Jose Mourinho – What Can Chelsea Supporters Expect From The Special One?

By Vignesh Iyer
11 years Ago

It has been official for a week now – Jose Mourinho is the manager of Chelsea Football Club and all seems well again within the walls of the ai???Roman Empireai??i??. Having waited for the best part of the last couple of months or more for the Special One to return, the Chelsea faithful are understandably ecstatic at the prospect of a summer that promises to provide nearly as much entertainment as when the season is in progress.With Jose Mourinho at the helm of affairs, a Ai??few questions on everybodyai??i??s minds is ai??i?? How successful can this return be? Will his love for confrontation wreck the club? And how does he intend complete the squad rebuilding process that Chelsea have undertaken in the past few years?

Success is pretty much guaranteed, but Chelsea fans must equally anticipate fireworks, sustained media bias against the club as the special one goes about his business, and delicious sound bites from time to time. Mourinho seemed like an extremely mellowed down version of his usual self when he gave an interview with Chelsea TV after his return. Those expecting a different Jose Mourinho based on a tired, relieved and ai???just-got-out-of-jailai??i?? interview could be in for a surprise though. It would be counterproductive for both Chelsea and him if he changed the way he operated on a psychological level. Whether that be with his players, the media, the board or the fans. Once preparations for the new season begin in full swing, he will revert back to his old self doing everything necessary to forge a supremely strong team spirit and get the whole club (supporters included) pulling in one direction.

Jose Mourinho is nothing, if not a student of experience though and is therefore likely to have matured from his bitter Real Madrid experience. An experience he will draw from to the fullest when dealing with situations as the season rolls on. While he is never going to retrain himself to the point of sounding like Carlo Ancelotti at press conferences, one can expect him to hold back from throwing knock out punches ala ai???voyeurai??i??,Ai??ai???Pito Villanovaai??i?? et al. He is also expected to toe the line when it comes to dealing with the board given there is a high possibility of definite conditions having been laid down before he signed for the club. The Chelsea fans will probably see less of the megalomaniac and more of the shrewd calculated operator who will not mouth off at every opportunity.

As far as the squad goes, the man himself stated in his interview with the in house channel ai??i?? improving the squad does not necessarily mean spending millions(although money is undoubtedly the key), it also involves assessing the talent pool Chelsea currently possess in the first team squad, the players out on loan and those who represent the club at youth level.

When Mourinho arrived at the club back in 2004, the scenario was very different from what it is today. Of the players who would go on to be stalwarts at Chelsea under his tutelage, only Frank Lampard, Eidur Gudjohnsen and John Terry were at the club. Chelseaai??i??s then unchallenged financial clout meant that they were the AS Monaco of today. Backed by Abramovichai??i??s money, Mourinho signed Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira. It is a common myth that he also signed Arjen Robben and Petr Cech, but in truth, these deals were wrapped up by the club when manager Claudio Ranieri was in charge. One of the prominent features of that particular summer at Stamford Bridge was also the mass exodus of players who were important under the Ranieri regime. Chelsea let go of no less than 14 players when the window was open, and in came 9 new faces. Likewise, the academy at Chelsea wasnai??i??t of a world class standard and an urgent upgrade was needed.

It would be fair to assume that at this stage, Chelsea do not need to undertake a whole scale restructuring of the squad but there is an urgent need to address a few key issues with regards to squad depth and composition. And solutions to questions neednai??i??t necessarily come from the outside. Given Chelseaai??i??s impressive recruiting policy under the much maligned Micheal Emenalo, the club has managed to create bankable assets in players like Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, Kenneth Omeruo etc. The academy at Cobham has produced two youth cup winning squads in four years and Chelsea have several wonderful prospects on hand, ready to emerge out of the shadows.

Jose Mourinho, during his first time in charge pointed out to a sufficient lack of quality in the academy and sure enough, heai??i??s been proven right considering that the players who were contenders to make the step up at that point in time arenai??i??t anywhere near good enough for any of the top clubs in Europe now. However a fact that often gets overlooked in Mourinhoai??i??s case is that he isnai??i??t exactly the kind of manager who shuns the youngsters without even giving them a look.

John Obi Mikel and Arjen Robben became important figures at the club during his time. At Inter, he never hesitated to play Mario Balotelli, recognizing talent despite the attitude that made for heavy baggage, and he also encouraged Davide Santon to the point where the then 18 year old was being likened to Interai??i??s own Paolo Maldini. And the most recent of examples is his exhibition of faith in 19 year old Raphael Varane who displaced Pepe in the Real Madrid first XI. Some might argue that Varaneai??i??s rise was accelerated by the politically charged atmosphere within the Madrid dressing room, but history suggests that Mourinho was on the right side, at least on this issue.

The key problem with regards to the promotion of talent at Chelsea has always been the lack of genuine chances for emerging youngsters. Despite showing massive improvement on an overall basis, the club has still found it difficult to facilitate the transition from the youth to senior level football for its younger players. Given Mourinhoai??i??s previous history at the club, there were reports stating Emenalo had ai???offeredai??i?? to quit the club sensing an impending conflict, but it has been rejected by Roman Abramovich and the board at Chelsea. The relationship between Micheal Emenalo, who is rightly held in high regard by the hierarchy and Jose Mourinho could actually prove to be pivotal as far as Mourinhoai??i??s success after his return home is concerned. Latest reports suggest that Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne are set to stay with the club which points towards an encouraging start, and his press conference later today should provide more clues.

This being Chelsea, there is much to come for the supporters on the transfers front. The club is likely to sign at least two or three players who can complete the squad. A striker and a midfield signing is priority at Stamford Bridge with the possibility of a squad player or two arriving (possible loan returns) in order to provide depth.

In some ways the character of this new look Chelsea squad has already been defined in particular by the attacking trio of Juan Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard. These players are the very antithesis of the previous squad he had built but Mourinho will know that he must continue to combine practicality with aesthetics this time around. He achieved it with Real Madrid who played a fantastic brand of counter attacking football under him, and he can do it again if he can add players to complement the magicians upfront.

Mourinho claimed in his interview that he was back to stay at the club for a longer period, but that can only happen with results at Chelsea. Roman Abramovichai??i??s decision to bring him back shows that sacking Jose Mourinho was a mistake in the first place, but his expectations wouldnai??i??t change because of an admission. Although it would be reasonable to expect that the reality of football today has forced the owner to revise his thought process somewhat, thereby allowing practicality to prevail over fantasy.

When Abramovich took over Chelsea, it was unprecedented for a football club to blow up vast sums of money on several player within two months. Now, there are clubs like Manchester City, PSG, AS Monaco who can compete with Chelseaai??i??s financial might. Traditional powerhouses like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich too are not averse to spending . Therefore, one would expect that Roman Abramovich is far more realistic in his pursuit of success for the club.

Should Mourinho continue to deliver as he has done so far, it could be ai???happily ever afterai??i?? for this particular relationship. He is without a doubt one of the best managers in the world right now, equipped with a young squad full of talented players waiting to realize their potential and with a Russian oligarch at the helm, money wonai??i??t be an issue if and when necessary.

Categories: Chelsea FC, English Premier League, Features
Tags: Abramovich Mourinho

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