Mourning Mourinho (From Haringey Independent)

Mourning Mourinho

9:43am Thursday 20th September 2007

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The special one has left the building.

Outspoken and sometimes controversial Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is no more. As of 2am this morning or thereabouts the club were on the lookout for a new man at the helm. As of 6am or thereabouts the text messages and comments began about how Chelsea are now in trouble.

I guess that’s the price you pay for being a fan of such a provocative club.

It is a shame. That Jose left. That it happened seemingly so suddenly. And that anyone who isn’t a Chelsea fan is using it to already confine the club to mid-table nothingness come the end of the season.

Mourinho led us to win the premiership twice. A feat no manager had managed for 50 years, and so perfectly timed for the club’s centenary. I remember the look of my dad’s face (a die-hard Chelsea fan for more than 60 years) when he once again saw his club lift that all-important trophy for the first time since he was a kid.

That’s not forgetting the carling cup, the fa cup...

Oh and under his leadership the team never lost a league match at home.

You can criticise Chelsea all you want for having a rich Russian pumping money in to buy success. You can criticise Mourinho for being an arrogant idiot sometimes who seemed to take pleasure in winding people up, dismissing criticism and declaring himself to be “special” despite putting on a mediocre show.

But you cannot deny that he did good things at Stamford Bridge and all the money in the world cannot turn a bunch of talented players into a successful team.

I’ve no doubt that for all the cynics out there bashing Chelsea, bashing Jose and the system at the bridge a great majority would take Mourinho as manager of their club with open arms given half the chance. So I’ll take your comments with a pinch of salt.

So Jose I think you’ll be missed, and not just because you are really quite nice to look at. You brought something special back to west London and even though you managed to turn the rest of the premiership into blues-haters we love you for it. Because you made us a force to be reckoned with. Now let’s hope that Abramovich and his team can find us something even more special to get that Champions League win he so desperately wants.

The word is the Director of Football Avram Grant is to be announced as Jose’s successor later today. We’ll see. But whoever it is can you lower the price of match tickets so the poorer fans can enjoy the game?