Chelsea’s former chief executive Peter Kenyon has opened up on Jose Mourinho’s first departure from Stamford Bridge amid the club’s period of unprecedented success – as ‘the Special One’ prepares to return to west London.
Mourinho was appointed on the heels of Roman Abramovich’s takeover of the Premier League side in 2003, joining the following summer from Champions League winners Porto.
The Portuguese head coach immediately made an impact in the English media with his introductory press conference, referring to himself as ‘a top manager’ and ‘a special one’ – gifting journalists his new moniker.
Mourinho quickly proved his worth, securing back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004-05 and 2006-07, as well as two League Cups and one FA Cup.
But ahead of his third season in the capital, relations began to sour within the club’s hierarchy – with Mourinho taking particular issue with the appointment of Avram Grant as a director at Chelsea.
In a new interview with Telegraph Sport, Kenyon admitted that Grant’s move into the tight-knit set-up was a ‘problem’, and even dubbed it ‘a mistake’ in light of events that followed.
Peter Kenyon has revealed the details of Jose Mourinho’s first departure from Chelsea in 2007
The Portuguese manager was appointed in 2004 and quickly won the side their first Premier League trophy
‘Jose used to describe us as a “Holy Trinity”, Roman, him and myself, and we sat down, we discussed things and we got it done,’ Kenyon explained. ‘Each one of us knew our place.
‘You introduce a third party and that changes the dynamic. And that exacerbated this distance that had started between Roman and him, and the outcome – because of what he is – that just made it more and more uncomfortable for everybody.’
Discussing how Mourinho had come to leave the club in September 2007, Kenyon shared that the decision had been made so quickly, it almost caught him off-guard.
The trio had been preparing to attend a premiere for behind-the-scenes film about the club, with Kenyon and Mourinho set to meet at health club near Stamford Bridge beforehand.
‘I was there early and Jose came in and said straight away “Pete, can you get me out?” I said “it’s a three-line whip, everybody’s going”, and he said “no, out the club”,’ Kenyon recalled.
“We had a chat about it and it was quite obvious that he wanted to go there and then. Now, I also knew the other side and Roman wanted him to go, we’d reached that point. So I said “go to the film premiere, come back here and I will have sorted it all by then”. Which we did.
‘He went to the film premiere and he came back and I said “it’s all sorted, that’s the deal”. It was honouring everything we had talked about. That side of it got dealt with easily.’
Grant later stepped in as the new manager in Mourinho’s place, but Kenyon revealed that the players had been far from happy about the changing of the guard.
Mourinho had a positive relationship with then-owner Roman Abramovich in the early days
But the arrival of Avram Grant as director of football at the club broke up the ‘Holy Trinity’
Mourinho was en route to a film premier (pictured) when he made the decision to quit the club
Grant and Mourinho clashed before the former replaced the latter in the dugout that season
‘That was one of the hardest conversations I’ve had,’ Kenyon continued. ‘Telling the players that a) Jose’s gone and b) that Avram’s taking over.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen as many football stars go ashen all at the same time. They were dumbstruck. There were two people in tears, people you wouldn’t think were capable of crying. There was a general feeling like we’d popped a balloon.
‘It disrupted us for a period. It didn’t stop us because the team kept going. We got to the Champions League final and that was about the team, not Avram. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I’m being honest. I’m really confident that had Jose been there, we’d have won the Champions League final in 2008.’
Mourinho would later return to Chelsea for a second stint in 2013, winning another Premier League title the following season, and one more League Cup.
As such, the 62-year-old remains a venerated figure at Stamford Bridge, despite his move to rivals including Real Madrid and Manchester United – and his second exit.
But Blues fans are unlikely to hope he has a happy return to west London with his new club Benfica, with the hosts keen to restart their Champions League campaign after a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in their opening tie.
