Jose Mourinho leaves Chelsea

Although Jose Mourinho had not actually been the manager of Chelsea that long, he arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004, his departure by mutual consent this week certainly feels like the end of an era.

Love him or loathe him he has certainly left his mark on Chelsea and the English game and proved himself one of the games' biggest characters.

Mourinho was the man chosen by Chelsea's ridiculously rich owner Roman Abramovich to turn Chelsea into a world power and he could not be accused of failing in the task.

In his three seasons at the club Chelsea won two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup. Although they failed to lift the Champions League in that time victories over the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Valencia in the knockout stages highlighted the fact that the club had established itself among Europe's elite.

Yet somehow this did not seem enough to satisfy his employers. Dissatisfaction with the teams' style of play, or apparent lack of it, was voiced by the owner while for his part Jose Mourinho became increasingly disaffected with appointments within the club which he felt infringed on his authority.

The arrival of Frank Arnesen as Chief Scout with apparent influence over who the club signed was a particular bone of contention with Mourinho and the presence of Michael Ballack and Andrei Schevchenko at Stamford Bridge, apparently on the wishes of Abramovich not Mourinho, provided an open sore between the two parties.

Indeed few people will be surprised at this weeks' turn of events given what has happened over the past year or so.

In looking back over Jose Mourinho's time in England it cannot be denied that he has made a massive impact and achieved a great deal. The trophies he brought to Stamford Bridge can always be degraded by the assessment that Ambramovich's money was the main factor behind the success but they still needed winning.

Mourinho's impact was not confined to the pitch either. Off the pitch his opinions and comments provided the media with a constant stream of great copy and kept football followers everywhere supplied with a topic of conversation.

It became impossible not to have a decided opinion one way or the other about the outspoken manager, although it was possible to find yourself changing your own opinion of him from one pole to the other pretty frequently.

Mourinho breezed into England and immediately informed the assembled press that he was not arrogant but belived he was a special one.

The press loved it and from that day forward Mourinho was labelled as "The Special One." You got the feeling that Jose loved it too and, at this point, so did everyone else at Chelsea.

When Jose Mourinho arrived the club had all the money but they had to step out of the massive shadows cast over them, close at home, by Arsenal and, further away but with an even bigger shadow, Manchester United.

Suddenly they seemed to have someone whose profile and charisma could dwarf anything their rivals could muster. Mourinho wasn't slow to blow his own trumpet but he had a track record to back it up as well.

His success at Porto had been huge and had culminated in leading them to a Champions League triumph. Memories were still fresh in this country of his sprint down the touchline at Old Trafford as Porto knocked Manchester United out of the competition on their way to that success.

No wonder everyone at Chelsea had a spring in their step at the arrival of such a man.

Nothing happened to shatter the myth once the football got under way either. Chelsea ran away with the Premier League title, won the League Cup as well and made it to the Champions League semi finals.

Having already wrapped up their league triumph Chelsea went to Old Trafford and spanked United 3-1. Heady days.

The season afterwards the title was retained with a minimum of fuss. The team had become unbeatable at Stamford Bridge and none of their supposed rivals could muster a realistic challenge. This success was clinched with a 3-0 drubbing of Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. Heady days.

It was at this stage that the powers that be at Chelsea began falling out of love with their special manager. Winning was suddenly deemed not enough.

There had been some criticism of the somewhat functional way in which Chelsea went about beating the opposition. It was more surprising when the same noises began being made within the club, and they sounded much louder.

Perhaps it was the shadow of Arsenal and Manchester United still extending over the threshold of Stamford Bridge.

Chief Executive Peter Kenyon, who had defected from Old Trafford for Chelsea, had made noises about Chelsea overtaking United as a global brand, Abramovich apparently hankered over a team in blue that played with the flair and verve of these two clubs.