Chelsea is still a Mourinho's team
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José Mourinho celebrating on the bus after winning the Premier League title in 2005 with Chelsea. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Rex Features
The idea that José Mourinho could be defective in any respect borders, as he would surely tell you, on the blasphemous. Even so, there was a glitch in the Internazionale manager's recollection of life at the old club he meets in tonight's Champions League tie. "Chelsea have suffered in the last two years, and it's no coincidence that their decline happened after I left." Strictly speaking, that departure occurred because an emotional exhaustion had already set in by September 2007. The club's owner, Roman Abramovich, needed some respite from the histrionics.
At that moment, any billionaire's good humour might have been faltering because a home draw with Rosenborg Trondheim had been preceded by a goalless match with Blackburn Rovers and a defeat at Aston Villa. The results were far from ruinous but Mourinho is always capable of getting on a proprietor's nerves. Just as some players fare better when they come off the bench, there may also be impact managers who thrive in bursts.
It is hard to picture Mourinho staying in one place for decades and committing himself to the cycle of building and dismantling teams. There is no reason why he should resemble Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsène Wenger when his explosiveness gives rise to memorable headlines and headaches. Mourinho is invigorating in his own way. The span of three years and three months at Chelsea is easily the longest of his terms at the five clubs he has managed.
He was at his best at the beginning of the Stamford Bridge period. The Premier League title was won in 2005 and a defensive record of a paltry 15 goals conceded was set for the competition. Chelsea's points tally of 95 also remains the benchmark, even though clubs had four more fixtures in the early years of the Premier League. Frustrations at Manchester City after such great outlay put his work in an even more favourable light.
Mourinho announced himself with a 1-0 win over Manchester United on the opening weekend of the season in August 2004. He did benefit from signings such as Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard made by his predecessor, Claudio Ranieri. Well over five years have passed, but half a dozen of the players involved that day are still turning out for Chelsea. Of the starting line-up that beat Wolves at the weekend, only Branislav Ivanovic, Yuri Zhirkov, who misses tonight's match through injury, and Nicolas Anelka were bought by Mourinho's successors.
There are honourable reasons for such minor adjustment. It would have been absurd, for example, for Abramovich to go spending at the same excitable rate. Even a billionaire might feel chastened when his determination to splash out £30m on Andriy Shevchenko, who was approaching his 30th birthday in the summer of 2006, led to such ignominy. In terms of strategy, Abramovich is right to feel that his development of the club should ultimately lead to it financing itself. Grown-up considerations of that sort were never strewn in Mourinho's path.
The beginning was the peak. In that first campaign, he could, in theory, flank Didier Drogba with Damien Duff and Arjen Robben, although the Dutchman had injury problems. It was a debilitating system, with the men on the wings having both to attack and to drop back into midfield. Duff and Robben are in action elsewhere now, but the Stamford Bridge demands did take their toll. The exertion could have been even more worthwhile, but Luis García's "ghost goal" beat them in the 2005 Champions League semi-final with Liverpool.
Avram Grant had been director of football at Stamford Bridge and was on hand to succeed Mourinho. He would, of course, have delivered the Champions League to Abramovich had John Terry converted his kick in the shoot-out with Manchester United. Over two-thirds of a campaign there was no scope for reconstruction, but the signing of Anelka has been inspired even if it was his saved penalty that made United victors in Moscow.
Then came the much-heralded World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari. He was more radical than the others who followed Mourinho and was sacked in early February 2009. Scolari favoured a type of back three that included a holding midfielder such as Mikel John Obi so that the full-backs could be in advanced positions when Chelsea were in possession. It earned compliments, but too few wins. Guus Hiddink was appointed as a caretaker manager and reinstated the old rigour. But for outrageously bad refereeing by Tom Henning Ovrebo the side would surely have knocked out Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, won on the away goals rule last year.
Carlo Ancelotti, the incumbent, has Chelsea at the top of the Premier League, but the diamond midfield that was considered his innovation is no longer so apparent. The shadow of Mourinho still falls over the club and the darkness will deepen if Inter prevail.
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hiddink is the only one left who could possibly overshadow mourinho's achievement at chelsea.
i hope ancelotti can prove me wrong.
though i doubt.