Reports of Mourinho's departure from Stamford Bridge are now extensive with the debate now centering on whether he resigned or was fired. Here are the latest articles from a couple British newspapers with their take on the shock development - the Times and the Guardian. The Daily Telegraph and the Independent currently are without a story although the Telegraph contains a link to ESPN Soccernet.
With Ballack in the mix, Lampard's role become less clear and subsequently the English midfielder became less effective. Prior to his move to Stamford Bridge Ballack has been the fulcrum of the midfield at Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and with the German national side. Two players trying to play the same role did not work as England has experienced when Steven Gerrard and Lampard were teamed together.
While the problem of Ballack and Lampard in the midfield became more obvious as the season progressed the issue of Shevchenko's role was more apparent, in fact almost from the start. In order to play Shevchenko, Mourinho had two options - the first was to opt for the former Milan man over Drogba. Although Drogba struggled at times in his first Premiership season in 2005, it was clear to all by season two that the Ivory Coast striker was a game-winner and not someone who needed to play second-fiddle to anyone.
That left Mourinho with the option of moving to a 4-4-2 formation which he fielded for most of last season. It was a system that rarely flattered Chelsea and left them generally looking disjointed and lacking the balance and pace that was on show during Mourinho's first two seasons in charge.
What's more Chelsea seemed to lose the mental edge and application that had been such an important part of their game when the won back-to-back titles. As the fear receded in other sides Chelsea was forced more frequently to come from behind to salvage a draw or to pull off a win - a position they had rarely found themselves in before.
With rumours rife of the owner and the manager not speaking the club appeared to grow more dysfunctional as last season progressed. The move to bring in Avram Grant looked to be the straw that was to break the manager’s back but a peace deal was brokered that appeared from the outside to have everyone comfortably playing in their own sandbox. However, reports that owner Abramovich was on a mission to sign Ronaldinho just before the August 31 transfer deadline, was perhaps a clue that the fix was only a band-aid solution and the cracks quickly reemerged.
Over the last two or three weeks the issues have compounded – an unsatisfactory explanation as to why Michael Ballack was left of the Champions League roster; the Shevchenko dilemma escalated as the Ukrainian striker put in good performance against Italy something not seen in a Chelsea uniform; a loss to Aston Villa and a draw with Blackburn in the Premiership; an embarrassing tie at home in front of a small crowd to Norwegian team Rosenborg; and then perhaps the final sign that Mourinho had cracked – his egg story at a press conference this week.
So what now for Mourinho? It’s not good news for incumbent managers. Knowing that Mourinho is again on the market provides any trigger happy Chairman with a ready replacement should any of the big clubs stumble in the next few weeks.
As for a replacement two names will be prominent. Fabio Capello is available and if Chelsea is looking for a proven and tested winner then Capello fits the bill to a tee. The other is Guus Hiddink, currently in charge of Russia’s national team. Abramovich is rumoured to have brokered the deal that placed Hiddink in charge and so there does appear to be a prior relationship.
That potential move does however come with complications beyond Hiddink dumping Russia and it comes in the form of Frank Arnesen, the current Sporting Director at Stamford Bridge (another chief!). Arnesen and Hiddink worked together at PSV Eindhoven a few years back until PSV management opted to dump the Dane in a power struggle that Hiddink won.
We can all say we say this coming, but at least the wise bet was at the end of the campaign. I'm a United supporter but there is no doubt he's a helluva coach & a benefit to the league. You have to wonder how much of a hand Grant had in all this? Whether he helped to pull the trigger or if he was just the final straw to Jose saying "I've had enough", we'll never really know. What we do know is that he had his authority usurped time after time with all of these transfers & with the front office at the club. I'd want to go too fi I knew my position didn't mean much. He was an arrogant bas#$%d but he was a quality manager! He'll be missed in the Premiership. Where he goes next will be anyone's guess. He'll want the Portugal job eventually, but I think for now his heart is still in the day-to-day of the club routine.
I really cant see Mourinho jumping into another club for awhile. Chelsea must of been a hugely draining pressure cooker for him. If Scolari barley pulls out wins vs Azerbaijan and Kazakstan coming up for Portugal (its plausible they have been horrible lately) all Mourinho would have to do is mention his interest in the job and it would be his. I think a roll where he is motivating underdogs and not as highly rated players to play out of their skin is where he really shines and not babysitting superstars.
I can't wait to see who the "proverbial saviour" of
Chelsea football will be- Who is this that will magically deliver this so-called "attractive" football!! Perhaps RA should give it a go. I know JM's departure has a lot more to do with just attractive football, but he is still one the best managers in the world on any given Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday. My heart remains all Blue, I just hope Chelsea does not become a farce a la Real Madrid! Over to you Roman!
Last edited by simba9 on September 19th at 7:59 PM.
As a Chelsea fan I am shocked,distressed,angry,sad and in denial but most of all confused.
What I do know is that the one line statement on the club website is not enough.Hopefully the website follows precedent and gives further details,but even if this isn't we all know Jose will be willing to talk.
The club better know what they are doing because all Chelsea fans will accept that he was rude,arrogant etc.But he was a fan favourite (not just for the trophies but also the entertainment) and will remain so no matter what happens in the future.
Roman is treading a thin line and as much as I doubt it will happen;if the club ends the season with no trophies the blame will be placed more on Roman's head than the new manager's.
P.S. I agree with JayAlves' last comment about Jose's motivational talent.
I didn't like Mourinho at first, because I'm not a Chelsea fan, and his arrogance from my point of view (or confidence depending on your perspective) gave me a dislike for the guy. But after listening to his comments and watching his team play, I respected the guy and think he is one of the best coaches in the EPL. I bet most players supported him, so this will hurt Chelsea at least in the near term. I don't see them winning the EPL now. I have a question though. Who wanted to bring in Ballack? Mourinho or Abramovich? I love Ballack, but he plays the same postion (with a different skill set) as Lampard. And do you think Abramovich wanted Ballack out of the Champions league group stage, and Mourinho wanted him in?
1. Something very strange happened in JM/RA meeting before the season started. You could see it in Mourinho's resigned body language. He looked disempowered. You can see it in the way Drogba played so far. Personally I think that RA said "There's no myore money for byig signings, myake dyo with what you have." Mourinho said okay, but it just took a few weeks to realize that adequate, mediocre (I posted this multiple times) can't win anything, and he exploded when RA confronted him yesterday. I really get that JM had his dream broken and couldn't settle for second best.
2. Most of Harchester's resent buys (maybe with exception of Belletti) look no more than seat fillers.
3. Mourinho is a great manager and a great in-game tactition, motivator of most of the team, certainly the English players, if not the Drogba, Essien camp. I doubt that whoever they get will be as good.
4. White Hart Lane would mean the kids needn't change schools.
5. This is all taken from an episode of dream team where a bemused rich fan takes over the club knowing nothing about the professional game
6. I'll miss him. Bring back Ruud. Ironically subject of this weeks Chelsea TV Legends first shown in 2004! Good Luck Jose.
Last edited by LosAngelesChelseaFan on September 19th at 9:01 PM.
It's also worth mentioning that without Roman none of Chelsea's success could have happened and maybe the standard of football level of competition in the EPL would not have happened either. You have to wonder what the oozing Kenyon's part in all this was?
Welcome to the world of sole ownership of clubs. Abramovich is the owner of the team and can do whatever he wants to with it. Regardless of how much the fans protest or the columnists write.
If in his attempts to make Chelsea the new Real Madrid or Milan he destroys the club a la Leeds, would anyone be able to do anything? At least in Madrid if the president goes overboard he is kick out and new one voted in.
Now I just hope JM gets hired by Inter! Get to work Moratti!
As most of us seemed to agree JM's time at Chelsea should have been over this past summer. When he and RA could not agree on how to manage the team should have been the clue to move things forward.
I think Hiddink will be on his way to Chelsea. Maybe he will stay on as Russia's manager too. He did it with the Aussies...
Last edited by CIAO on September 19th at 11:12 PM.
Overall i think it had to happen, see yesterdays post, but its a loss for the epl. he is great entertainment, while his football isnt always.
chelsea have other structural issues as well, bobby pointed it out with his comments about all the chiefs. id be curious as to whose decision the hire is? kenyon, grant, roman, albertagooner? who makes the call? ultimately it has to one roman's comfortable with, but it should be fun seeing it unfold. the funniest suggestion was the sun's sayin wenger was in the short list, hahahaha.
watch them play a great game at old traford sunday!
there are a lot of questions about chelsea than answers.ok we know that sheva and ballack are he owner's buddies, what do the mourinho like players think about these guys now that their manager is gone.as for playing attractive, its not a one day thing , vey few teams world over have attrctive sides, you look at barca, madrid,arsenal , manu l do not know but thise are the ones that come to mind.this is a statement from roman that he runs everything up to the team and they will not get a manger like wenger , fergie's mould eg a deshcamp who left juve after interferences.l think he deserved to run chelsea like the way wenger and fergie deserve to run their clubs
Last edited by henry14 on September 20th at 3:53 AM.
Love or hate the guy, he's a great manager. I'm not a Chelsea fan, but I truly think this is a big mistake, for Chelsea and especially the EPL. He's one manager that could rearrange a team at half time and pull a rabbit out of hat. Yes, he's very arrogant. He reminds me of a boxer, you have to think you can beat anyone.
I wonder how this will affect the team's morale before the game at Old Trafford.
I'm deeply saddened by the fact that there will be no more Rafa v. Jose battles. Chelsea are screwed, because now the egos of the superstars may become a bigger issue. At least Mourinho kept that in check a little.
I’m shocked & in denial, but most of all confused. Because what I can’t understand is how can they do something like this before the Man U game, with Lampard & Drogba out, what can we expect?, I’m sure the moral is probably down between the players, because if there was something that Mourinho always did for the players was to bring the attention to himself and not to the players, the media always focus on him leaving the players free to focus on the game and not in the controversies.
I’m so angry at Abramovich, he just want somebody to baby-sit Shevchenko, and the true is that every time he played he was the one that looked like didn’t belong, it was so evident that as soon as he was sub they’ll immediately scored, so what? Abramovich is not seeing what we’re seeing? There goes another great team, another casualty of Owners managing sport teams like a regular business. When will they understand that they need to leave the coaches, make the decisions on the field!
This is good for Jose. Chelsea have a bad vibe about them likely stemming from the ghosts of the men RA had to kill to consolidate his gas holdings in the wild east of Siberia.
-I would say Martin JOl is in the hot seat. I have to believe Jose would love to stay in London and play Chelsea twice a year. If Tottenham are serious they do what it takes to sign him.
Chelsea could drop out of the top four, probably not.
Both Spurs and Atletico are really good fits for Mourinho. He and family are settled in London so that would probably influence his decision, but he loves La Liga and would bring him closer to home. But I don't think he will take over any club before next summer.
The Special One sits out the remainder of the season and takes over at Barcelona when Frank R. fails to secure a Champions League victory and the new signings don't pan out.
Someone had mentioned Lampard being linked to Real Madrid. Has anyone else heard of such a move? With the current manager at RM, I would imagine they would want Ballack over Lampard. Ballack has proved himself to be a great impact player when at Lever, Bayern and with his national side. Lampard only has Chelsea to show for...
Which players will follow Mourinho out the door, Bobby?
The way he allegedly announced his departure, texting certain senior players suggests there was a big rift in the dressing room.
Lampard (or his agent) apparently shopped himself around Europe this summer with no takers (Barca and Juventus both publicly said no) so he might be stuck at Stamford Bridge, but I had heard Milan was very interested in Drogba. There were some comments on the Guardian's board about a dressing room bust up between Essien and Ballack, too.
Do you see a major clear out following Jose's departure?
Good riddance to Jose, hes a lout. His unsporting behavior to officials, Christiano Ronaldo and many others is shameful. He totally mismanaged Chelsea that last couple years, and leaves them in worse shape than when he came in.
Coupled with Chelsea's decline is the decline of JT. Since being named captian of England his ego and game have gone in opposite directions. Now Chelsea are saddled with his huge 9 year contract. He, along with Fat Frank, another whose game is int he shitter, frooze out world class players Ballack and Shevchenko, and their team currently comprised is a hodge podge of has beens and never weres.
Mourinho will be missed but I feel sorry for chelsea coz while they will get a good manager few have the winning mentality that Mourinho has it's the one thing I really admired about him.
As for Sunday's game ManUre look terrible to so I wouldn't be suprised to see Chelsea get something from the game.
Do Man Utd really look terrible? The defense hasn't looked terrible, although I still believe their depth at defense will be the undoing this year.
Rooney, Ronaldo and Saha are all back. Tevez and Nani have games under their belts. And if Arsenal win their game in hand they are down 5 points after the first month, big deal. No Utd are in fine position, unfortunately.
While I shed no tears at Mourners departure, I swear the traffic bust up on Route 50 in Maryland going into Washington DC MUST have been caused by some folks peeking into the Washington Post Sports section and reading about Mourners divorce from Roman. I know I almost got a heart attack right there in that crawling traffic. Impossible was my first response.
Chelski is really nothing without Mourner and I think most everybody knows that. Unlike Real Madrid, Milan, Barca, Juve ManUre and Liverpool who have this thick tradition that is bigger than any individual, Chelski were ordinary until Mourner came in and brought something that the EPL didnt have in a while. A superstar manager who attracted superstar talent and a rich owner who could satiate the ego of both manager and players.
Avram Grant? Which superstar player is going to be running over to sign for him? Would Malouda have still gone to Chelski if it was not for Mourner? Would Mikel have gone to such lengths to sign at Chelski when he would be a superstar at ManUre feeding Tevez, Roon, Nani and CRon? Would Essien have chosen Chelski over Real Madrid? I don't honestly think so. No disrespect to Avram, but super teams have an identity and for Chelski it was Mourner just as it is Sir A F at Old Trafford.
Last edited by ldunn1713 on September 20th at 10:27 AM.
albertagooner - "Clear outs" are generated by the incoming manager house cleaning; the former manager returning to cherry pick players; or players deciding it is time to push for a move (the ship leaving the sinking rats scenario - and no that is not a specific reference to Chelsea, just a generalization). To some extent the transfer window regulations now mitigate knee-jerk clear outs as the incoming boss knows that he has to get something out of the squad he has inherited - or at least until a new window opens.
Issues that are perhaps somewhat unique to Chelsea are the deals that they have been made and the contracts that the players are on. Is Abramovich is willing to continue to write off the investment he has made in many of the players - and that is very possible - and to write more cheques come January? In terms of player contracts how many teams will be willing to pay the wages that many of these players expect when they can get comparable players for less?
Sitting alongside these issues is how good is the current Chelsea squad and how many changes does it need? If Drogba had been fully fit for the first five weeks of the season would Mourinho be on his bike? I think not. Winning papers over a lot of cracks and Chelsea’s stumbles over the last three weeks have laid bare the cracks.
Continued on another post.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on September 20th at 10:39 AM.
There could also be a final irony in this and it is something that I have seen happen in business. The initial bearer of bad news (Mourinho, I cannot play Ballack and Shevchenko in this side and be successful) is shown the door – by mutual consent of course. His replacement is then appointed with the best of intentions only to deliver the same message some months later and it is only then that the owner or CEO accepts that perhaps the man that he canned was actually right. But, by that time, too late.
Anyway to finally answer your question I don’t believe you will see a major clear out at Stamford Bridge – a couple of players in and maybe a couple out, but no more than that. A clear out I would define as 5 players going both ways.
PS - someone earlier dismissed the Sun story that identified Wenger as a target. I can understand dismissing a Sun story but Wenger is exactly the type of manager that Abramovich would love to have. But there is also zero chance that Wenger would even take the phone call let alone consider it.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on September 20th at 10:42 AM.
Its a laughable suggestion of Wenger going to Chelski.
The problem with "someone like Wenger" going to Chelski is the likes of Kenyon, Buck, Arneson, Grant, Abramovic et al. A creative mastermind, like Wenger, requires autonomy and support, hardly commodities abundant at Chelski.
No, Wenger would never go to a club with an interfering owner/director structure. My only worry is that somehow Spurs will lure him and then all those hyped stories about the spuds overtaking us will indeed come true! I know it's a stretch to think he'd go to Spurs but I've seen more shocking things happen in football. Like Man City at the top of the league. Greece winning the Euros. Etc.
I was shocked and disappointed to hear this news. I hoped he'd stick around long enuf for Wenger to beat him just once at least. I'll certainly miss his crazy press conferences. I won't miss his whining and boring football. And he proved himself to be a blatant liar during the Ashley Cole tapping up affair. No doubt tho, he's one of the world's top managers, superb motivator and tactician.
Mourinho will do fine, he'll land on his feet, probably win another CL if not the Euro 08 if he goes on to manage Portugal.
Chelsea will have some problems for awhile but they've got a rich sugar daddy determined to make it a world class club who can lure a world class manager. I don't see any reason to discount them for good.
Hmmf. After all the rumblings in the football news, there is little surprising about this but the timing, and, after the recent results, even that does not surprise that much. For Chelsea fans, probably a big downer, and could mean a mid-table finish despite the talent still on the club. However, if Mr. Abromovitch comes up with a coach with a more direct leadership style, Chelsea could still ascend to the top of EPL again. Playing mind games with the ilk of Messrs. Ballack, Schevchenko and Lampard may not be the best tactic.
The plot thickens. Scolari has been handed a 4 match touch line ban for his attempted punch and run which is how many games Portugal have left in qualifying. Not sure about FIFA rules or the relation between the two managers but maybe a cameo by Mourinho at the helm or even the Portuguese FA sacking Scolari if Mourinho wants a part time job thats until next season?
I think Mourinho will head to Spain or Italy. I don't think he'll coach a national team. He wouldn't get enough air time as a national coach to feed his ego.
It's sad when an owner steps in and tries to tell a coach how to run his team. If Abramovich wasn't happy with the style of play from Chelsea, he should have let him go last year. I think the FA cup win bought Mourinho more time at Chelsea.
Whoever takes Mourinho's place will have big shoes to fill. And on top of that, I'm sure he'll have to start Shevchenko and Ballack. It doesn't look good for Chelsea.
Also, it is certainly possible to make the combination of Lampard and Ballack, or for that matter, Lampard and Gerrard, work. The key is to assign one to the left side of the pitch and one to the right, in effect having a double fulcrum to the attack and the forward defense. If one goes forward, the other goes central in support. Given the individual skills, an arrangement like this should work very well. Where problems arise is when you have two trying to do the same things at the same time--some part of the midfield winds up out of balance and open to counterattack, or leaves the player with the ball not enough options. Whereas this sort of mental discipline can be a stretch for a player who is used to running the midfield, I suspect the two players in this Chelsea scenario would adapt to this very quickly, ditto Mr. Gerrard on the national side.
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