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The Times is today presenting Chelsea fans with an interesting question, are you a purist or a pragmatist. Is it win at all costs or win in style? It’s a question that has been long rumoured to cause a bit of a problem behind the scenes at the club, with Abramovich allegedly unhappy with the somewhat dry football being presented to him by Jose Mourinho. It had also been rumoured that the only trophy Roman cares about is the Champions League.
The Times has confirmed both via quotes Peter Kenyon in Blue Revolution, a new Chelsea documentary – Kenyon said:
“One of the key phrases I would say sums Roman up when we talked about success is that he said he wanted Chelsea ‘to make a difference,’…He’s passionate about how we are perceived, how we do things. He’s stylish in that sense. If we win, we want to win stylishly. Everyone buys into that. He’s in it for the long term.â€
The Special One looks upon things differently. Mourinho said:
“It’s not important how we play…It’s important that we go in thinking about winning games, respecting our opponents.â€
The Times then talks of Roman Abramovich’s ‘obsession’ with winning the Champions League, something
that will no doubt crank up the pressure on Mourinho even more. Abramovich said:
“We had a ten-year vision for the club…It was about building a team that was successful, not once but consistently. Over a ten-year period you need two European Cups to be a world club. We have to have an infrastructure to deal with that and people to deal with it. We will win the Champions League. It’s just when, is the question. We’ve got a squad, a structure, a belief and we’ve got quality. And the Champions League is not that far away.â€
Sounds like the clock is ticking on Mourinho, and we’re sure Roman won’t be happy that the club has ceded the league title as well. If Chelsea fail to pick up the big silverware again this season the summer could get heated.
Heated like some sort of crap omlette.