football Jose Mourinho returns as Chelsea manager on four-year deal

[OP +Frank B. 6,822]

Jose Mourinho returns as Chelsea manager on four-year deal

Jose Mourinho has returned to Chelsea for a second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho, 50, replaces Rafael Benitez after leaving Real Madrid, and has signed a four-year contract.

The Portuguese won two consecutive Premier League titles during his first spell, which ended in September 2007.

Chief executive Ron Gourlay said: "He was and remains a hugely popular figure at the club and everyone here looks forward to working with him again."

Mourinho first arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004, weeks after guiding Porto to the Champions League trophy.

He won the FA Cup and two League Cups as well as two Premier League titles but could not win the Champions League with the Blues.

Mourinho will be officially presented in a press conference at Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Gourlay added: "I am delighted to welcome Jose back to Chelsea. His continued success, drive and ambition made him the outstanding candidate.

"It is our aim to keep the club moving forward to achieve greater success in the future and Jose is our number one choice as we believe he is the right manager to do just that."

Mourinho won his second Champions League trophy with Inter Milan in 2010, but left to join Real Madrid later that summer - replacing Manuel Pellegrini, who is favourite to take over at Manchester City.

He finished second in La Liga in his first season - four points behind Barcelona - but won the title a year later, racking up 100 points in the process.

However this season Mourinho has cast a sulky figure, rowing with established players such as Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Pepe, while seeing Barca romp to the title.

"I know in England I am loved," he said after Real's Champions League exit to Borussia Dortmund in April. "I know I am loved by some clubs, especially one."

Mourinho will return to a squad which contains some familiar faces, with Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, John Mikel Obi and John Terry still regulars, while Michael Essien also remain on the books.

Lampard told BBC Sport: "He's a great manager, I've said it a million times to the point of boring people, but I'm very fortunate to have worked under him before.

"He took my game on a million miles, and my personality in terms of football on a million miles. A lot of the reasons I moved on in the game is because of him.

"He's taken that (a winning mentality) everywhere he's gone with him. He creates a spirit in his squads that you can see from the outside is very, very strong. He's a top class manager, we all know that."

Mourinho replaces Benitez, who was brought in on an interim basis to take over from Roberto Di Matteo in November and left to join Napoli after securing third place in the Premier League and winning the Europa League.

Source: BBC Sport

[Damo R. 29,466]

Either this is a good move for him or stupid considering he didn't get on well with Roman last time

[Steven P. 6,309]

Can he be the first manager to win the Champions League in three different countries? I think so.. top manager.

[Astra.Xtreme 1,698]

Great manager, but he's going to need to cut some trash from his team.

[Lingwo 489]

The squad needs a major overhaul if they expect to be fighting for the PL and CL next season. Plus hopefully this will give the club some stability even though a 4 year contract means nothing.

Will be interesting to see how he gets on second time round.

[Kalint 228]

I think Chelsea will have a solid start. Jose already knows the politics game, how to deal with Roman, and the performance of most of the squad.

He just needs to figure out how to work this squad. If Rooney were to somehow come Torres should consider himself a permanent bench warmer.

[Tulpe1984 0]

jose is a top manager adn there is no doubt in this fact ,although he didn't perform very well last time but he has the real strength.so i am optimistic about his undergoing performance..

[andgreen 2]

Why jose don't like Mata? I think he and Luiz were best players in  Chelsea last season.