Exclusive: Sacked manager believes a talk from the Chelsea owner to the squad would've helped them out of their slump - before he was axed
Jose Mourinho believed that a face-to-face pep talk from Roman Abramovich would help drag his Chelsea first team squad out of their slump in the weeks leading up to his dismissal, and requested that the Russian deliver one, The Telegraph can reveal.
But the club’s owner only did so after the sacking of Mourinho, addressing the players after training at Cobham on Friday when he told them that it was their responsibility to turn around the season, starting with Sunderland who they beat 3-1 at Stamford Bridge to climb to 15th place.
There was anger from supporters at Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, who were booed, as well as the absent Eden Hazard, for what some fans believed was a lack of effort under Mourinho. Costa and Fabregas were booed by sections of the crowd and one banner claimed that those three were “rats”.
The Telegraph has learnt fresh details of Mourinho’s dismissal on Thursday, including that the news was delivered to the Portuguese in his office at the Cobham training ground by Abramovich’s aide Eugene Tenenbaum.
Mourinho has had no contact with Abramovich either in person or otherwise since a board meeting on Wednesday. Previously he had asked that the club’s owner come to Cobham to speak to the players in the hope that it would have an affect on their performances by reminding them of their responsibilities. After his sacking, Mourinho returned to Cobham at 10.30am on Friday to collect his personal possessions from his office and was not spoken to in person by any of the key figures at the club, including Abramovich and technical director Michael Emenalo.
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