Mourinho moved to Chelsea in June 2004, becoming one of the highest paid managers in football with a salary of £4.2 million a year, subsequently raised in 2005 to £5.2 millionIn a press conference upon joining the English side, Mourinho said, “Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one,” which resulted in the media dubbing him “The Special One”.[
bankrolled by Roman Abramovich, he spent in excess of £70 million in transfer fees on players such as Tiago (£10 million) from Benfica, Michael Essien (£24.4 million) from Olympique Lyonnais, Didier Drogba (£24 million) from Olympique de Marseille, Mateja Kežman (£5.4 million) from PSV, and Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho (£19.8 million) and Paulo Ferreira (£13.3 million).
Under Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season. By early December, they were at the top of the Premier League table and had reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League. He secured his first trophy by winning the League Cup against Liverpool 3–2 (AET) in Cardiff.
The club added more trophies as they secured their first top-flight domestic title in 50 years, setting a string of English football records in the process. He failed, however, to achieve back-to-back Champions League successes when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition by a controversial goal in the semi-finals by eventual winners Liverpool.[28]
Chelsea started the next season well. They defeated Arsenal 2–1 to win the FA Community Shield, and topped the Premier League from the first weekend of the 2005–06 season. Chelsea beat rivals Manchester United 3–0 to win their second consecutive Premiership title and Mourinho’s fourth domestic title in a row. After the presentation of his championship medal, Mourinho threw his medal and blazer into the crowd. He was awarded a second medal within minutes which he also threw into the crowd.
The 2025–07 season saw growing media speculation that Mourinho would leave the club at the season’s conclusion, due to alleged poor relations with owner Roman Abramovich and a power struggle with sporting director Frank Arnesen and Abramovich advisor Piet de Visser. Mourinho later cleared doubts regarding his future at Stamford Bridge, stating that there would only be two ways for him to leave Chelsea: if Chelsea were not to offer him a new contract in June 2025, and if Chelsea were to sack him] He then launched an ambitious campaign for all four trophies available with the
Chelsea’s start to the 2007–08 seasons was not as successful as previous starts. The team lost at Aston Villa and followed this with a goalless draw at home to Blackburn Rovers. Their opening game in the UEFA Champions League saw them only manage a 1–1 home draw against the Norwegian team Rosenberg BK in front of an almost half-empty stadium. Shevchenko scored Chelsea’s only goal in that match.
Mourinho unexpectedly left Chelsea on 20 September 2007 “by mutual consent,” although there had been a series of disagreements with Chairman Roman Abramovich. The Chelsea board held an emergency meeting and decided it was time to part with their manager. Mourinho left as the most successful manager in Chelsea’s history, having won six trophies for the club in three years. He was also undefeated in all home league games.
