Mourinho's shock departure leaves Chelsea in chaos

Two English Premier League titles and no love lost for Roman Abramovich: Thus ends José Mourinho's stormy tenure at Chelsea. Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

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The soccer world was left spitting out its cornflakes when it switched on its TVs and radios on Thursday morning to hear the news that the Special One, José Mourinho, had left Chelsea. The enormity of the event was such that Mourinho's furrowed brow featured on the front page of most daily newspapers, and even provoked the British Prime Minister to comment.

Gordon Brown hit the nail on the head, saying, "Mourinho has a fantastic record of success. He's made a significant contribution to British football in a short period of time and he's also one of the great characters of the game."

The writing had been on the wall for some time, with relations between Mourinho and billionaire club owner Roman Abramovich clearly becoming increasingly strained over recent months. Although not as theatrical as his big-bang exit from Porto in 2004, when he famously took off his medal and left the team as they lifted the Champions League trophy, it was always expected that the showman's Chelsea exit would be dramatic.

But nobody, even Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy, expected the Special One to be the first managerial casualty of the season, or his final game to be an ignominious 1-1 draw against European minnows Rosenborg.

According to Chelsea, Mourinho wasn't sacked and didn't resign, leaving the club by the often rolled-out soccer smoke screen of "mutual consent." The club said in a statement that, "We had all reached a point where the relationship between the club and José had broken down. This was despite genuine attempts over several months by all parties to resolve certain differences."

The first murmurings of discontent were over the Abramovich led signings of Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack in summer of '06. This caused unrest in the squad as they were signed on contracts that eclipsed previously top-earning squad members.

It was evident that Mourinho was as baffled as most observers as to how they were going to fit into the team, and was obviously unhappy that others were tinkering in team affairs. Further meddling arrived in July '07, much to Mourinho's ire, in the shape of Avram Grant, a personal friend of Abramovich, who was appointed to a newly created post of director of football.

No sooner had Mourinho said his (apparently tearful) goodbyes to his players at the Chelsea training ground, Grant was named as his interim successor. The former Israeli national-team coach, now an English Premier League rookie, Grant faces a massive task to fill the void left by Mourinho, and to take charge of a squad most of whom were ardently loyal to the Portuguese native.

Question marks must now hang over the Chelsea futures of the likes of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and even defensive stalwart John Terry. Drogba is reportedly "furious and upset" over Mourinho's departure, and is the favorite to be first out of the Stamford Bridge exit door.

So what next for Mourinho? Having earned more than $10 million a year as the highest-paid manager in world soccer over the last three years, and being in the process of negotiating a $40 million-plus payoff from Chelsea, he doesn't need to hurry back.

However, with Portugal's qualification for Euro 2008 in disarray, and current coach Luiz Felipe "Big Phil" Scolari banned for four matches, José is 2-to-1 with bookmakers to become Portugal's next boss. Second on the list is Mourinho's former employer, Barcelona. After finishing last season trophyless and with an indifferent start to the season, Frank Rijkaard's leather jacket could soon be replaced by Mourinho's trench coat in the Camp Nou cloakroom.

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