Chelsea FC: Jose Mourinho Defends Managerial Record

Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho defended his side’s lack of trophies by showcasing his record as a manager in a pre-match press conference. The Blues will likely finish this season without a trophy for the first time since 2010-11 and this will be Mourinho’s second season in a row without winning any silverware. Despite this however, the manager came out guns blazing in his press conference before Chelsea FC faces Norwich City and he went season by season proclaiming his accomplishments.

Jose Mourinho said in the press conference, “I’m going to tell you something — a bit of the history of my career. My career reached, against Inter [Milan], the maximum you can reach when you win everything. In 2010, I won everything: Scudetto, Coppa Italia, the Champions League”.

“After that, this is the history of my career. In the first season [after 2010], I won the [Spanish] cup against the best team in the world [Barcelona] and finished second in the league after the best team in the world, and I lost the Champions League semifinal against the best team in the world”.

“The next season, I was champion against the best team in the world, the champions of the records — 100 points, 126 goals, the record team — and we won that league. We lost the Champions League semifinal on penalties [against Bayern Munich] in a day when two of the best penalty takers in football missed, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. And that was a ‘bad’ season”.

“In the third season, we won every match against the best team in the world — in the league, the Super Cup, the cup, at the Bernabeu, at Barcelona — we won everything against them. We won the Super Cup. We lost the league, finished second. And we lost the Champions League semifinal by one goal”.

“And the fourth season, which is this one, and probably the first where I don’t win a single trophy — unless we win the league — I go to the Champions League semifinal and fight for the title until the last minute of the season. So these are the four bad seasons of my career It went wrong by going year after year like nobody else did. You arrive at a level where finishing second is not good, losing a semifinal is not good. So I’m proud of that. Guilty of that.”

Jose Mourinho also made sure to point out that this was a transitional period for the club and said, “for a transitional season, to fight for the title until the last moment and go to the Champions League semifinal I think is a good step, especially because what you do normally is compared with the season before. If you do that, Chelsea lost the title in November last season — Chelsea were like 20 points [actually 14] behind”.

“And in the Champions League, Chelsea were the first team to be knocked out in the group phase as champions. So it’s been a big step in terms of fighting for the title and for the Champions League. A good step. We are ready for the improvement we need for next season, and we need that. So many teams need years and years to build. We are in a transitional period, but it’s not out of context to say this team deserves to start next season with a base to do well.”

Mourinho makes an excellent point by pointing out that Chelsea were Premier League title challengers for nearly the whole season and were one half away from the Champions League semifinal. It comes back to the essential question Chelsea fans need to ask themselves, would you trade a Champions League semifinal for a Europa League or League Cup trophy? Mourinho is right to point out his record and he deserves much more than one season back at Chelsea before his tenure or his ability is judged.