Harris - Jose - Return Of The King

F or most managers, it would have been the perfect moment. Jose Mourinho and his players had just walked up the 107 steps of the new Wembley Stadium to collect their winners medals and the FA Cup from Prince William.

Turning to the crowd, Mourinho held up six fingers to signal his achievements he has now landed a clean sweep of all English footballs domestic prizes, but there is no doubt his future at Chelsea still hinges on landing the Champions League. Mourinho has yet to mastermind the sort of dominance in Europe which Chelseas owner Roman Abramovich both craves and demands.

Reflecting on the fall-out from his most frenzied season yet at Chelsea, Mourinhos enthusiasm in planning Chelseas next title tilt was more than matched by satisfaction at their last. I used to say that in football the worst thing is when you lose and realise you could do more. Now I dont have that feeling. We did everything we could. A bad feeling was that I lost because I didnt do my best, because I didnt have enough motivation, because I slept in the shade of my success. We tried everything. Im happy that were not happy as it means we want more. But the FA Cup, in a historic moment, was a good reward for the club and ended a period of three years where we won everything in England.

Winning is a habit, winning is culture, winning has a lot of mental preparation and I am very happy with it here. I just feel the last step is to take this feeling, or this little bit of luck, into European competition. Chelsea played three Champions League semi-finals in the last four years, which is fantastic, but couldnt play one single final. This club wants more and we want more. I won it before, but past is past. I want to do it with Chelsea. The players, they want to do it, but we have to do it without being obsessed because being obsessed doesnt help.

After a rocky period, a truce has now been brokered between Mourinho and Abramovich. Season 200607 was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, controversy, rows, accusations and disciplinary hearings as each of Mourinhos seasons with the Blues has grown more controversial than the last. The highly charged Mourinho, often likened to the late Brian Clough, has never wandered far from the back-page headlines.

He admitted that there has been a change in spending policy at Chelsea, but denied, contrary to reports, that this had anything to do with Roman Abramovich tightening his purse strings. Roman is the boss, that doesnt change. Hes the owner and the top man in the club. The change in philosophy is not because Mr Abramovich turned off the tap. The philosophy is we spent money before, built the squad for a long time and dont need to make big investments season after season. We will basically have the same squad, which is young and can be together for a few more years, so we dont have big needs. If you dont have big needs, why spend big money?

Mourinho is already planning ahead to win future trophies by bringing in youngsters such as 16-year-olds Danny Philliskirk from Oldham and Jacob Mellis from Sheffield United. If we can do it in a good way calm, not noisy, not expensive, keeping a good balance in the team then we dont need big transfers.

The most expensive product of the owners previous approach, Andriy Shevchenko, who cost over 30m from Milan, contributed just four league goals. Mourinho was not prepared to spare the Ukrainians blushes. Shevchenko did not have a good season. When we signed him we were searching for a top striker. The club decided to invest that money on a big player, and we did not get a big Shevchenko. Its very important that Sheva is not happy and wants to fight, to recover the prestige he had. Next season we hope its better.

At the beginning of the season, the self-proclaimed Special One considered he had spent money wisely on a squad capable of winning all four major trophies not just the Premiership crown for a third successive year. But robbed of the services of several of his main assets John Terry, Petr Cech and the flying Dutch winger Arjen Robben the Quadruple was first to disappear from sight, followed quickly by the Treble, leaving Chelsea with only the Double after wins in the Carling and FA Cups.

Rendered mortal by his failure to win his fifth league title in a row, Mourinho has started toning down the comments which once made him seem too brash. I dont think I am the greatest coach of this generation. But I belong to an elite group of young coaches who have chalked up important successes and made a huge impact. The elite group are Rafa Benitez, Frank Rijkaard and Carlo Ancelotti and we are sharing the best trophies in Europe among us. There are others I would not like to mention and I dont think I am the best. But I want to stay in the group. I want to stay among the top.

Over the course of three seasons, many of Mourinhos methods have leaked out. One of these is the fact that he writes a report for owner Abramovich each week outlining the reasons behind his team selection, tactics and substitutions. He wanted the best for the club, Mourinho said about the Russian billionaire. So did I. He wanted to know the club life. From that point I told him he will know why every decision was made. Why do you want Paulo to be your right-back? Why do you want Ricardo Carvalho to be your central defender? I have to explain more than explain I have to give a written report where they can understand and I can commit myself with that responsibility.

In the early stages of his Bridge career, Mourinho observed, If I am in Chelsea for 10 years like Arsne Wenger with Arsenal, in my 10th year I wont have to spend so much money, because by then we will have built an academy and a scouting network. Its not fair when people speak about Chelseas amount of money, but I cannot be a hypocrite because it is easier to work with a person of his economic power where you can say, Id love to have this player.

I put myself [in the firing line] straight away by saying things that some people understand and some dont. I might have put myself in the spotlight but, at the same time, I woke up my people. And I put them also under a little bit of pressure. I said, All of you are top players, but nobody won a Premiership or a Champions League, and you are not successful players until you win. So I made them think. I hurt them a bit, but I created a big ambition in the team. It was risky, but it worked.

The first step is to make the big guys understand and accept and be on my side. Once they accept this rule, its easy to manage the group. I couldnt be luckier than when I got Terry and Lampard and, immediately behind them, Makelele. They are the perfect example of big players with a notion of the needs of the club.

The Italian League is the tactical league. The Spanish League is the technical league. The English League is about passion. When I thought I could have success here, it is because I thought I could mix that English passion with tactical organisation, and so our team became tactical. Boring for some I dont know why but tactical. To be fair, I think we are the best team in history, because we beat the record.