Mourinho leaves Chelsea

Chelsea Football Club and José Mourinho have agreed to part company today by mutual consent. Disappointing results at Aston Villa, Blackburn and Rosenborg may have triggered the shocking news, but it is more likely Abramovich's strained relationship with Jose contributed to his departure.
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The departure could cost Abramovich a fortune as "the Special One" had three years left on his contract worth around £6.5m a year.

It is said that despite poor results and the relationship with Abramovich, the transfer problems with Ballack and Shevchenko have both contributed to his demise. It is well known that Mourinho disagreed with the departures of Arjen Robben and Lassana Diarra.

Mourinho arrived at Chelsea having won the Champions League with Porto in 2004 and he continued his success with back-to-back Premiership titles. However, last season Manchester United beat the Blues to the league crown, although they did manage to lift both domestic cups.

The Stamford Bridge job is now a poisoned chalice - The expectation will be almost suffocating for whoever replaces Jose Mourinho as Chelsea manager.

Many will feel sorry for the Portuguese coach who on the 17th of September, when commenting on his injury-hit squad, "Omelette, eggs. No eggs, no omelettes. It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have eggs, class one, class two, class three. Some are more expensive than others, and some give you better omelettes. When the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem."

Mourinho brought two Premiership titles, two Carling cups and one FA Cup to Stamford Bridge.