Mourinho 2.0 Delivers Once Again For Chelsea

Jose Mourinho was in the dugout, a touch greyer at the temples. John Terry, apparently ageless at centre-half. And Roman Abramovich, still inscrutable, looked down from the West Stand.

Ten years after Mourinho delivered his first league title to Stamford Bridge and five years after their last success, normal service appears to have been resumed on the Fulham Road.

The manager’s second coming has taken two seasons to deliver, but now a third league title at Chelsea, his eighth in 12 years in four countries, is secure.

In one sense this title, sealed with a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace, has been won in classic Mourinho style.

Attacking verve has been allied to defensive obduracy and formidable consistency. And when required, the most pragmatic manager in the league has found his players a way to win, or at least not lose.

They have been comfortably the class of a moderate Premier League field, leading from first weekend to last and exposing the shortcomings of fitful opponents.

When the worst your rivals can accuse you of is being "boring", as Arsenal supporters did last weekend, you know it has been emphatic.

But despite the familiar faces and results, this is a different Chelsea to the war-torn club Mourinho stalked out of in September 2007.

For years Abramovich appeared to relish the chaos. Competing courts attached to key figures circled the owner, vying for control of the more than £1bn he was to sink into Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho thrived on it in his first spell, but while five managers in six years delivered trophies, including the European Cup under Roberto Di Matteo, none found the tranquillity that appears to define the club today.

These days the management team above Mourinho appears stable, the commercial operation strong – they have turned a profit two seasons in a row – and decisions appear harmonious.

Chairman Bruce Buck, director of football Michael Emenalo and Abramovich’s key adviser Marina Granovskaia dovetail well, a fact demonstrated by their performance in the transfer market.

This summer Mourinho focused on three key players: Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and Diego Costa. None of them were hidden gems and they cost a combined £83m, including £21m to correct the mistake of selling Matic two seasons before. But all three were signed early in the summer, and have delivered eight-out-of-ten seasons.

There are caveats.

This title has been won with only two regular English starters, just one of whom, Gary Cahill, is available to the national team.

And domestic success has contrasted with uncharacteristic failure in Europe, where Chelsea were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Perhaps as a result, it been won without Mourinho coming under serious pressure. He has enjoyed rare time with his players midweek. When the strain comes Mourinho he often still wins, but the equanimity he has shown in the last nine months is the first thing to go, and relationships can suffer as a result.