What’s your guess on what the rival fans would be thinking about Jose’s sudden exit or Jose himself? Sure, we all know that he was one of the most hated figures for his sharp tongue and more so he backs it up with sucesses. I was browsing through the various blogs and websites of other clubs, like I always do. I was expecting an overdose of hyper-abuse towards Jose Mourinho as they no longer have to put up with him and he is not the most likable personality for a rival. To my surprise, a good lot of them, especially the good bloggers, had a lot of nice words and hidden praises/admirations for the ex-boss of Chelsea.

The blog I cover here includes Arseblog and Gunnerblog – the two of the best. Despite my hatred for arrogant Arsenal, I love reading their blogs. They have the maximum number of blogs for any English club and most of them are good read. Also I pick up something from RedRants and also from few other blogs. Also see some quotes from the big guys – Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger – on their feelings about Jose leaving Chelsea.

These are the guys who were ridiculing while he was on the job, as you’d do with any loud-mouthed rival manager. I’ll show you what our rivals feel about this whole episode and what it means to them and also about Chelsea’s future. You could really sense an air of relief in all these rival blogs. The common message I get is ‘they think it is a loss to football’, ‘they are relieved’, ‘they have one less rival for the title’.

There are no quotes from Liverpool blogs or from Rafa Round Benitez. That’s because they preferred to stay classless even now. They are happy to see the back of Jose and they are mightily relieved. They don’t want to give any credit to Jose even while he was leaving. Arsene just showed he was a bigger man to say what he said despite all his animosity with Jose. Even Jose himself has expressed his high regards for Arsene. Whereas Rafa, for all arrogance and cheapness, I’ll pray to God that Liverpool wins nothing this season, has their key players sit out for long periods and Rafa’s big nose getting cut by Gillette blades.

Here is Arseblogger, the one I really respect despite his constant use of foul language, talking about Jose Mourinho’s sacking:

Elsewhere the news of Mourinho’s departure from Chelsea came filtering through late last night. The ’special one’ deemed not so special anymore by Abramovich and co and it’s another indication of why life with an oligarch is not much fun. You win the league twice and you get in the s*** for not winning with exciting enough football. I suppose Mourinho will have his pick of jobs across Europe and while some will say the Premier League has lost a character others might suggest they’re happy to see the back of an egotistical, annoying, ill-mannered w***er who happens to be a very good football manager. No question Chelsea are worse off without him.

RedRanter is obviously happy as the ‘annoying mourinho leaves‘.

The Special One’s departure had to be made special. What else would you call it if you get £25m to leave something that has now become nothing short of a mad house. Chelsea seem to be in danger of collapsing into some sort of a Russian circus – if you will if Roman starts up with his musical chair of manager sacking. Because, such is the aura and standards under which Mourinho left the club, that the next manager has a hell of a job to do in order to survive.

Yes, we all agree Mourinho was a megalomaniacal, egotistical, motor-mouthed, annoying, moaning, sore-losing, funny-speaking twat of a person, but he was a good manager and has achieved plenty in a short period of time. He was also the best man for the Chelsea job by miles. We, and the rest of the Premiership, are certainly relieved that he has left. However it does worry me that we have to play Chelsea this weekend. There is a good chance that the players, most of whom clearly swore by him, might be kicked into a rousing performance. All that said, we will certainly miss his tantrums. Oh! The sight of a miffed Mourinho. Such fun it was!

Ahmed Bilal from Man Utd-supporting Soccerlens is always a Jose Mourinho admirer (if I may say so) and here is his bit:

. . . we have to stop and give credit where credit is due – Mourinho’s reign as Chelsea manager in the last 3 seasons is an overwhelming success. He turned Chelsea into a formidable side and in the process revolutionised the Premiership – his accomplishments deserve a separate article, so all I’ll say here is that despite his antics I’ll miss Mourinho if he leaves the Premiership.

The best was from Gilberto Silver of Gunnerblog, another one I really look up to. He says that only a spate of defensive injuries denied him a hattrick of titles:

Whatever your opinion of the man, it’s undoubtedly bad news for Chelsea. Mourinho’s skill was in moulding a team from a squad assembled in a short space of time at vast expense. He was able to form a unity and winning mentality that was second to none in the Premiership. Arguably it was only a spate of defensive injuries last year that denied him a third consecutive title. But now he is gone, and it seems that in the short-term at least he’ll be replaced by Avram Grant, who may have to face up to vilification from fans who could blame him for Mourinho’s departure. The likes of Drogba and Lampard could now see their future’s elsewhere. What’s certain is that the entire club has been destabilised by Mourinho’s shock exit. In my opinion, it is going to be incredibly difficult for Chelsea to meet their expectations for this season after losing their manager at such a critical time. For us, that can only be a good thing.

Here is Sir Alex, the best manager in English football (despite only winning as many champions league title as Jose) saying things like terrific, fantastic and unparalleled when he was talking about Jose’s exit. He know it as his heart was in his mouth all through the title race last season.

Jose leaving is a disappointment for the game. I think he was terrific for football and terrific for Chelsea. I enjoyed the competition with him. I think he was something fresh and new to our game. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with my wine now! I wish him well. I think he’s been good for the game. He’s been fantastic and had unparalleled success, without question. It’s a test for whoever replaces him.

Arsene Wenger, despite all his verbal battles with Jose, still feels that Jose’s exit is a bad news. He also talks about Jose being a quality manager and interestingly notes that it was Jose who made the Chelsea team winners.

It is basically sad because I feel Mourinho is a manager of quality. I am a great believer in technical stability and therefore I don’t think it is good news for football. We didn’t get on the best, but recently it has become better. That does not hide the fact I respected what he did and the quality of his work. Of course he is a great manager. He arrived when Chelsea were on the way up; they had a good side already and he did something more and made them winners. He deserves a lot of credit for that because it is never easy to win and in England it is maybe more difficult.

After the news of fans demonstrating outside Stamford Bridge and rumours of players leaving Chelsea, Jose left this message through Portuguese television:

I’m fine, in professional terms and in personal terms I’m fine. I’m happy to have left and I’m happy with what I achieved at Chelsea not only with the results but with the mark I made. I don’t want the supporters to chant my name if they get a bad result in the future. I don’t want players to threaten to leave because I have left. I don’t want demonstrations of any sort.

For our own micro minority of Chelsea fans who were ungrateful to his achievements with us and doubting his ability to take us forward, here is your conclusive proof of what the rivals think of us – the bloggers of the rival clubs and their manager themselves. This would be the last of the posts that were written with the sole purpose of paying tribute to the tactical genius. From now on, we move on. Big match tomorrow and the usual pre-match stuff and a profile of the new man coming up.

[tags]Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez, Arseblog, Gunnerblog, Stamford Bridge[/tags]