Chelsea win English Premiership
Chelsea's title, Mourinho's homeboys joy
by Dave James
PARIS, May 1 (AFP) - Chelsea spent a cool 200 million pounds (382 million dollars) boosting their foreign legion to launch their bid to end a 50-year wait for the English Premiership title. But it was the multi-layered and multi-lingual Jose Mourinho as well as homegrown talents in the shape of Player of the Year John Terry and midfield inspiration Frank Lampard who can claim the lion's share for the success.
The Londoners finally wrapped up the Premiership title on Saturday with a 2-0 win at Bolton with Lampard grabbing both goals. The team's critics will point to the title being bought courtesy of Roman Abramovich's billions, but Mourinho, whose team are also in the semi-finals of the Champions League, is not convinced.
As the 2004/2005 season was about to kick-off, the mercurial Portuguese was in the unusual position of agreeing with Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson that you cannot buy success at football. "I agree money doesn't buy points and victories,"
Mourinho said back in July when he arrived in England fresh from guiding Porto to the Champions League. "If you go back a few months Porto, with 10 percent of Man United's budget, beat them. Money buys players but not a team." However, on the day of the big kick-off Chelsea beat United 1-0 and never looked back as they reached the end of December having conceded just seven goals in 20 matches and losing just once, a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City in October. That defeat, the only one this season, meant Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premiership to five points over Mourinho's men that day but it was an advantage the Chelsea clawed back as the Gunners, whose 49-match unbeaten run came to an end at Old Trafford, imploded.
Since the turn of the year, Chelsea picked up 12 more wins in 15, drawing three and conceding just five times. In between, they won the League Cup beating Liverpool in February and are locked 0-0 with the Merseysiders after the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Defensive stalwart Terry, 24, was named Player of the Year last week, an award he dedicated to his team-mates and Mourinho who handed him the captain's armband last summer.
"Just after telling me I was captain, the boss said to me 'what one do you want?' and I looked him in the eye and said: 'The Premiership'. "I think the team spirit we have got at the club has been the key. We have got no superstars, everybody respects each other, both on and off the pitch and we get on well. "We have got some great players and a great manager who has worked wonders for us. He is a great man personally and all the lads fully respect him and want to keep winning for him - he has instilled that winning mentality.
"After I was made captain, my confidence flew up during pre-season, and with him telling you that you are the best, you feel a million dollars and are on top of the world." If Terry was key to Chelsea's success at the back, then Lampard, linked last year with a move to Serie A, was the key going forward with the England man now ahead of Didier Drogba, the striker purchased from Marseille for 24 million pounds last summer, in the goal scoring stakes. The former West Ham player has clocked up 144 consecutive league appearances but he too was passing the praise on to Mourinho whose title winning style has been rewarded with a new 5.2 million pounds a year contract. "It's very encouraging. We love the manager, I think he loves us and the fans love him," said Lampard.
Dutch winger Arjen Robben was probably the club's most influential import, a factor recognised by Irish attacker Damien Duff who believes the day his fellow winger made his Chelsea debut was the moment when the Londoners bid for a first top-flight title in 50 years truly took off. Chelsea were criticised at the start of the season for their defensive approach with goals few and far between. All that changed on October 23 when Chelsea beat Blackburn 4-0, a match where 20-year-old Robben came on as a late substitute.
Duff said: "Since day one, we've had a great team spirit but at the start of the season, we were being criticised for not scoring enough goals. "When Robbie came in though, he gave us an extra dimension and we started banging four and five goals past people He gave us a real spark and we haven't looked back since." Chelsea's progress to the title wasn't always smooth running with Mourinho, who has now added the Premiership title to the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, two Portuguese titles, and the Portuguese Cup he won with Porto, often in hot water.
Allegations of an illegal approach, or 'tapping up' of Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole, have led to an inquiry which will take place on May 17 and 18 while they were also forced to issue a denial that they had made an approach for Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand. Mourinho was also in trouble after the League Cup win in Cardiff when he incensed Liverpool fans by putting his finger to his lips and was sent from the bench for his troubles.
In Europe, he was also hit with a two-game ban after making allegations against the referee in the Champions League clash in Barcelona. But that's another story in the remarkable and colourful rise of Chelsea this season, one that Mourinho will be shouting from the rooftops if he goes on to add the European title to the Premiership crown.
by Dave James
PARIS, May 1 (AFP) - Chelsea spent a cool 200 million pounds (382 million dollars) boosting their foreign legion to launch their bid to end a 50-year wait for the English Premiership title. But it was the multi-layered and multi-lingual Jose Mourinho as well as homegrown talents in the shape of Player of the Year John Terry and midfield inspiration Frank Lampard who can claim the lion's share for the success.
The Londoners finally wrapped up the Premiership title on Saturday with a 2-0 win at Bolton with Lampard grabbing both goals. The team's critics will point to the title being bought courtesy of Roman Abramovich's billions, but Mourinho, whose team are also in the semi-finals of the Champions League, is not convinced.
As the 2004/2005 season was about to kick-off, the mercurial Portuguese was in the unusual position of agreeing with Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson that you cannot buy success at football. "I agree money doesn't buy points and victories,"
Mourinho said back in July when he arrived in England fresh from guiding Porto to the Champions League. "If you go back a few months Porto, with 10 percent of Man United's budget, beat them. Money buys players but not a team." However, on the day of the big kick-off Chelsea beat United 1-0 and never looked back as they reached the end of December having conceded just seven goals in 20 matches and losing just once, a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City in October. That defeat, the only one this season, meant Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the Premiership to five points over Mourinho's men that day but it was an advantage the Chelsea clawed back as the Gunners, whose 49-match unbeaten run came to an end at Old Trafford, imploded.
Since the turn of the year, Chelsea picked up 12 more wins in 15, drawing three and conceding just five times. In between, they won the League Cup beating Liverpool in February and are locked 0-0 with the Merseysiders after the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Defensive stalwart Terry, 24, was named Player of the Year last week, an award he dedicated to his team-mates and Mourinho who handed him the captain's armband last summer.
"Just after telling me I was captain, the boss said to me 'what one do you want?' and I looked him in the eye and said: 'The Premiership'. "I think the team spirit we have got at the club has been the key. We have got no superstars, everybody respects each other, both on and off the pitch and we get on well. "We have got some great players and a great manager who has worked wonders for us. He is a great man personally and all the lads fully respect him and want to keep winning for him - he has instilled that winning mentality.
"After I was made captain, my confidence flew up during pre-season, and with him telling you that you are the best, you feel a million dollars and are on top of the world." If Terry was key to Chelsea's success at the back, then Lampard, linked last year with a move to Serie A, was the key going forward with the England man now ahead of Didier Drogba, the striker purchased from Marseille for 24 million pounds last summer, in the goal scoring stakes. The former West Ham player has clocked up 144 consecutive league appearances but he too was passing the praise on to Mourinho whose title winning style has been rewarded with a new 5.2 million pounds a year contract. "It's very encouraging. We love the manager, I think he loves us and the fans love him," said Lampard.
Dutch winger Arjen Robben was probably the club's most influential import, a factor recognised by Irish attacker Damien Duff who believes the day his fellow winger made his Chelsea debut was the moment when the Londoners bid for a first top-flight title in 50 years truly took off. Chelsea were criticised at the start of the season for their defensive approach with goals few and far between. All that changed on October 23 when Chelsea beat Blackburn 4-0, a match where 20-year-old Robben came on as a late substitute.
Duff said: "Since day one, we've had a great team spirit but at the start of the season, we were being criticised for not scoring enough goals. "When Robbie came in though, he gave us an extra dimension and we started banging four and five goals past people He gave us a real spark and we haven't looked back since." Chelsea's progress to the title wasn't always smooth running with Mourinho, who has now added the Premiership title to the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, two Portuguese titles, and the Portuguese Cup he won with Porto, often in hot water.
Allegations of an illegal approach, or 'tapping up' of Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole, have led to an inquiry which will take place on May 17 and 18 while they were also forced to issue a denial that they had made an approach for Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand. Mourinho was also in trouble after the League Cup win in Cardiff when he incensed Liverpool fans by putting his finger to his lips and was sent from the bench for his troubles.
In Europe, he was also hit with a two-game ban after making allegations against the referee in the Champions League clash in Barcelona. But that's another story in the remarkable and colourful rise of Chelsea this season, one that Mourinho will be shouting from the rooftops if he goes on to add the European title to the Premiership crown.
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