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As the dust settles after the abrupt end of one of the most charismatic managers ever to grace the English game, its time to look back on what he did for not only Chelsea, but the English game, and how we'll cope without him.
Americans who are old enough say that they know where they were when JFK was shot, and to me the demise of Jose Mourinho is similarly important. From all this one would be right to assume that I'm affiliated with Chelsea FC in some way, so it is a surprise to say that in fact I'm the opposite. A devoted Manchester United fan, I didn't expect to feel sad to hear that the great adversary had got his comeuppance, in fact I expected to find myself cackling with delight. As such, its a testimony to the man that i sit here today still feeling cheated by the events of Wednesday 19th.
It wasn't just the enormous success that Jose bestowed on Chelsea that made him the personality that attracted more page inches than any other manager in any sport, it was his swagger, charisma and sometimes blinding arrogance that made him so interesting. He had the ability to deflect attention form the events of a match with something as little as a gesture or a comment. Rafael Benitez knows all too well that trait. People don't remember the 2005 Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool for the quality of the football, or Liverpool's lifting Anfield performance. No, it is remembered for 'the goal that ever was', an example that leads me n to my next point.
Another feature that endeared Jose to the Premiership was his passion. I'm sure that every manager in the league feels passionately about what they do, they wouldn't have been so successful otherwise, but it was more apparent with 'The Special One'. If he felt that his side had been wronged against, then he would stop at nothing to make sure everyone knew it. While some managers would say that they may have been hard done by, Jose made it seem like a travesty, a personal affront. This may have seemed like arrogance at the time, it was only because he cared more.
However, the downfall for Mourinho came because he couldn't export his passion onto the pitch. Mourinho thrived by building teams based on a solid defense, sometimes making their style of play more boring than those of the other Big 4 teams. In this respect he fell foul of owner Roman Abramovich. When Abramovich brought the club, he wasted no time on buying players well known for their attacking prowess. Names like Henry and Ronaldinho were constantly linked with Stamford Bridge, while players like Robben and Drogba did make the transition. It showed at times last season how frustrated Roman Abramovich was at the quality of football on display. The final straw though was Andriy Shevchenko. Costing 31m, it must have been frustrating for both the player and the owner that he spent so much time on the bench. Shevchenko eventually became the joke of the Premiership and ultimately Abramovich valued Shevchenko more than Mourinho.
All of this makes an interesting situation for the future. Chelsea wasted no time replacing Mourinho with little known Avrum Grant, but the change of manager failed to lift Chelsea's fortunes as they lost 2-0 to Manchester United last Sunday. Win against Hull aside, Chelsea are still a team lacking in form and confidence and will need to correct this against Fulham this weekend. If they don't, then it won't be long before the vultures start circling for Grant too...
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How will Chelsea cope without Jose Mourinho?
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