Thursday 20 September 2007

Goodness, Mourinho has gone...

The sudden departure of "the special one" from his position as Chelsea manager will no doubt be interpreted by some as a 'jump before you're pushed' response to the poor Champions League performance against Rosenborg. But it almost certainly has rather more to do with deep machinations in the boardroom revolving around the wishes of the club's owner - and their incompatibility with the kind of managerial freedom Jose Mourinho desires. Ironically, this saga reaches its most dramatic twist at the same time as British PM Gordon Brown apparently rebuffed EUFA president Michel Platini's plea for curbs on the domination of the game by big money interests. Though he sometimes went way over the top, I for one will greatly miss Mourinho's colourful presence in the Premier League. His interviews were witty, acerbic and often laugh-out-loud funny. My favourite was probably his response to defeat by Barcelona a couple of seasons ago: "They never beat us over 90 minutes with 11 men" he suggested, archly capitalising on a Chelsea sending-off to steal the glee from his opponents.

Expect some incendiary fall-out from this one. "Mutual consent"? My foot!

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