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Newsmaker: Jose Mourinho

  • Story Highlights
  • Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho shocked the football world with his resignation
  • He was criticised for his arrogance after dubbing himself the 'Special One'
  • He was rumored to have a difficult relationship with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich
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LONDON (England) CNN -- The football world was rocked this week with the shock resignation on Wednesday evening of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

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Jose Mourinho calls it quits at Chelsea

He gave no indication of his next career move. Avram Grant and Steve Clarke have been appointed the managers of the club.

Grant, 52, is a former coach of Israel, who was director of football at Portsmouth from June last year until he was hired by Abramovich. Clarke, 44, is an ex-Chelsea and Scotland full-back.

Mourinho was rarely out of the headlines during his three-years in charge of big-spending Chelsea, bringing success on the field and courting controversy off it with his colorful and often eccentric press conferences.

The self-styled "Special One" proved a breath of fresh air when he arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004, basking in the glory of leading Portuguese side Porto to an unlikely Champions League success.

His brash and outspoken manner appeared to perfectly match the nouveau-riche aspirations of Chelsea who, backed by Roman Abramovich's millions, were set to upset the established football order in England.

Mourinho was quickly good to his word in word and Chelsea captured the Premier League title in his first season in charge, adding the League Cup for good measure. But early evidence of his ability to make the headlines for perhaps the wrong reasons surfaced during the semifinals of the latter competition where they came up against Manchester United, managed by Alex Ferguson.

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"In the second half it was whistle and whistle, fault and fault, cheat and cheat. The referee controlled the game in one way during the first half but in the second they had dozens of free-kicks. I know the referee did not walk to the dressing rooms alone at half-time, " was a typical outburst as he claimed Ferguson used undue influence on the referee.

Mourniho was fined $10,000 by the football authorities for his remarks and the following season was given a two-game touchline ban by European governing body UEFA for a similar incident after claiming that Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard had spoken to referee Anders Frisk at half-time during a Champions League tie at the Nou Camp.

Ultimately, success in the Champions League eluded Mourniho and frustrated Abramovich as they twice made semifinal exits on penalties to Premier League rivals Liverpool. Mourinho took both defeats badly and became involved in a typical war of words with their manger Rafael Benitez who later claimed: "We were good friends until Liverpool started winning, then he started changing his mind."

Mourinho repeated Chelsea's Premier League success in his second season in charge, boosted by an impeccable record that saw him remain unbeaten at Stamford Bridge during his tenure.

It was a remarkable record but underlying criticism of Chelsea's pragmatic style of play nagged at Mourinho. The criticism intensified as his old rival Ferguson led United to the English domestic title with a free-scoring team containing Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

Chelsea had to be content with success in the English FA Cup, beating United in a dull final at the new Wembley, and their second League Cup win. Mourinho had bolstered his squad in pre-season with the out-of-character signings of established stars Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, having previously advocated a no-star system.

The rumor mill claimed that Abramovich had sanctioned the acquisitions behind Mourinho's back in an attempt to bring Champions League glory to the side. Both failed to make a significant impression and when Chelsea ran into injury problems Mourinho openly vented his anger at the lack of funds to secure replacements in the January 2007 transfer window.

The frustration spilled over into the current season and was capped by what turned out to be the last of his famous outbursts as Mourinho cooked up a surreal analogy to highlight the lack of quality in his squad with star players Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho sidelined.

"It is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem !" he said on the eve of Chelsea's 1-1 draw against Rosenborg.

The Champions League group opener proved his last match in charge. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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