The special one

The English Premier League lost one of its greatest assets on Thursday when Jose Mourinho was sacked as the Chelsea manager. "Player power" allegedly brought an end to Mourinho, the self-styled Special One, and he left through the back door, his future very much in doubt. So what went wrong for Mourinho at his beloved Chelsea? As a Chelsea fan, I would say that he brought the problems on himself, or so it appears. Frank Lampard and Petr Cech should never have been allowed to leave. The combination of Lampard and former captain John Terry would have given Mourinho additional support in the dressing room. Perhaps a role could have been found for Didier Drogba. All these players, who were big Mourinho supporters, were allowed to leave and go elsewhere, leaving the so-called Special One isolated. There was no one to ride shotgun for the manager in the dressing room any longer and Mourinho´s influence on his players faded. You could see that all was not well at Chelsea towards the end of last season and then this season the problems really came home. Mourinho without doubt is one of the best football managers of his generation. He was a major asset to the Premier League. His departure is not just a blow to Chelsea but to the Premier League as well. I think that if he could have been given a bit more time, until the transfer window opened, he could have won through. In the end it was a case of one defeat too many.