Early today in Great Britain Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho left by 'mutual consent', which means someone told him to get the hell out of Stamford Bridge. In his 3+ seasons with the Blues from London he has lead the club to 2 Premiership Titles and a 2nd place finish last season. The last time Chelsea won the Premiership title prior? The 1954-55 season, which just so happens to have been Chelsea's only First Division title in their history. So in a three year period he tripled their amount of titles. In addition he won the FA Cup once which they had only one three times before as well as the League Cup twice, matching their previous two trophies. Granted some of their success is due to them being bought by Billionaire Russian Roman Abromovich who burst open his piggy bank, but still success is success. So what got him fired? An owner who makes George Steinbrenner in his angry hey day look mild in comparison. Abromivich wanted a Champions League Trophy, signifying the best team in all of Europe. Mourinho and Chelsea failed to deliver in the three years, with two Semifinal losses to Liverpool, one on Penalty Kicks and one they got screwed on, as well as an additional loss to Barca who went on to win the title. Additionally Chelsea got off to a mediocre start this season. They sit tied for 4th in the league after 6 games and they managed only a draw in their first Champions League match versus a weaker opponent. Additionally Chelsea was a defensive force and won most games an unexciting 1-0 or 2-0, and well Abromivich apparently wants to win in style. Furthermore, Abromovich insisted on spending big and bringing in superstars like German Michael Ballack and Ukranian Andriy Schevchenko instead of allowing Jose to mold the team to his desire. Neither international star has flourished at all at the Bridge.
It all makes no sense to me. The man is far and away the winningest coach in Chelsea history. He won 2 of 3 Premiership titles, and finished second the following year. He was unlucky in some of his Champions League matches but overall he is amongst the best managers in the world. And yet he still was canned. He obviously knows more football than Abromovich and should have always had control of their transfers. Maybe if they had given him control in the past they wouldn't have been bounced by Liverpool in the Semifinals last year and would have come away with last seasons Premiership Crown.
This firing certainly makes it more difficult to root for Chelsea despite the fact I picked them up as my team when I lived in London in 2002 and they have been the only club I have ever rooted for. I just don't get it, it makes little to no sense to me and I fully expect Chelsea to have a worse than average season as a result.
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