Chelsea fans still upset over manner of Mourinho departure
The chair of the Chelsea Supporters Group says Jose Mourinho is still revered by fans.
Tonight, the 47-year-old returns to the club he served with such distinction for the first time with Inter Milan seeking to build on the 2-1 lead they established in the first leg of their Champions League clash at the San Siro.
Group chair Trizia Fiorellino insists Mourinho is cherished by supporters because of the success he brought to the club, and questions the manner of his departure.
"Most of us hold him up on a pedestal," she said. "He's a legend to us, particularly for fans of my age who had been watching Chelsea for around 35 years.
"Most of us had resigned ourselves to never winning the league. Before he came we were used to decades of mid-table mediocrity and the odd flirtation with relegation When he won the league so quickly it propelled him to legendary status.
"He was bit of an unknown quantity when he arrived as we knew Sven-Goran Eriksson was the first choice, but many Chelsea fans felt relieved to have dodged the Eriksson bullet. We started winning game after game and players who had under-performed before starting playing like world-beaters.
"I couldn't believe it when he left - I liken it to the man who (chose not to sign) the Beatles. We had the most successful, in-demand manager in the world at the time and we sacked him. We sacked him, whatever the club or Mourinho might say.
"Results had gone against us on the pitch but that was his first blip since he'd been at the club. The Chelsea hierarchy must look at themselves and think 'what did we do?' because what followed was just appalling.
"If he'd stayed with us and (owner) Roman Abramovich had backed him with some money, he could have built a dynasty to rival Manchester United's. There were players who didn't like him, but guys like Joe Cole and Frank Lampard played their best football under him."
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Comments (9)
Jose is always the legend to the blues!
Jose d special one
Why do dickheads like Anonymous ''HOLD HIM UP ON A PEDESTAL'' bother? as he is probably a JCL who arrived with Abramovich. FACT prior to the arrival of Abramovich and Ranieri Chelsea won 2 fa cups (Gullit/Vialli) 1 euro cup winners cup (Viali) Carling cup and a euro super cup and community sheild. Ranieri had the single biggest spend under Abramovich and won squat with the squad you call a stacked squad Jose arrived out went wasters like Veron/mutu/Crespo all signed by Ranieri. Ranieri also spent money on Lampard,Stanic,Gronkjaer etc and still won squat however he did already qualify for the UCL before Roman arrived. Its also not suprising you idiot that you say one other Portugese/Brazilian kid nd not being able to name him what a numpty you are it was of course Tiago and he was Portugese no Brazilian. It was the introduction of Drogba ,Essien, the three Portugese players that proved the catalyst for our squad and yes Robben and Cech who although signed by Ranieri never played for him. Sheva you moron was signed as the Russian toy by Roman not Jose. I think idiots like you should pee off back to whatever club you used to support probably Liverpool. Four seasons ago when we lost Cech/Cudicini/Essien/Lamps/JT/Drog/Carvalho and many others to injury the club didn't support him but he still brought us two cups and finished just behind MUFC. In that final summer he was given the likes o Sidwell/Tal ben haim for example hence his ''eggs'' speech prior to the Rosenborg game but idiots like you were too thick to understand what he was saying. They also demanded he change our and expected the team to adjust straight away we were level with MUFC when he departed. Since then a string of over rated manager have failed except for one cup by Hiddink. 125 million pounds and no trophies why should we put Ranieri on his pedestal?
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