But this year has been the most disastrous of his managerial career, and on Thursday, Chelsea fired Mourinho for the second time. The latest firing came just seven months after the club won the Premier League.
Chelsea, a perennial contender since being purchased by the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, is currently in 16th place, a point out of the relegation zone. “Chelsea Football Club and José Mourinho have today parted company by mutual consent,” the club said in a statement.`
“His three league titles, F.A. Cup, Community Shield and three League Cup wins over two spells make him the most successful manager in our 110-year history,” the statement said. “But both José and the board agreed results have not been good enough this season and believe it is in the best interests of both parties to go our separate ways.”
Despite being stocked with expensive internationals, Chelsea is just 4-9-3 in the Premier League this year, including home losses to unheralded teams like Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Southampton. Many of the same players who starred in the championship season, like striker Diego Costa and midfielders Eden Hazard and Cesc Fàbregas, have struggled this season.
Michael Emenalo, Chelsea’s technical director, told The Associated Press that the club was “in trouble” and that Abramovich was forced to make “a very tough decision.”
“The results are not good; there obviously seemed to be a palpable discord between manager and players,” Emenalo said. “And we feel it was time to act.”
After what turned out to be his final game in charge, a 2-1 loss to Leicester City on Monday, Mourinho, 52, delivered a postgame scolding to his players.
“I feel my work was betrayed,” he said. “Last season I did an amazing job and I brought players to a level that is not their level.”
Mourinho also blamed stalling by Leicester City’s ball boys in part for the loss.
The strain on Mourinho this season has shown. He was twice fined for his behavior, and he received a one-match stadium ban after he was banished to the stands at West Ham on Oct. 24.
Mourinho made a name for himself in his native Portugal, in 2004 winning the only Champions League title in the last 20 years not to go to an English, Italian, Spanish or German team. That landed him the Chelsea job for the first time, and with the help of Abramovich’s money in 2005, he won the team’s first title in 50 years. But early in his fourth season, he was dismissed after friction with Abramovich.
Mourinho went on to Inter Milan, where he won two league titles in two years and a Champions League crown, then to Real Madrid, where he won another league title.
He was rehired by Chelsea in 2013, and he signed a new four-year contract in August.
Given Mourinho’s success in multiple countries, he is likely to be in demand by many of Europe’s top clubs, despite frequently courting controversy.
In 2011 with Real Madrid, Mourinho poked the respected Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova in the eye on the sideline. This season he denounced a Chelsea team doctor, Eva Carneiro, for treating a player during a game; she left the team soon afterward.
Despite reports of conflicts with Chelsea players this season, Mourinho has been known as a players’ manager. In an interview in 2009, he likened his relationship with his players to a family: “Good relation, bad relation. Kisses and little fights, but always very honest.”
Mourinho’s loquaciousness has made him one of the most quotable managers, notably calling himself the Special One when he first joined the club from Porto in 2004, to the irritation of many. He also coined the term “parking the bus” to criticize a cautious defensive style after a game against Tottenham Hotspur in 2004.
Chelsea fans still seem to revere Mourinho, chanting his name even this dreadful season.
“Their support is more than I could expect after such a bad season,” he told reporters last week. “I know last season we were champions, but this season has been really bad.”
Though Chelsea’s hopes for a high league finish are slim, it remains alive in the Champions League, and will play Paris St.-Germain in the round of 16 in February.
There was no immediate word on who would be coaching the team in its next game, at home to Sunderland on Saturday, but multiple reports said the Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, 69, would take over as interim manager. Hiddink filled the same role in 2009 and won the F.A. Cup.
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