UNITED KINGDOM: FOOTBALL / SOCCER - Jose Mourinho leaves Chelsea football club after making a prophetic statement about leaving earlier in the year

Chelsea's director of football Avram Grant is to take over as coach following the shock departure of Jose Mourinho, the BBC reported on Thursday (September 20). The club would not immediately officially confirm the appointment but Chelsea sources said it would not be a surprise if Grant, who is close to billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, took on the role. Chelsea announced early on Thursday they and Mourinho, who won two Premier League titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup in his three years in charge, had parted company by mutual consent. Talismanic coach Mourinho left the English Premier League club just six games into the new season. Mourinho's departure was confirmed by Chelsea in a stark, one-sentence statement posted on their Web site in the small hours of Thursday morning. "Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have agreed to part company today by mutual consent," it said. The statement, printed alongside an oversized image of the club's emblem, left many questions unanswered. Nobody at Chelsea was immediately available for comment. Earlier in the year Mourinho gave a statement, when his future was uncertain, that stated he would not agree to such a parting. "The only thing I can tell you is there are only two ways for me to leave Chelsea. One way is in June 2010 I finish my contract. If the club doesn't give me a new one it is the end of my contract and I am out. And the second way is for Chelsea to sack me. Because there is not a third way. The way of "the manager decides to leave and walk away" - there is no chance. I will never do this to Chelsea supporters, there is no chance," he said in February. The official confirmation of Mourinho's departure followed a rash of media reports which had said senior players, including captain John Terry, had received text messages from their Portuguese manager informing them he was leaving. Mourinho, who was contracted until 2010, was hired by Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich in 2004 with a brief to break Manchester United and Arsenal's domination of English soccer and make Chelsea the best club in Europe. The former Porto boss made a stunning impact, bringing in his own team of assistant managers, winning the title in his first season, Chelsea's first since 1955, and charming the media with his sharp sense of humour. The self-styled "special one" repeated the feat in 2006 but failed to make it a hat-trick last season when they finished second to Manchester United. Mourinho also won two League Cups and the FA Cup for Chelsea and had the remarkable distinction of never losing a home league game during his glittering reign. However, European success eluded him and probably hastened his downfall. Chelsea twice lost to Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals, last season on penalties. Rumours began to surface last year that Abramovich was losing patience with the enigmatic Mourinho and was demanding a more attractive brand of soccer. The signing of Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan, a close friend of Abramovich, also appeared to cause friction between coach and owner. Germany's Michael Ballack was also a signing which did not seem to meet his approval. Chelsea began this season poorly by their own high standards. A lacklustre 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa was followed by a dull 0-0 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday that left them fifth in the table. Mourinho bemoaned his luck having internationals Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack all injured at the same time. Tuesday's disappointing 1-1 Champions League draw at home to Norwegian outsiders Rosenborg Trondheim in front of just 25,000 fans proved the final act of a remarkable period in Chelsea's history, but Mourinho walks away with a tremendous record. Of the 120 league games he took charge of, his team won 85, drew 25 and lost just 10.

ITN Source | September 21, 2007

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