Michael Kimb Jones

Somehow, the departure of Jose Mourinho from Chelsea (and probably the entire English League) has effected me greatly.

This morning as I played through the Telegraph’s Sports ‘7-page Special’ I welled up with emotion a number of times. The memories of the ‘Special One’s’ 3 year tenure in the top flight of English football anchors huge significance for me as a football fan for a number of reasons.

Jose with Frank Lampard and John Terry
lifting the Premiere League Title in 2005

You see, 5 years ago, I couldn’t imagine being as engrossed with the beautiful game as I am now.

Sure, I ‘liked’ football. But my quasi-obsession was purely with the English National side.

Back then in fact, I found the Premiership (AKA Premiere League) and the rest of the English leagues a tired boring and pointless endeavour. As for European football, please, why should I care about Arsenal going to the Nu Camp??

I just didn’t get it.

I also looked down upon the of the ‘big 2′ English teams of that era; Manchester Utd and Arsenal. The fact that every season, year upon year they eventually would quite easily walk away with the title further deaden my interest in football and the Premier League.

But, slowly and inevitably my views began to change.

The desire to fill-the-gap between England internationals started to grind on me much more that I anticipated. After the World Cup campaigns of 98 and 2002 I yearned for a regular football fix. And so, inevitably, I tried my best to entertain domestic football.

Fandom

Of course, it was too late for me to simply ‘pick’ a team to support, instead I floated between teams as an ever present ‘neutral’.

I would spend my time supporting the underdog and championing any decent English players such as Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, John Terry and of course Frank Lampard (who regardless of the stick I get for saying so is still my personal favorite).

In 2004 England again under achieved in the European Championship in Portugal. I was, as usual, gutted by another poor disappointing International run.

This was also the year when Mourinho arrived at Chelsea.

This appointment, along with the money invested into the club caused the tides to turn in the Premier League.

Chelsea went from league underachievers to title contenders, and, in his first season Mourinho did the unthinkable and won the title on the 30th April, 2005.

Do you remember the first time?

As a late starter I latched onto this season. It was the first season where I was truly interested, addicted in fact, to the results and nuance’s of the Premiership.

The year later, the dynamics of the league changed further. Chelsea again won the League but Liverpool, fresh on the heels of winning the Champions League were shaping up to be a formidable force - the ‘big 4′ of Manchester Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool was born.

Later in that year, another World Cup came along.

This time I felt as if I had grown as a football fan. So much so I spent a week in Germany following the National side through the group stages.

The season after this a revived Manchester Utd took the title away from Chelsea. It was a great title race which almost went to the knuckle, further sealing my fate as a football fanatic.

End Game

I look back over the past 3 years it seems hard to believe that in such a short time Mourinho changed not only a faltering club but also the dynamics of an entire league and the media circus which surrounds it.

My birth as a football player is tethered to “The Mourinho Years”. And unlike other, more seasoned football fans at the moment I can’t imagine an exciting and rich Premiere League without Mourinho in it.