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Thursday, December 17 was a day that shall live in infamy for Chelsea fans. When the news broke shortly before 10:00 a.m. EST that Chelsea had parted ways with managerial legend Jose Mourinho, it plunged me into a state of darkness that I have not experienced in many years.
And this comes from someone whose day job is criminal defense attorney. The thought of getting any work done went out the window, as it took all of the energy I had to curl into a ball and put REM’s “Everybody Hurts” on repeat. Is this real? Or is this just a nightmare that Chelsea fans can’t wake up from? What does it all mean?
There have been countless essays already published about why this happened and what the turning points were, so I will not repeat them here (too much). The only emotion that fans not only of Chelsea, but of the Premier League in general, should feel today is sadness. Mourinho was the guy you loved, or loved to hate, so while you cannot begrudge rival fans for enjoying a spot of schadenfreude today at his downfall, the Premier League will be a much less interesting place without him in it.
The Special One says goodbye a second time. (Photo: @FootballFunnys | Twitter)
As a Chelsea fan, this is a devastating day that I feared would happen since the very beginning of the club’s inexplicable collapse.
As the losses mounted, it hurt, not because Chelsea found itself in the middle and ultimately bottom-middle of the table (we did win the league in May...right?), but because each one increased the possibility that Mourinho would not survive it.
And we’ve been here before. It was in September 2007, the second year that I was actively following Chelsea that Mourinho was sacked the first time. It seemed inexplicable then that owner Roman Abramovich would dismiss the manager that had brought the club its first Premier League titles in 50 years.
And it started a carousel of changes in the managerial seat: Avram Grant, Big Phil Scolari (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little), Guus Hiddink (interim), Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto DiMatteo, and Rafa Benitez (big fat Spanish waiter, interim).
There were titles, for sure, including one league title and the infamous Champions League win in 2012. But the instability was always unsettling: you just never had a sense that any of these guys were here to stay. And none of them was Jose.
Until the summer of 2013. Daddy came home. Mourinho buried the hatchet with Abramovich and came back to the supporters’ arms in a loving embrace. He was back and this time it was going to be for good. We dreamed of a 10 year run, full of Premier League and Champions League titles. It was going to be different this time.
And to start, things could not have gone better. While the club ultimately fell short of the league title in his first season back (finishing third), the foundation was laid for a lengthy run of success.
New players were brought in and excellent players such as Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku, and David Luiz were unloaded because they did not “fit Jose’s system” or “play his way.” It was concerning and more than a little confusing, but “In Jose We Trust” was the mantra amongst the supporters.
And Jose was his typical charming, hilarious self with the media, whether it was comparing Chelsea to a “little horse” or labeling Arsene Wenger as a “specialist in failure.” It all culminated in last season’s championship, where the club encountered fairly little resistance as it marched to the league title, ultimately winning by 8 points. Going into this campaign, many so-called experts predicted yet another title for Chelsea Football Club.
But this season was unlike any other from the first day. After struggling to a 2-2 draw against Swansea at home in the opening match, Chelsea was smoked 3-0 by Manchester City, and, after a brief reprieve against West Brom, lost at home to Crystal Palace. The players that had dominated last season seemed to have all aged a decade over the summer.
Each victory was thought to be the turning point, but nothing ever turned. Eden Hazard, John Terry, Nemanja Matic, and Diego Costa have all been inexplicably bad for the entire 2015-2016 campaign so far.
Hazard, the reigning PFA Player of the Year, has yet to score this season in any competition. It is mid-December. Mid. December. And until the last match he was healthy! Terry looks slow, Matic has lost his physicality, Costa seems more concerned with fighting the opposition and looking as swarthy as possible than making runs at goal, and Fabregas has completely lost his passing touch. I could go on.
Mourinho looked as confused as the fans, and while he initially did his usual routine of blaming the referees for the bad results, eventually even he could not use that as an excuse.
Which led to the sniping about his players that ultimately culminated in him saying that his players had “betrayed” him during Monday’s lost to Leicester. The collapse was complete. For whatever reason, the players simply lost faith in Mourinho and had tuned him out.
Let’s not mince words here: the players did this. It is their fault. As inexplicable as their drop in form has been, it is even more unbelievable to think that Mourinho lost his tactical ability over the summer (he’d have had to drink a lot of Madeira for that to be true).
And given their vocal support of their manager in the stands and amongst my fellow Chelsea supporters (my friend John said he hopes the players are booed off the pitch for the rest of the season), the fan base seems to agree with me that the players are the guilty party.
So now the most successful manager in club history is gone for a second time and you have to wonder how the players will respond. Whomever the new caretaker manager is (former interim man Hiddink, according to the Australian FA) will be going into a near-impossible situation.
Qualifying for the Champions League is a pipe dream, even a dreaded Europa League spot would take a dramatic improvement given the quality of the clubs ahead of them in the table. So what will motivate the players? Avoiding relegation? That doesn’t seem to have raised their collective antennae to this point.
So the manager will have to deal with unmotivated players while battling the expectations of a disgruntled fan base that will be chanting Mourinho’s name from the stands while he stalks the touchline for weeks. Good luck with that Guus!
It will be fascinating to see where Mourinho goes next (PSG? Back to Real Madrid?), but no matter where he goes, I will be rooting for him to succeed. And when he inevitably returns to Stamford Bridge in the Champions League, he will be applauded...and he will be feared. We have not seen the last of the Special One as a force in European football.
Unless the (very) unlikely rumors are true and Jose takes over the U.S. Men’s National team, in which case The18 will have to find another writer because my head will have exploded.
The Post-Mourinho Era Part II begins this Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. EST at home against fellow bottom-dweller Sunderland, which like most of Chelsea’s embarrassments this season, will be seen live on NBC Sports Network. Just like a car crash, I can’t look away. You shouldn’t either.
Follow Mike Smith on Twitter @thefootiegent
