Chelsea Confirmation Is All That's Left

It took me a while to believe that it could happen, but now I like many others before me am completely convinced that Jose Mourinho will make his long awaited return to Chelsea and English football within the coming days.
It comes after an interview on Spanish television where “The Special One” announced that he fully expected confirmation of his return to Stamford Bridge to be made by the end of this week. A day before this, Real Madrid President Florentino Perez also made comments that suggested similar movements for the now ex-Madrid Head Coach. While nothing has been confirmed by Chelsea themselves, these comments from Mourinho and Perez have done enough to convince me that the Portuguese mans return is imminent, after I admittedly spent a long time believing that it might not happen.
The main reason as to why it might not happen was simply two words: Roman Abramovich. The wealthy Russian owner of Chelsea has a well-documented track record of sacking managers when things aren’t going his way. Mourinho has been the longest serving manager of “The Abramovich Era” lasting for just over three years. His departure in September 2007 came after a mixed start to the season along with reports of a bust-up with Abramovich.
I’ve always had the belief that despite being the most successful manager in the history of the club, Mourinho would never be welcomed back to Chelsea unless he repaired his broken relationship with the chairman. Not long ago I read reports that the pair had patched things up to an extent a few years ago and Abramovich had reportedly bought Mourinho a Ferrari as some sort of a present. This tied with other stories reporting that the two men were on better terms helped me believe that the pair could work together again. The announcement last month that Mourinho was to depart The Santiago Bernabeu at the end of the season certainly made a Chelsea return a much stronger possibility, but the 50 year olds most recent comments are enough for me to make my mind up completely.
While Mourinho certainly departs Madrid with divided opinions amongst their supporters, he goes to Chelsea knowing that the majority of the fans at that club love him and will back him all the way. As well as Chelsea, he also draws great interest from reporters, neutrals and football personalities alike. He will always leave people talking or writing about him and ensures that his imminent return will go down well with almost everybody, including those that can’t stand him, because even they will be talking about him, just in their own different and negative way.
All we wait for now is Chelsea to confirm the move and then the talk will begin on how Mourinho will shape his squad for next season. Whatever movements take place with regards to players, you would surely have to consider Chelsea as contenders for The Premier League title next season already. Mourinho has proven that he knows how to build a title winning side having managed to win the championship at least once in every country he has managed in. The title race is surely going to be a much closer contest next season with the top three teams from this season all changing their managers. The potential change in styles along with player arrivals and departures as well as the normal ups and downs of The Premier League mean that picking a winner right now is next to impossible for me at least.
While it certainly doesn’t guarantee anything, it is worth noting that Chelsea have won the last two Premier League seasons that have taken place right before a World Cup campaign has been due to start. Mourinho led them to glory in 2006 and Carlo Ancelotti guided them to success again in 2010. With a whole host of International players in the Chelsea ranks, perhaps there has been that extra incentive for the players to go out and give a bit more in the final season before the biggest tournament in the world, so as to ensure that they’ve got themselves a place on their respective national teams plane to the finals. It could well just be a coincidence and something that hasn’t even crossed their minds, but it is definitely something that I will be keeping track of throughout the course of next season.
Hopefully we don’t have to wait as long as Friday to hear the news of his second coming and the sooner the news breaks the better, but for now at least we can continue hearing about other stories in the world of football such as the futures of players like Luis Suarez and Gonzalo Higuain, and the start of the Under-21 European Championships on Wednesday, by then with a bit of luck, the news will have broken and we will then be in for a real treat when Jose Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge for his first press conference as the new Chelsea manager.
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