What after Jose Mourinho?

9/25/2007 8:27:07 AM - Posted by GFDb.com

The ninth manager Chelsea manager over the last two decades to take on Sir Alex Ferguson was 'The Special One' in more ways than one. Not only did he guide the London club to two consecutive Premier League titles and a couple of Cup wins but he really got under the skin of Ferguson. Sir Alex was afraid that this little chap from Portugal could steal his thunder and no wonder that Ferguson will be the happiest man in England to hear of Jose's departure from Chelsea.

Which brings me to the main question ? What after Jose ? The current crop of players were picked by Jose personally and he had taken a lot of effort to groom them. Pivotal players like Lampard and Terry grew in stature under Jose Mourinho. Of course not all players blossomed under him. Scott Parker,Damien Duff, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Arjen Robben had to leave Chelsea for the want of first team football. But it was under Jose that players like Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Petr Cech stamped their authority on the English game and won back to back titles. The players , thus, had tremendous respect for Jose.

But a certain individual didn't seem to like Jose too much. And the problem was that he signed the paycheques. Roman Abramovic is synonymous with Chelsea football club. After all it was his money that transformed Chelsea from being 'decent also-rans' to a trophy winning outfit. Roman won all England had to offer in his first three seasons, but the coveted Champions League trophy seemed to elude him. Chelsea reached the semi-finals twice under Jose's leadership but it was as far as they could get and Abramovic desperately wanted the trophy.

Chelsea started their 2007-08 Champions League campaign at home against Rosenborg. And Stamford Bridge was half full. Worse was to follow. Lowly Rosenborg held the Blues to a 1-1 draw. And you could sense that it was the final nail in Jose's coffin. An emergency meeting later, it was announced that Jose's contract had been terminated by 'mutual agreement' , which I think is fast becoming an euphemism for 'getting the sack'.

Jose's position has been filled by a relatively unknown Israeli named Avram Grant who has a decent record of winning titles in Israel ! I do not think that he is a full-time replacement. In my opinion, he will be a caretaker manager till they find someone as reputed as Mourinho. Given the big names that Chelsea's squad boasts of, it will be extremely difficult for Grant to get them to respect him as a manager. As a Chelsea fan aptly put it ,"Put a red nose on him, the guy's a clown."

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