Jose Mourinho jokes about getting sacked by Roman Abramovich

Jose Mourinho jokes that Roman Abramovich should sack him

Jose Mourinho has reasserted his belief that Chelsea’s squad is one in transition, although he joked to reporters that “maybe [Roman] Abramovich will sack me.”

On a more serious note, he continued by revealing that when he rejoined the club he agreed with Abramovich that his future did not hinge upon immediate success and that he had spoken to the chairman last summer about the club’s long term development strategy.

“Maybe Abramovich will sack me tomorrow, I don’t know,” joked Mourinho to reporters after Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Cardiff City.

“But that is not what I was promised, not what we spoke about when we sat down and discussed where Chelsea were [in their development].

“Chelsea started an era in 2002/03 with Abramovich and went in a certain direction. That had an immediate impact – the double title. That team was ready to be successful for a decade.

“That era is now over and we start again, and this season is the first season of a new period.

“We are doing the work well, we are not asking for eight or nine years to get us success.

“It almost happened this season, but those defeats against Aston Villa and Sunderland made it difficult.”

Mourinho had never finished outside the top two during his managerial career until this season, but insisted that third place was “not a drama” and that they will be stronger next season.

“I never finished third before, but it’s part of a process,” he admitted.

“It’s one thing to know you can win the title and another to be in a transition phase. I now need to get the team ready to win.

“It’s a dangerous league and so third position is not a drama, we have to accept it in this transition.

“Next season, we have to start to be stronger than this season. If we do our work in a successful way in the summer market, which I know the club is trying to make happen, then I want to start day one next season saying that we are fighting to win the title.”