Mourinho leaves Chelsea

Grant appointed manager

Chelsea explain exit

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has left Stamford Bridge by mutual consent. A statement on the Chelsea website confirmed: “Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent.”

Mourinho’s record whilst at Chelsea was particularly impressive. In a total of 185 games in charge of the Stamford Bridge outfit they won 124, drew 40 and lost 21.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have confirmed that Avram Grant has been appointed as the new man in charge. The Israeli, who was the club’s director of football, will take charge alongside assistant Steve Clarke.

Grant, 52, is a close personal friend of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and has a seat on the board.

“The club is delighted in Avram we have an experienced man who can come in at a difficult time,” said a club statement.

Expanding on Mourinho’s exit, Chelsea claim that the relationship between club and manager had broken down. A open letter to Chelsea supporters from the club was read out on Chelsea TV to explain the situation further. It read:

“It is only right that we explain the reasons behind Jose Mourinho leaving Chelsea and also recognise the immense contribution he has made to the club and to English football. Early this morning we announced that Chelsea and Jose Mourinho had agreed to part company by mutual consent. The key phrase here is that there was mutual agreement. Jose did not resign and he was not sacked. What is clear, though, is we had all reached a point where the relationship between the club and Jose had broken down. This was despite genuine attempts over several months by all parties to resolve certain differences. The reason the decision has been taken is that we believed the breakdown started to impact on the performance of the team. Recent results supported this view. We did not want this to continue or affect the club further.”

Nathan Davies