Jose Mourinho

Biography:

Jose Mourinho was appointed as the new manager of Chelsea on June 2nd 2004, just two days after Claudio Ranieri's dismissal from the post at Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho arrived at the west London club as one of the most highly-rated young coaches in Europe, having just won the Champions League with Porto after a 3-0 victory over Monaco in the final.

That was the icing on the cake for the determined young boss, who had also steered his side to a successful defence of their Portuguese League title in 2003/04 after guiding them to an amazing treble the previous year of a domestic league and cup double and the UEFA Cup, beating Celtic in a dramatic final.

The son of famous Portugal goalkeeper Felix Mourinho, Jose never played professionally but always had his sights set on a career in coaching. He first came into the spotlight as Bobby Robson's translator at Sporting Lisbon in the early 1990s, having held low-profile positions at Portuguese clubs Estrela Amadora and Vitoria Setubal prior to that.

Mourinho became increasing involved in training under the former England boss and went with him to Porto in 1993, helping the club to two league titles in three years.

In 1996, Robson again took Mourinho with him, this time appointing him as assistant coach at Barcelona, and though Robson left the following year, his number two remained at the Nou Camp to take up a new role under new boss Louis van Gaal.

In 2000, Mourinho took up his first job as a head coach, at Benfica, but he was there for just nine game before he resigned due to problems in the boardroom. Shortly after that, he was appointed coach at little-known club Uniao de Leiria and guided them into the top five of the Portuguese league midway through the 2001/02 season before returning to Porto as head coach.

Mourinho took over at Porto in January 2002 and was able to transform their fortunes immediately, helping them to overcome a poor start to the season to take them to third in the league.

In his first full season in charge, he then delivered three trophies: Portuguese league and cup, and UEFA Cup.

The following season, with the league title already secured once more, he then achieved what most people considered to be an unlikely feat of guiding Porto to glory in the Champions League, beating Manchester United with a last-minute goal at Old Trafford along the way.

Having stated immediately after Porto's victory over Monaco that he expected it to be his last game in charge, as he had promised an English club that he would be their manager the following season, it seemed inevitable that Mourinho was heading for Stamford Bridge.

With the manager's job at Liverpool also up for grabs, his name was linked with Anfield, but it looked more likely that he would be succeeding Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea, and on June 2nd that was confirmed.

After his appointment had been officially announced, Mourinho said: "Chelsea represent a fantastic challenge for me. It is a great club with a world-class squad of players. The plans and ambitions for Chelsea excite me and I am sure they will do the same for the fans whose incredible support I have already witnessed.

"The English Premiership is recognised as the best league in the world and I am really excited at the prospect of competing week in, week out at the highest level in England as well as in Europe."

Meanwhile, Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon said: "The appointment of Jose Mourinho is all about building on the foundations which we have already established at Chelsea. He represents the new generation of football coaches and we are convinced he can take us to the next level, both in England in Europe. His record of sustained success makes him perfect for what we want to achieve at Chelsea."

Mourinho's role as a 21st century team boss is facilitated by the fact that he speaks several languages, and he has also adopted a scientific view of coaching, sometimes asking his players to study videos of their own performances at home, while also working closely with dietary specialists. He also incorporates American-style management techniques into his coaching, giving pep-talks using 'buzzwords', and asking his players to sacrifice their personal ambitions for the success of the team.

As he said on the day of his appointment: "I am a great defender of team spirit and teamwork. The first thing I have to promise to my players is that I will look at them with the same eyes.... I do not want special relations with one of them.

"I hate to speak about players individually. Players do not win trophies, squads win trophies. I cannot say I love this player, I love players who love to win. They not only win in 90 minutes, but every day, every training session, in every moment of their lives.

"Most important is to find players who think as I think. We should not be afraid to say 'we want to win', we shouldn't defend ourselves from pressure saying we only want success in the last year of my contract."