ROMAN ABRAMOVICH told Jose Mourinho he can stay as
Chelsea boss after the coach vowed to compromise in the future.
As SunSport revealed yesterday, Mourinho was so desperate to keep
his job he accepted the owners vision of a new structure. It
includes the possible introduction of a general manager and a new
member of coaching staff. Mourinho had feared he would lose his job
to Jurgen Klinsmann. Sun revealed last week how Chelsea had offered
Spurs legend Klinsmann £6.4million a year to take over as boss. But
Klinsmann refused to uproot his family from their US home and the
German still said No even when Chelsea indicated they might go to
£7m a year.
It was a major shock to Abramovich, who thought if you throw enough
money at people, they crack. The Klinsmann snub opened the way for
a U-turn over Mourinho. The manager had heart-to-heart talks with
chief executive Peter Kenyon in light of The Suns revelations. He
ducked the Press conference at West Ham following Chelseas 4-1 win
on Wednesday. Then a chat between Mourinho and Eugene Tenenbaum
Abramovichs right-hand man on Thursday paved the way for the
dramatic U-turn, announced yesterday. Kenyon was instructed by
Abramovich to end the speculation by declaring the Portuguese
manager will still be coach next season.
Kenyon said: There has been a lot of speculation and I would like
to be clear on one thing: We support Jose as manager. Jose has a
contract to 2010 and he wants to stay. We are not going to sack
him, he has the clubs support. Thats the situation and we are
agreed on it. Hopefully this will end the speculation and I think
it should. As far as we are all concerned what is most important is
that it is business as usual at Chelsea and putting all our energy
into winning the three remaining trophies.
Abramovich will now meet with Mourinho next week when the issues of
how to move forward will be discussed and differences resolved.
Mourinhos family especially his 10-year-old daughter Matilde
were instrumental in guiding him to do everything possible to keep
his job as they want to stay in London. While Kenyons statement
will be welcomed by Mourinho, the approach for Klinsmann means the
relationship between board and manager has been damaged.
With Mourinhos future apparently sorted, Kenyon was unable to
offer any certainties over the contract situations of Frank Lampard
and John Terry, which now look set to drag on until after the end
of the season. Kenyon said: John Terry and Frank Lampard are not
yet completed. Thats football. Whats important to remember about
contract speculation is that there are only two definitive stages,
when the discussions start and when they end. At the moment we are
in between. Again, I dont want anything to deflect us from our
main goal, winning matches and trophies. And both John and Frank
agree.
