, we’re sad but we need a good replacement. Similarly, as long as the replacement is better than Jose, we should be fine. If he is not better than Jose, there is absolutely no justification to allow a highly successful coach to leave like this.
Thankfully, Chelsea FC realised that Jose is a darling of the fans and rightfully delivered a statement on why he left. They call it breakdown of relationship between Jose and the ‘club’. I’d like to know who comprises of the term ‘club’ here. The way we see it, the breakdown was in Roman’s relationship with Jose and anything else could have been managed or thwarted, given the success and importance of Mourinho.
Early this morning we announced that Chelsea and José Mourinho had agreed to part company by mutual consent. The key phrase here is that there was mutual agreement. Jose did not resign and he was not sacked. What is clear, though, is we had all reached a point where the relationship between the club and José had broken down. This was despite genuine attempts over several months by all parties to resolve certain differences. The reason the decision has been taken is that we believed the breakdown started to impact on the performance of the team and recent results supported this view. We did not want this to continue or affect the club further.
Jose has been saying all along that he wants to remain at the club and see his contract through. If he was left alone to do his job, he’d stayed forever. He was in love with Chelsea, London, the fans and even the Press. In his third season, there were too many interceptions to his job and it was quite obvious. Firstly, the January budget freeze and that’s where it all started, Arnesen locking horns with Jose, Avram appointed as ‘someone’ with a position and power to oversee Jose and then a small patch of three winless matches.
We have to agree that, without Roman we would not have seen Jose in Chelsea. Also Roman is a very intelligent businessman who has made billions and his billions should mean he should be incredibly good in his judgment and decision-making. Though Roman has allowed Jose to leave, I’m sure that Roman realises that for Chelsea’s success and future, Jose is very important but a nasty ego clashes between two strong personalities means ‘logic’ goes down in the list.
Roman has appointed Avram as the replacement for mighty Mourinho. Though it looks completely out-of-the-box, Roman may have a reason. Avram does not have the football credentials to match the European Champion Jose Mourinho who joined Chelsea in 2004. Just because he does not have those credentials should not mean he would be a waste of space. Let’s give him a chance. But it’s not just about football tactics, it’s also about motivating this depressed group of players in a confused or even aggrieved state of mind. I’m not going rain down on Avram. Let’s see what he’s got up his sleeve.
Chelsea FC also paid tribute to Jose Mourinho, apart from a complete article on Jose’s period in Chelsea, titled ‘The Special Mourinho Years’:
We also must pay tribute to the great job José did for Chelsea. He has been the most successful manager the club has known and he rightly deserves that place in our history. José has been instrumental in putting Chelsea where it is today, among the leading clubs in European and world football. He will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge, whether as the guest of Chelsea or as the manager of another club, and he will be given the reception and respect his position in our history deserves.
I felt so awfully bad when I read these lines “he will always be welcome at Stamford Bridge, whether as a guest . . . “. The man who completely owned the Bridge, who made a record of remaining unbeaten in league games throughout his stay at Chelsea, is now welcome as a guest. His home record could not be managed even by the living legends in football management. Such a sad end.
Finally, the Special One says the first few words since his exit.
I am very proud of my work in Chelsea Football Club and I think my decision in May 2004 to come to England was an excellent one. It was a beautiful and rich period of my career. I want to thank all Chelsea FC supporters for what I believe is a never ending love story. I wish great success to the club, a club that will be forever connected to me for some historic moments. I wish the players happiness in football and in their family life. Finally on my wife’s and children’ s behalf we thank the great professionalism of their school teachers and the beauty of so many friends.
Truly, it is indeed a never ending love story. His last line on the school teachers indicate that he is moving out of London amidst rumours that he might take up the Spurs job. Very obvious and strange that his ‘thank you message’ says nothing about the club management that gave him the opportunity to work at Chelsea.
Read this with a heavy heart. BBC says that Didier Drogba is said to have burst into tears when Mourinho came in to speak to the players. I’m sure directives must have been circulated to all players and officials on what they can or cannot talk about this whole episode. No press meet or interviews from any of the players so far on Jose’s exit. They cannot escape this as well. If not now, whenever they appear before a microphone, they might have to face questions.
Here is a snapshot from the BBC website, who have created a separate section for ‘Mourinho leaves Chelsea’ which shows the magnitude of the news. Also, it is nice to see that most of the level headed rival fans coming out either condemning the decision, sympathising with the Chelsea fans or paying tribute to one of the best coaches the English league has seen.
In The Telegraph, Henry Winter talks about the greatness of Jose and what we will miss in his absence. Kevin McCarra in The Guardian talks about Jose raised the bar in English football. Not that I subscribe to this view but The Guardian carries another article on how this has become a rich man’s plaything. And The TimesOnline says what can happen to us in the worst case scenario.
Jose was always the 12th man on the pitch, the driving force in each and every player. He was the Boss and he made sure he let everyone know that. His presence would always be missed and I don’t think he would ever be replaced even if we win back-to-back champions league with someone else. Because, with Jose, it was not just the success alone, it was something else. I wish him back all great success and happiness in his career and life. Love him or hate him, there is only one Special One and he is not ours anymore.
[tags]Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Roman Abramovich, Avram Grant, Premier League, Champions League, Didier Drogba, Peter Kenyon[/tags]
54 Responses - Add your comment!
Amazing BC, just amazing. I have a heavy heart and reading this had me agreeing with you all the way. The Special One has left and i know that he’ll never come back to the EPL.
Hes had a spectactular rise. From being an interpreter to going to Benfica. Reviving Porto with a double and making them taste European glory. And then coming to Chelsea and winning them not 1 but 2 titles, after 50 title-less year. Yes Roman and his money have done a lot, but its Jose who managed Chelsea. Jose’s team and Jose’s controversial style was victorious. Last year, Chelsea was a juggernaut.
There was a time when Chelsea was inches behind Man United for the title. It had beaten Porto, Valencia and Liverpool (home leg) and was inching towards European success. It had won the Carling Cup and was on the way to the FA Cup final.
a quadruple possibility?
It wasnt achieved. But it’ll be long before we are ever at this stage again.
I love your article,I love Chelsea,I love Mourinho….Mourinho had been so successful in chelsea…I believe that if he were to continue,he can win the champions league in no time….too bad that he left already…
BC…”I don’t think he would ever be replaced even if we win back-to-back champions league with someone else. Because, with Jose, it was not just the success alone, it was something else”
This says it all…. to get the same feeling with any manager is very difficult.. all soccer news and post match comments will be so boring now.
BC, at the risk of souding pessimistic, avram grant or whatever his name is wont deliver shit. Trust we wont win anything this year. Lets try and be 2nd or 3rd in the league until we get a better manager say lippi.
I am behind Chelsea. I have a friend here who is also an English Soccer fan. He follows Man. Utd and he says that Chelsea could win the ‘LDV Vans Trophy’ even without Mourinho. If it’s true then we have something at least to look forward to.
If Chelsea stays in the top four this season, it is a testament to the spirit of the players and Steve Clarke (he’s still there insn’t he?). I just can’t see how a man so recently aquired from Portsmouth to “oversee football operations” with little or no credintials as a solid manager can motivate this team. Okay, I’m willing to give Grant a shot. But, he just doesn’t up to the task. A draw at Old Trafford would make me feel much better about him.
Hope chelsea players play with their hearts on sunday….and hopefully, they will not leave chelsea…
I WISH TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE BIG BAD BLUE AND CHELSEAFC HAVE TODAY PARTED COMPANY BASED ON MUTUALLY DETERMINED RECURRENT STUPIDITY ON THE PART OF THE CLUB.
I WILL BE REVERTING TO MY SECOND LOVE, THE RED AND BLACK AND WILL CEASE TO SUPPORT THE BLUES PUBLICLY.
Abramovich shocked the world by getting rid of the Special One. Then he insulted the world by replacing the special one with a poodle whose name is Avramovich.
Something is really wrong with Roman.
I was blue before he came and i will still be blue whenever he decides to go.
Now that Jose is gone, at least a decent thing to do is to tell us that an urgent effort is being to secure the services of Lippi who in my opinion is the only one up there to step into the shoes of jose.
Those people who stop supporting chelsea because of Mourinho leaving aint a TRUE BLUE FAN….I love the blues and mourinho but mourinho is nt at chelsea anymore…well,he is always my favourite manager but chelsea is my favourite club too….so LETS MOVE ON and wish Mourinho success!GDBYE Mourinho…
i will start supporting the Blues Publicly when Roman leaves… I pray for it daily.
Guys, do you really think we still have a realistic chance this year?
Grant my A@#$%$
Roman nice man. He look after friend very good. Morino dont let Andriy Mykolayovych score goal and he have big mouth. So not friend of roman. Now Andriy Mykolayovych score goal becaus he friend of roman. Roman owner of chelsea and dont forget. He have plenty much moneys for buy. Roman boss of chelsea club and boss of team. How you think he make money………becaus he good man. Befor 50 years nothing. Now you have big joy. pleas let roman to do him job and you should do yours and behind team. roman bring joy to you you see he good man
Bad news may turn out worse…. I am sure we have lost the plot against the major clubs or cups this season. Sure Roman must be searching for the alternative and we would have a new person heading by Jan… Meanwhile ManU on sunday will surely not be a great watch. Hope Grant does a Churbishly…
Some very good reasons why I like JM is because he gave Chelsea STABILITY ,and CONSISTENCY and THE WILL and SPIRIT to WIN and BE BETTER and IDENTITY and CREDIBILTY as a footballing concern
Now what do we have ?
Disillusioned players
Angry fans
A ruined season
Stooges running around
Lost hopes
&
A lot of money :a lot of fat good that will do us
you will never see a manager like Jose mourinho arrogance ,confidence,good -looks,Charisma he had everything Jose mourinho the greatest manager of all time only fergie can say he’s better than him i hope he will manage chelsea again that would be legendry havent felt this bad since Princess Diana died.
which says it all really.
Hey,
I have been reading your blog for while but this is a first time post. Just wanted to say that is excellent BC, excellent. Brilliant article. I am all sad now, thanks.
GkMack.
and JO @ 10. I am a true blue. I just realised that this will not stop. This was the same frustration I felt when Gullit left, then Luca even Ranieri … men who upped the tempo but the pain was less and managed because of the quality of the next manager.
We have a penchant for pushing the Self destruct button and this is just one to many times. Maybe Roman has his plans and I really dont care about that but he has absolutely NO right to toy with the clubs fortunes. I did not ask him to buy CFC. sitaution was grim but we were not enslaved. we still had players of class and were a joy to watch….he has absolutely no right. SELL UP AND LEAVE. GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
When a top club parts company with its manager, the replacement is nearly always another Top manger or someone of proven worth. GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
this club clearly has no plans as long as this trend continues. And yes, my support for CFC will no longer be public. They will always have a place in my heart and I will be silently cheering for them but NO, I will not speak in the support/behalf of people whose rationality I have to assume is suspect.GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRtBdSEqRo8
Roman has done many gd things for chelsea…and its a sad thing that JM and him have big misunderstanding…therefore,instead of hoping roman to leave,lets hope that chelsea can win something this season…its nt all gone yet…we still have the players…mourinho has instil the winning mentality,the will the strength in every chelsea player….
ALRITE RNUF OF THIS AND THAT…START A NEW ERA FOR CHELSEA DOMINANCE…HOPE FOR THE BETTER…BE OPTIMISTIC…FOR THOSE TRUE BLUE FANS…LET US STAND BY THE CLUB DURING ITS MOST DIFFICULT TIME…AGAIN,i MUST SAY CHELSEA HAS LOST A GREAT MANAGER….BUT ITS A FACT ALREADY AND ITS ALSO THE FACT THAT HE IS CHELSEA’S BEST MANAGER…AS A TRUE BLUE FAN…WE WISH HIM SUCCESS IN EVERYTHIN HE DO…WE ALL NOE TT HE DIDN’T WANT TO LEAVE CHELSEA…BLAME ROMAN ABRAMOVICH OR WAT…THEN WE MOVE ON….WHATS THE USE OF HATING ROMAN WHEN HE HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR US TOO…HE MADE A MISTAKE AND HE GET OVER IT…
I think we can take it for GRANTed that we will win feck all this season….
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
jo dear,
its the thoughtlessness that wories and boggles. a like for like replacement and not many will be shouting/mourning/crying/or just plain feeling blue.
can you honestly say that given the event of the past 2 days, this club has any plans…
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
i don’t know why you’r complaining about two days ago you booed mourinho and made fun of him and now you love him so much just because the person how replace him his an israeli guy you don’t know what he can do stop beind hypocrite and give him a f*****g chance
lol,well…it takes time for the club to get out of this problem…who knows whether they have any plan…maybe they are planning right nw?haha….
and b4 we say anything abt grant…we shall see the performances of chelsea for the next few weeks….and it is still unsure whether he is a stand-in or permanent one
they had better be or our A@%$*&$ is GRANT….
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
Rather like real madrid sacking Capello and appointing Schuster who has won feck all all his life. Why do we have to suffer the indignity of being someones guinea pig? as if being owned was not bad enough. Maybe one day we will have something akin to the CPO for the club where the fans will own the club and tell RA to take a hike. Just a thought.
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
Amigo José,
tu melhor que ninguém sabes treinar uma equipa,Portugal precisa de ti!
um abraço
Paulo.
Chelsea..better say Roman Abramovic..put Chelsea in real dire straits,i´m not a chelsea fan,i´m Portuguese and i was stunned with all the scenario that some a$$holes (Arnesen,grant et al)put to José!
My salute to all Chelsea fans and wishing to you all the Best!
Paulo
Guys and Girls and the Lt Col who’s friend thinks Chelsea will win the LDV Van Trophy.. that is now called the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy!!!
The last time Chelsea changed their manager and went to Man Utd, Claudio Ranieri took over and it was his first game. Ranieri couldnt speak one word of English and after being 3-1 down at half-time, Chelsea fought back and drew 3-3 – so there is optimism for you for Grant’s first game against Man Utd this Sunday.
As for the rest – we wont win f**k all this season and there will be a mass player exodus during January – I hope I am wrong but I am looking forward to be going back to the ‘bad old’ days – at least the real hardcore fans will be able to get tickets!!!!
KTBFFH
I’m totally gutted that Jose has left us.
I was said when Ranieri had to leave- but at least i understood somewhat why.
Who the hell is this Avram guy? He has no credentials!
If Scheva and Ballack were part of the reason why the SPECIAL ONE left, then they had better start putting in some worldclass performances!
WTH is RA thinking!
I firmly believe Chelssea will lose,
Actually Grant cannot do anything with Chelsea tight now , tactics are jose tactics, Line up is Jose ‘s line up but Chelsea players are mentally down, tha’ts why I predict 2-0 or 3-0.
Actually , I am thinking about what Roman did for 2 days , I cannot find even one good reason , or one advantage point for chelsea ,
these kind of events happen when an unprofessional person lead a club , Ken Bates was much better than ROman , his decision was better. I personally like to see chelsea without ROman , I think Roman is the next man who will leave chelsea , after Jose and buch of players , because he bought chelsea to make money but as i said before chelsea will face a big financial loss in 2 years , I think we will sell club. he did not think that Departure of jose would have such a big effect on Chelsea.
i have an idea – lets change the nme ofthe clube to Roman Abromovic FC.
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.
ha ha ha ha…
Stamford Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down,
Stamford Bridge is falling down, Jose’s f**ked off!!!
AT THE END OF YOUR CLOCK ???
I love the fact, that certain Chavski “fans” on here are slating Roman, yet he’s the one who bailed you out of bankruptcy, donated you £500m, BOUGHT you countless cups… yet you want HIM out, over Moaninho…
OHH PLEASE GOD, LET ROMAN GO!
You think what happend to Leeds was bad?
What do you honestly think would happen, if he left you…?
You’d go into liquadation, overnight!
N’ I’d be sitting on the Kings Road, with a bag of popcorn & a deckchair, watching gleefully, as the repo men walk in & strip the place…!
So yeah… Please campaign to get Roman out! For the love of god, please do… ha ha
YOU WILL BE ON THIS BLOG AND YOU WILL SHOW RESPECT. ITS THE BLOG OF CHAMPIONS.
I DONT SEE WHY YOU THINK MY POST IS FUNNY. CANT BE WORSE THAN BEING NAMED AFTER ONE’S ONE POSTERIOR REALLY.
.
errr… yeah! Good grammer, by the way!
Champions?! Last time I looked, that was Man United, weren’t it?
Thanks to us, screwing you over, at the Emirates! GET IN!
But of course, all Chelsea fans have selective memory anyway.
Just ask them what Chelsea was like, before Roman turned up & it all gets very vague! ha ha
YOU CLEARLY CANNOT TAKE A HINT. THIS IS FAMILY BUSINESS…BUTT OFF!!!! YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND DAT BEING ARSE AND ALL.
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.ENAL
well he has gone, and there is nothing we can do so the best thing is to unite all the players, let all have one mine and see what the future bring 4 us.henry james
all together now
in the jose mourinhoe song
you aint winning this year
you aint winning this year
you aint winning this year
you aint winning this year
avram grant….lol
This is a sad day in the history of football.
We have learnt alot from Jose Mouriniho and the EPL will have lost a great and widely-respected manager.
I am very sad that Mouriniho has decided to call it quits at the blues.
I think Jose was the best thing that ever happened to chelsea as a manager, he brought history, expectation, unity and pride to both players and fans, as well as the club in itself. However its time to move on and as much as we love and pay tribute to jose we must try to be positive about Avram Grant. I think he can to do the job with our support. In addition I think he has the technical ability to bring out the abilities certain players possessed like essiens attacking ability mikel’s attacking ability, joe cole creativity may be explored more, and shevchenko might just turn up. Im just saying look on the bright side. Up Chelsea, All the SPECIAL ONE – Ola Jose!!!!!!!, Ola Mourinho!!!!!!!!!!
same old,same old down at the bridge, lets have a sucessfull manager that everyone loves and then get rid of them. Vialli, Gullit and now the special one, different regime same shit, and then we replace them with Ranieri, some israeli bloke whos got as much experience as myself and another destroyed season…….its times like this when i hate my old man for shoving me in a chelsea shirt when i was about a week old, still maybe now all the hangers on and the ‘i’ve always supported chelsea’ club will sod off and give us our club back and with a bit of luck the Russian and his crap Ukrainian lover bo will disapear too……….f*** off Abromavich we want OUR Chelsea back.
Just visiting from Chelseablog – nice one BC.
Clock End Gooner
If Roman buggers off then this is what is left
£750million in trust for the club (he’s already stated this)
No debts
No money owed to banks
Outright ownership of the ground
A bigger “brand” than we ever had before
The un-removable history of the last 3 years
Massive sponsorship deals in place for years to come guaranteeing revenue
Yes, the squad would go and we’d have to live like mortals again and that might knock us back BUT as you well know money comes to money and when RA goes the marketing in the US that slimeball Kenyon has done will set us in good stead for a yank to jump in. I don’t think we’d be short of buyers.
All good things end, and JM’s demise has happened far sooner than we had hoped. But life moves on. One day Wenger will leave Arse and so will Rednose at MUFC, and so will Tubby at Anfield. It is like death and taxes, inevitable. My big disappointment is that we have appointed a no-mark, nobody to “better” what Jose did. This man is there to “take the club forwards”. CEG – even you have to admit that it is nigh on impossible to take it forwards unless you win MORE than the predecessor. Avram Grant will not last one season. You couldn’t have gutted me more if Howard Wilkinson or Glen Roeder had got the job.
Now go back to Airline FC and Airline Stadium and leave us to stew in our own juices of pity and grief.
FOR MANY POSTS I SAW ABOVE THAT´S WHY I CAN NEVER LIKE ARSENHOLES!
GOONERS NEVER HAD RESPECT TO NOBODY!SAD BUT TRUE!
AS A PORTUGUESE FAN OF HOTSPURS MY RESPECT AND SOLIDARITY WITH CHELSEA SUPPORTERS YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!
I HOPE JOSÉ COULD GO TO WHITE HART LANE!
Tony never spoke a truer word. Tony never did!!!!!
GRANT MY HAIRY A@%$*&$.ENAL
red, black and rising
well its happened and theres no going back, we will just have to hope the players are commited to the blues,
Next time time Russia plays England or any team with Chelsea boys or by-then-ex–chelsea boys PAYBACK TIME !
Russia : 0 , Everyone else 3-4-5
Gentlemen, get ready to place your bets !
Once upon a time a road-side dealer in blackmarket diesel struck it rich working with corrupt officials.
So he bought a Ferrari ,the best money could buy.
To look after it he got the best driver-cum mechanic around to tune it up and race it for him.
The driver-mechanic did so , but looking at the state of the roads and such, got the Ferrari going up only to a respectable 150mph.
But the blackmarket dealer wanted it to go up to 200mph with the roof off.
So they started to squabble about the car’s performance etc…
When the car started needing spare parts for repairs ,the owner bought over-priced second-hand stuff and told the driver-mechanic to use the stuff.
The mechanic did the best he could but one day the car was sputtering a bit so the former blackmarket dealer got angry.
And he sacked the mechanic.
Now he’s got his buddy from olden days, the bicycle flat-tire repair man to look after it.
To be continued………..
jose told the fans not to demostrate in any ways and he also told the players not to leave because he did….Chelsea is still the same except without mourinho…We can win sunday’s match….Mourinho will be part of the chelsea family…