AHEAD OF THE GAME
Alpha mail. The only truly useful football e-mail
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Thursday, September 20, 2007. 1600 BST
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The news in 60 seconds
SPECIAL ONE - SPECIAL EDITION
We're so grateful to Jose Mourinho for giving us something to write about that we're going to dedicate an unhealthy proportion of this e-mail to the departure of the Chelsea manager. First up, here's how the news was broken by our hard-working colleagues in the wee hours of this morning.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2493403.ece
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Martin Samuel says that Roman Abramovich's demands are simple. "He wants his players to win every trophy in sight, while balancing the ball on their noses like sea lions." Unfortunately, our Chief Football Correspondent thinks that the Special One's departure was more dramatic than anything his team could muster on the pitch - and that's why his departure was inevitable.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2493386.ece
GRANT NAMED AS SUCCESSOR
Avram Grant, Mourinho's arch-enemy and a close ally of Roman Abramovich, has been given the task of spending all those billions after he was appointed as the Portuguese's successor. Steve Clarke, Mourinho's right-hand man, will remain as assistant manager.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2495778.ece
ACRIMONIOUS DIVORCE
Matt Dickinson says that the real surprise is not that Chelsea's marriage of convenience has ended - but that it lasted so long. We're predicting a messy divorce.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2492425.ece
WHEN ALL'S SAID AND DONE
We've compiled a selection of the best and worst of Mourinho's outbursts: from his announcement that he is the Special One to his scrambled egg comments, we've got them all.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2495192.ece
HOME COMFORTS
The Portuguese media have the inside line on last night's events. They report that Mourinho had the hump about the way business was being done at Stamford Bridge and slapped his resignation on the table. It doesn't sound like the Chelsea fat cats were too slow to accept, though.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2496452.ece
DOWNING STREET JOINS FUN
Bonkers. It's that big a story that even Prime Minister Gordon Brown has joined the tributes (or should that be bandwagon?). He may have been slow out of the blocks when it came to underwriting Northern Rock, but he's wasted no time lauding Mourinho's "significant contribution to British football". Now, about Afghanistan...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article2495121.ece
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>>>>>FANTASY FOOTBALL WITH BRAINS<<<<<
* Register today for PlayTheGame, more demanding than Roman Abramovich
* It's free and you can still enter
* Win monthly prizes and tickets to the Euro 2008 final
* http://www.timesonline.co.uk/playthegame
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If you've got another couple of minutes
JOSE HAD TO GO
The biggest losers after Jose Mourinho's shock departure from Stamford Bridge are the media, not the Chelsea fans. He may have made for great stories, but after his press conferences, the most exciting thing about the Special One was his coat.
Supporters have hit the message boards, bemoaning the club's ability to shoot itself in the foot but they weren't so quick to buy a ticket to watch the team. There were 17,000 empty seats at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, which presumably means that the regulars are as bored as Abramovich.
If Mourinho wasn't pushed, he should have been. There were signs that he was cracking up, and not just because of those eggs. His hallmark as a manager was his man-management, but he was so busy trying to win the battle of the superegos with Roman Abramovich that he forgot it. He used Shevchenko to make a public statement about his position and his team suffered. He needed to nurture the Ukraine striker, not hang him out to dry - no wonder Abramovich was furious.
And it's not like he could be trusted to buy his club out of trouble. Even if Ahead of the Game had a few billion roubles to spare, it wouldn't trust the Portuguese with the money.
Few people will dispute that Didier Drogba and Michael Essien can play, but it wasn't as though they were plucked out of obscurity for a couple of bob. And what about the other big money signings? Shaun Wright-Phillips, Paulo Ferreira, Asier Del Horno, Khalid Boulahrouz, Mateja Kezman and Salomon Kalou to name more than a few who have failed to live up to their price tag. Hardly a record to compare with Arsene Wenger. The best players - Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, Claude Makelele, Joe Cole - were bought by Claudio Ranieri.
Mourinho's achievements - two Premier League titles in three years and an FA Cup - will go down in history, but there was little to suggest that his best results weren't also in the past. Chelsea lost a great manager, but that was last season, before Mourinho started to believe his own press. Give someone else the money and they will do just as well.
What do you think? Is letting him go of Mourinho the greatest error in judgment since Charlton appointed Les Reed? Or is it the best call since Arsenal got rid of Bruce Rioch to appoint Arsene Wenger? Email: sport@timesonline.co.uk
Other news...
RONALDO'S HOMECOMING
Apparently, there were some Champions League matches last night. Cristiano Ronaldo, who until yesterday was only the second most exciting Portuguese in the Premier League, scored the winner as Manchester United beat his former club Sporting Lisbon
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article2493467.ece
WENGER SHOWS WAY
If Juande Ramos was auditioning for a new job in London - Tottenham, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Dulwich Hamlets? - things didn't go exactly as planned for the Seville coach last night. Arsenal showed that they still play the most exciting football in Europe as they won 3-0.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/arsenal/article2493375.ece
SCOLARI BANNED
Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Portugal manager, has been banned for four matches by Uefa after throwing a punch at a Serbia player. Anyone know any half-decent Portuguese managers looking for a job?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/euro_2008/article2497311.ece
BAD BREAK FOR BENITEZ
The curse of the metatarsal has struck again after Daniel Agger and Xabi Alonso, the Liverpool players, were ruled out for at least six weeks after they broke a bone in their feet.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article2492785.ece
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12-1
Odds on Jose Mourinho becoming the next England manager. (Paddy Power)
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A quickie before you go, sir?
A TRIBUTE...
Getting nostalgic already? A suitably sentimental compilation that includes some of Jose's greatest fist-pumping celebrations, set to the soothing strains of Nobody Does It Better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaiTITsCE0M
TALKING THE TALK
Mourinho at his best. "Defend and defend and defend and kick balls away and fall down and wait for the medical department. Nobody should give credit for what they did."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJDQ7WN-ku0
SING-A-LONG
The Jose Mourinho song. Includes the delightful couplets: "When I first joined I was delighted/ I could have managed United" and "The world is merry/ I've got John Terry".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBniDRCcciI
WWF STYLE
Jose Mourinho gets called out by Shane McMahon as the Special One enjoys an evening at a WWF event. After wrestling with Abramovich for three years, he'd be right at home with Stone Cold Steve Austin and the other pantomime villains.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDg08VgSaXQ&mode=related&search
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>>>>>THE RIVALS<<<<<
* Jose: I quit ... but the club claim he was sacked - Daily Mirror
* Jose: It's all over - Daily Mail
* Jose quit shock - Daily Express
* Terry ruck spelt end for Mourinho - The Sun
* Mourinho walks out on Chelsea - The Daily Telegraph
* Mourinho severs his ties with Chelsea - The Guardian
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In TheGame
In Fanzine Fanzone, our Chelsea man tells us how Mourinho brought a touch of continental style to the Premier League. He's talking about the Armani coat of course - not the football. He wants to know if the successor will have the panache to lead Chelsea to the top of European football. http://timesonline.typepad.com/fanzine_fanzone/2007/09/farewell-to-the.html
Our Chief Football Correspondent has never been shy of a frank discussion and Martin Samuel has been replying to your messages as he rummages through his postpag. He can't understand how England fans can have forgotten the impact of Wayne Rooney - and wonders why some people now think Gareth Barry is better than Frank Lampard.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/
Craig Bellamy talks to TheGame Podcast about the different managers he has worked under while Craig Brown, the former Scotland manager, gives a fascinating insight into life as an international boss. Guillem Balague and Robbie Earle discuss whether the smaller teams can break into the Big Four.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/audio_video/
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>>>>>THE TABLOID SCANDAL <<<<<
I checked Pennant's CCTV ... he was taking a girl into our bed - The Sun
What you need to know: 1) Beware a woman scorned - Amii Grove has spilled the beans about Jermaine Pennant after she caught the Liverpool cad cheating on her. 2) The Page 3 stunner checked the CCTV footage at his mansion after spotting lipstick on a wine glass. 3) She trashed £200,000 of designer clothes - but her real revenge came in this morning's revelations. 4) She says the wide boy spent only 99p on her Valentine's Day card and would stay up to 3am, even on match days, playing Call of Duty 3. 5) Amii, who can't even spell her own name properly, used to beat him at Scrabble - because Jermaine would spend all his time trying to save up the letters for zoo, which he thought was high scoring.
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Joe Bloggs' Soapbox
Next England manager?
R.P. Dixon from London has a mischievous streak matched by the bookies
Jose was a great manager, and was great to have in the Premier League - I can't see him managing again in England. Sad loss. Best of luck in the future.
Stuart from Birmingham leads the grieving
This is a sad day for the Premier League. He is an amazing talent and entertaining character ... but admittedly Chelsea have been not as entertaining to watch relative to an Arsenal
Bob from London
You've never heard of Bebo [yesterday's e-mail]?! Is Ahead of the Game written on parchment before a horse and carriage is summoned to deliver it to a strange lank-haired man in glasses who uses a curious-looking device called a "computer"? Get, as they say, with the program, grandads.
Chris is clearly farther ahead of the game than your evening e-mail.
Sometimes you just say it better than we do, which is why we've dedicated a small corner of this e-mail to your views and boos. Feel free to send us your opinions on anything from Chelsea's new manager to the premature end to Chelsea's Premier League chances. sport@timesonline.co.uk
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Tomorrow's news today
- Chelsea agree payoff with Mourinho
- The biggest cock-up since Dunkirk - Martin Samuel on Abramovich's mistake
- Is Grant really the man to entertain you?
And expect...
Jose Mourinho to move to Tottenham, Juande Ramos to Chelsea and Martin Jol to Seville.
Spread the word. It's like pyramid selling, but without the hassle or the money. Click on the following link if you (or your friends) want to subscribe to this newsletter.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2187217.ece
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Anonymous tips, suggestions, funnies, fan mail and complaints: sport@timesonline.co.uk
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