The 5 Reasons Mourinho is no Longer Chelsea Boss

Filed in archive Premiership 2006/7 on September 20, 2007

1. He didn't win the Champions League. That's what Abramovich wanted and The Special One didn't deliver. I'd argue that he had a pretty good CL record, being only a slightly dodgy Luis Garcia goal away from the final two seasons ago. Abramovich needs to recognize that the Champions League is to some extent random.

2. Andriy Shevchenko. It all went wrong the day Shevchenko arrived. He's been rubbish, but not because he's suddenly a rubbish player. He just doesn't fit in with the Chelsea system. More importantly, the signing of Shevchenko was a clear message to all that Mourinho is not in charge, Abramovichc is.

3. Didier Drogba. The man is immense, and if he'd been fit the last few games then Chelsea could conceivably have won the games against Aston Villa, Blackburn and Rosenborg. You could argue he's been unlucky or you could argue that he was foolish to make Chelsea's game so dependent on one man. You could also go back to no. 2, and argue that if Mourinho had been allowed to spend cash on a true Drogba understudy (meaning a quality but powerful striker) instead of a talented but weedy Ukranian, then maybe things would be different.

4. Boring football. Mourinho's Chelsea have never been pretty to watch, and that doesn't help with the branding job Abramovich and Kenyon are trying to do at Chelsea.

5. Wasted money. Abramovich more or less refused to finance Mourinho in the transfer market in January, which arguably cost Chelsea a third Premiership title. But when you look at all the money he's wasted - Khalid Boulahrouz, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Paulo Ferreira, Mateja Kezman, Tiago, Maniche and others - you can understand why. Mourinho's success rate is not good. And even the fact he paid small fortunes for successful players like Drogba and Essien can't have encouraged Abramovich.