Ashley Cole has hailed the long-term impact made at Chelsea by former manager Jose Mourinho.

Now in charge of Tottenham, Mourinho was first brought to England by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

"Jose Mourinho signed me but when I think back to the group that we had when I first joined, it was already a team of winners," explained Cole to chelseafc.com.

"We had some big personnel here already who understood the culture of the club and what it meant on a daily basis to play here, and that was a big reason why I joined Chelsea.

"Players like John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech. These are all players that knew what the demands were to play for Chelsea and that would rub off onto you.

"They knew what was required and they showed that every day. Hard work, dedication and a willingness to improve and get better.

"What Jose did to Chelsea was unbelievable in terms of the confidence and belief he gave us. He gave us that stability. He would come in and say 'right, you've done it you've won things, you've improved and now this is what I'm expecting from you on a daily basis' and we just took that on."