Jose Mourinho: 'The owner knows I am the right person to do the job'

Jose Mourinho says Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich knows the embattled manager is the right one to lead the club forward despite its struggles.

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Dec 8, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Jose Mourinho did not want to contemplate the "if."

The repercussions if Chelsea is embarrassingly eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday. Yet, the manager still ensured he delivered a blunt message to Roman Abramovich just in case the owner was thinking about firing him.

"You can look in many directions and you can decide that this is not a one-man responsibility," Mourinho said Tuesday.

"I think I did lots of good things in this club for the owner knows the quality I have," he added. "I don't think the owner is a person to change with the wind ... the owner knows I am the right person to do the job."

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Such self-assurance belies the parlous state of Mourinho's team and the pressure on the Portuguese.

Domestically, the Premier League champions have been reeling from setback after setback. The latest humiliation came on Saturday with an eighth loss in 15 league games at home to Bournemouth.

In the Champions League, Chelsea made a faltering start in Group G before staging a recovery. After losing the opener to Porto in September, Chelsea hosts Mourinho's former team on Wednesday. Win or draw and Chelsea advances to the round of 16. But Chelsea would drop into the Europa League if it loses to Porto and Dynamo Kiev beats Maccabi Tel Aviv, which has no points from five games.

"You are a pessimistic guy, I am an optimistic guy," Mourinho said at a news conference at Chelsea's training ground. "There are no ifs."

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Winning either of Europe's club competitions could be Chelsea's only way of qualifying for the Champions League next season, given that Mourinho's side is 14th in the Premier League and 14 points from the top four.

Mourinho portrays the worst spell of his managerial career — which included his first Chelsea reign from 2004 to 2007 — as stimulating rather than disheartening.

"As a manager it makes me better because it is the first time for me," Mourinho said. "It is a new experience. It's something I am not used to ... when you win all the time and you have always happiness with the results it is a wonderful life.

"When you have bad results it's more difficult. I found myself really strong. It's a good experience."