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In shocking news, Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea Football Club “by mutual consent,” according to the club’s website.

We all know “by mutual consent” is codeword for getting sacked, and while the most of the newspapers are reporting that Mourinho walked out of the club, The Times newspaper believes that it’s more likely that Mourinho got the sack after a meeting with Abramovich and his henchmen.

Chelsea’s website released a sixteen word announcement on the homepage of its website. The statement read: “Chelsea Football Club and José Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent.”

Whether Mourinho walked or was pushed, the news will come as a shock for soccer fans. In charge since 2004, Mourinho has been one of the most successful managers in the modern era. Successful in terms of winning so much in a short timespan as well as holding on to an unbelievable home record, where the club was undefeated in league play.

Despite the success, there have been many critics. The beginning of the end for Jose Mourinho began approximately one year ago when Abramovich took a more integral role at the club by bringing in players such as Ballack and Shevchenko, which had a detrimental effect on the team’s performance on the pitch. During the 2005/2006 season, the club was unstoppable. From the 2006/2007 season, the team has been a shade of its past and, little by little, Mourinho’s authority has been undermined by backroom acquisitions such as bringing in Avram Grant and Frank Arnesen.

While the two Premier League titles were massive achievements for Mourinho, we all knew that the Champions League was the ultimate goal for the club. After a poor performance at Rosenborg, enough was enough for Abramovich.

The question is will Chelsea be a better team this Champions League campaign without Mourinho? The answer by many would be ‘no,’ but I wonder whether Abramovich may have actually made the right move. If Abramovich didn’t do anything, then Chelsea would have slugged along to a mildly successful season. With a new gaffer in charge, they may be able to steady the ship and begin playing better and scoring more goals. I wouldn’t put it past them.

The one person who must be the happiest about this whole decision is Sir Alex Ferguson. That’s because his Manchester United team plays Chelsea this Sunday at 11am ET on Fox Soccer Channel. The whole world will be watching. Will you?

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