Reports of dressing room mutiny at Stamford Bridge have been doing the rounds in the media more often than Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho would like, while his team keeps losing match after match. In the latest claim, BBC radio journalist Gary Richardson claimed that a certain Chelsea FC player has had enough of the Portuguese manager, and would “rather lose than win for [Mourinho]”.
Richardson was presenting the Sportsweek for BBC5 Live, when he said that an unnamed source told him about the disharmony within the Chelsea FC dressing room.
a The information was actually passed to me by a football contact,” said Richardson, before revealing that Mourinho had in fact lost his dressing room (or at least a part of the dressing room).
“Jose Mourinho’s relationship with many of his players is rock bottom,” Richardson further went on to say, on the live show. “They’re fed-up with the way he’s been dealing with some of the players, and they’re fed-up with his outbursts.
Richardson also spoke about the information he had on misfiring Chelsea FC star Eden Hazard. He said, “His [Mourinho’s] relationship with Hazard is under particular strain.”
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However, in what was the most damming of all claims for the Chelsea FC manager, Richardson revealed that one of the players has lost so much faith in his manager that he does not want to win for Mourinho.
Richardson said, “Here is a staggering quote. One player said recently, a Ia d rather lose than win for hima .”
He reiterated the fact that this information (and quote) was “passed on” to him by a source close to the club, and not the player himself.
Flashback to another mutiny 9 years ago
While Mourinho has earned a lot of respect from many players around the world, he has had his share of dressing room mutinies. One of the prime examples of this under Mourinho’s watch was former Chelsea FC defender William Gallas, who had reportedly refused to play for the club ahead of the 2006/07 season.
There were even reports of the Frenchman threatening to score own goals and making deliberate mistakes if he was fielded by Chelsea FC. Although Gallas had denied these claims at that time, he did go on to move to Chelsea FC’s cross-town rivals Arsenal FC that year.
Chelsea FC’s Saturday match against Liverpool FC was billed as the last stand for Mourinho, but the trigger-happy Blues owner Roman Abramovich seems to have kept faith in his Portuguese manager. It would be interesting to see how long the Russian billionaire sticks with Mourinho if the results keep going this badly.