I distinctly remember when Mourinho arrived at Stamford Bridge in year 2004, with his ever since popular press conference where he quoted 'I am not one of the bottle, I think I am The Special One.' But well before he self-proclaimed himself as The Special One, he indeed was one, with Porto being European Champions under his managerial direction.
With his first press conference he immediately became 'the favourite one' for British media. In his first season as in-charge of Chelsea Football Club, he brought some of his targets at Bridge and delivered the Premier League title, what was the first title in the history of football club. The likes of GudJohnson, Carvalho, Lampard, Terry were the ultimate pillars of Mourinho's triumph. I can recollect in one of the strategic team meetings audio, he said 'I am not saying we should win every game, but we can not can not loose'. The success continued in subsequent season and it was very obvious that Mourinho was looking to establish legacy at the club.
But when you get such success there are bound to be enemies, that you create around yourself, and probably one of his biggest enemy was his oversized ego. In his 3rd season in-charge he had a spat with club owner Abramovich in tunnel after disappointing draw with Rosenberg in Champions League. By this time club was very desperate to fill in their trophy cabinet with glazing Champions League Trophy. It is believed that Mourinho did challenge Abramovich to sack him if his methodologies were not in line with club's path. The premier league game against Blackburn Rovers which saw Chelsea drew back to back matches was Mourinho's last game in charge as Chelsea Football Club for his first stint.
Mourinho's exit was imminent before he actually sacked by the club, in between Spurs had already contacted him 5 times to replace their then flop manager Martin Jol. But Chelsea wisely terminated contract with a clause which stated Mourinho won't be able to take managerial position for another year for any English club apart from Chelsea Football Club. And it was curtains down for all the speculation of Mourinho heading towards another London club.
After exit from blues, Jose wished to learn German and Italian, because Serie A league was his next obvious choice according to close sources. Mourinho became the coach of Inter Milan in 2008 and he brought fantastic treble at the Italian club for the first time in their history in 2009-10 season. The treble included Serie A league Title, Coppa Italia and most awaited Champions League. Mourinho was still looking for the legacy at the single club, but I think somewhere even Mourinho wanted to manage different clubs so as to push himself, to face new challenges with new leagues new players.
At the other end in 2010 one of the european giants Real Madrid were looking for the manager who could manage players of Madrid's stature. Mourinho was their obvious target, and Inter Milan eventually released him from his duties in 2010. By now everyone was aware how Jose was expressive, emotional, passionate about the players, football, but the exit from Inter Milan was very teary for Jose and it was unbelievable to see him cry.
The stint at the Real Madrid lasted for about 3 years in which Mourinho brought La Liga, Copa Del Ray at Madrid. In 2011 he became the 5th coach in football history to have won league titles in 4 different countries, chronologically Portugal, England, Italy, Spain. But the love affair with Chelsea Football Club was never over even after gap of 6 years.
When it was decided that Mourinho will be leaving Madrid by the end of 2012-13 season, he wished to return to England specifically to London. It took literally meeting of 5 minutes between Abramovich and him to land him at Bridge for his 2nd stint. Mourinho quoted 'The Boss (Abramovich) asked me whether I want come back, I asked Do you want me back at club?' (It just shows the witty Jose was never pushed down by the likes of club owners.) And it was done deal.
Mourinho's 2nd stint at Chelsea Football Club started with the same set of players as it was for last season 2012-13. With likes Drogba, Torres and Lampard, Terry, Cahill, Hazard around Mourinho did not feel to bring any new players at the club. He only brought Samuel Etoo at the club (his favourite man at Inter Milan.) on season-long loan from Anzhi Makhachkala. He was almost bang on for most of the season, Chelsea was able to beat all top teams both Manchester Clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, but unfortunately lost few crucial matches against lower positioned teams like Sunderland, West Ham & Crystal Palace, Aston Villa. It costed dearly and Chelsea lost the race for Premier League title and Mourinho was furious with some of the decisions made in those games. The inability of his attackers to score goals and to close down the games was primary reason Chelsea lost what was there premier league title.
Jose has always been very vocal about the decisions made against his players & team. He has been penalised by FA on numerous occasions for that. In his 2nd year in-charge he finally brought his targets Diego Costa, Luis etc. Chelsea Football Club was on top from start of the Game 1 of 2014-15 season, and eventually they were Champions with 3 games in hand. It was very typical of Jose to come up with 1-0 crucial wins in must win games. After being Champions in the first interview Jose told reporter that He is feeling tired and exhaustive but the sweetness of being champions is paramount.
The pre-season of 2015-16 did not start on high note with everyone accusing him of making lazy start to it. It was immediately reflected in Chelsea's start to the season when they drew 2-2 with Swansea and then it was all downhill from there. In the game against Swansea the Chelsea medical team rushed onto pitch to have look at Hazard who got scythed down by one of the opposition player. In my opinion this was point from where it all went south for them, Jose called his medical team as naive and irresponsible for their on-field incident. It came down to Eva Carneiro (Doctor from Medical Team at Chelsea) sacking to temporarily close down the affairs, but it never went out of newspapers. Chelsea lost 9 matches out of their first 16 in the current season, worst record for Jose in his entire career. People actually started trolling Mourinho saying whether Eva Carneiro was the special one instead of him.
Eventual sacking of Mourinho came on 17th December 2015 after the loss at the hands of current league leaders Leicester City. Before Leicester City game, Jose challenged Abramovich again to sack him if he thinks club is going in wrong direction. I believe Jose did not lose the entire dressing room, but he definitely lost players like Costa, Fabregas etc. I would not say he lost Hazard, apparently Hazard's dip in form was baffling. Jose always been favourite of Chelsea fans, they always love him, in-fact they still want him back but club thinks otherwise. The banner stated The Three Rats (Costa, Hazard, Fabregas) at the first match after Jose said it all. I believe his last sacking made him the unfortunate one in the football world.
He is apparently suffering from '3rd Year Syndrome' where he can not stay at the club for more than 2-3 seasons. With all the speculation of Jose heading towards Old Trafford for next season, I think he would eventually taste the success of legacy at Manchester United. As a blues fan & die hard Mourinho follower I can not imagine when Chelsea hosts Jose's Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, should be the game of the season already.
With his first press conference he immediately became 'the favourite one' for British media. In his first season as in-charge of Chelsea Football Club, he brought some of his targets at Bridge and delivered the Premier League title, what was the first title in the history of football club. The likes of GudJohnson, Carvalho, Lampard, Terry were the ultimate pillars of Mourinho's triumph. I can recollect in one of the strategic team meetings audio, he said 'I am not saying we should win every game, but we can not can not loose'. The success continued in subsequent season and it was very obvious that Mourinho was looking to establish legacy at the club.
But when you get such success there are bound to be enemies, that you create around yourself, and probably one of his biggest enemy was his oversized ego. In his 3rd season in-charge he had a spat with club owner Abramovich in tunnel after disappointing draw with Rosenberg in Champions League. By this time club was very desperate to fill in their trophy cabinet with glazing Champions League Trophy. It is believed that Mourinho did challenge Abramovich to sack him if his methodologies were not in line with club's path. The premier league game against Blackburn Rovers which saw Chelsea drew back to back matches was Mourinho's last game in charge as Chelsea Football Club for his first stint.
Mourinho's exit was imminent before he actually sacked by the club, in between Spurs had already contacted him 5 times to replace their then flop manager Martin Jol. But Chelsea wisely terminated contract with a clause which stated Mourinho won't be able to take managerial position for another year for any English club apart from Chelsea Football Club. And it was curtains down for all the speculation of Mourinho heading towards another London club.
After exit from blues, Jose wished to learn German and Italian, because Serie A league was his next obvious choice according to close sources. Mourinho became the coach of Inter Milan in 2008 and he brought fantastic treble at the Italian club for the first time in their history in 2009-10 season. The treble included Serie A league Title, Coppa Italia and most awaited Champions League. Mourinho was still looking for the legacy at the single club, but I think somewhere even Mourinho wanted to manage different clubs so as to push himself, to face new challenges with new leagues new players.
At the other end in 2010 one of the european giants Real Madrid were looking for the manager who could manage players of Madrid's stature. Mourinho was their obvious target, and Inter Milan eventually released him from his duties in 2010. By now everyone was aware how Jose was expressive, emotional, passionate about the players, football, but the exit from Inter Milan was very teary for Jose and it was unbelievable to see him cry.
The stint at the Real Madrid lasted for about 3 years in which Mourinho brought La Liga, Copa Del Ray at Madrid. In 2011 he became the 5th coach in football history to have won league titles in 4 different countries, chronologically Portugal, England, Italy, Spain. But the love affair with Chelsea Football Club was never over even after gap of 6 years.
When it was decided that Mourinho will be leaving Madrid by the end of 2012-13 season, he wished to return to England specifically to London. It took literally meeting of 5 minutes between Abramovich and him to land him at Bridge for his 2nd stint. Mourinho quoted 'The Boss (Abramovich) asked me whether I want come back, I asked Do you want me back at club?' (It just shows the witty Jose was never pushed down by the likes of club owners.) And it was done deal.
Mourinho's 2nd stint at Chelsea Football Club started with the same set of players as it was for last season 2012-13. With likes Drogba, Torres and Lampard, Terry, Cahill, Hazard around Mourinho did not feel to bring any new players at the club. He only brought Samuel Etoo at the club (his favourite man at Inter Milan.) on season-long loan from Anzhi Makhachkala. He was almost bang on for most of the season, Chelsea was able to beat all top teams both Manchester Clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, but unfortunately lost few crucial matches against lower positioned teams like Sunderland, West Ham & Crystal Palace, Aston Villa. It costed dearly and Chelsea lost the race for Premier League title and Mourinho was furious with some of the decisions made in those games. The inability of his attackers to score goals and to close down the games was primary reason Chelsea lost what was there premier league title.
Jose has always been very vocal about the decisions made against his players & team. He has been penalised by FA on numerous occasions for that. In his 2nd year in-charge he finally brought his targets Diego Costa, Luis etc. Chelsea Football Club was on top from start of the Game 1 of 2014-15 season, and eventually they were Champions with 3 games in hand. It was very typical of Jose to come up with 1-0 crucial wins in must win games. After being Champions in the first interview Jose told reporter that He is feeling tired and exhaustive but the sweetness of being champions is paramount.
The pre-season of 2015-16 did not start on high note with everyone accusing him of making lazy start to it. It was immediately reflected in Chelsea's start to the season when they drew 2-2 with Swansea and then it was all downhill from there. In the game against Swansea the Chelsea medical team rushed onto pitch to have look at Hazard who got scythed down by one of the opposition player. In my opinion this was point from where it all went south for them, Jose called his medical team as naive and irresponsible for their on-field incident. It came down to Eva Carneiro (Doctor from Medical Team at Chelsea) sacking to temporarily close down the affairs, but it never went out of newspapers. Chelsea lost 9 matches out of their first 16 in the current season, worst record for Jose in his entire career. People actually started trolling Mourinho saying whether Eva Carneiro was the special one instead of him.
Eventual sacking of Mourinho came on 17th December 2015 after the loss at the hands of current league leaders Leicester City. Before Leicester City game, Jose challenged Abramovich again to sack him if he thinks club is going in wrong direction. I believe Jose did not lose the entire dressing room, but he definitely lost players like Costa, Fabregas etc. I would not say he lost Hazard, apparently Hazard's dip in form was baffling. Jose always been favourite of Chelsea fans, they always love him, in-fact they still want him back but club thinks otherwise. The banner stated The Three Rats (Costa, Hazard, Fabregas) at the first match after Jose said it all. I believe his last sacking made him the unfortunate one in the football world.
He is apparently suffering from '3rd Year Syndrome' where he can not stay at the club for more than 2-3 seasons. With all the speculation of Jose heading towards Old Trafford for next season, I think he would eventually taste the success of legacy at Manchester United. As a blues fan & die hard Mourinho follower I can not imagine when Chelsea hosts Jose's Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, should be the game of the season already.
