Mourinho Takes to His New Victim Status With Relish

IF ROMAN Abramovich really is trying to push around the coach who has inspired the most successful period in Chelsea's history, the one thing he must realise is that Jose Mourinho will do nothing quietly.

The manager's programme notes, which took the form of an open team talk, sent a deliberate message to anyone who doubts his appetite for a fight. 'Good afternoon. Are you up for the challenge? Are you up for the challenge of protecting our unbeaten home Premiership record, which has stood since we came together?

'Are you up for the challenge of playing without the best goalkeeper in the world, the best central-defender in the world, their deputies and more, and still going for the Premiership title, the Carling Cup, the FA Cup, with the Champions League to look forward to?... Are you all up for the challenge?

'Today we are without the best left-back in the world and next week we will be without the best defensive midfielder. Are you ready to dig in during our most difficult hour and support, support and support?... Are you in the crowd ready for the challenge?.... Are you ready to enjoy us playing with 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds and still be chasing these prizes?'

He's a smart one, Mourinho. In the midst of a power struggle against the one man in football even he cannot begin to master, he fought his corner with a rousing appeal to the sympathy vote. It certainly struck a chord with the faithful. His name was chanted from the Matthew Harding Stand to the Shed End. They all made an enthusiastic effort to 'stand up for the Special One'. Last out of the tunnel, he made his entrance, settled into the manager's seat and rubbed his hands together. Mourinho 1 Abramovich 0?

Another point was apparently made on the team sheet, where the owner's favourite, Andriy Shevchenko, was omitted completely. The fact that there were conflicting reasons for his absence - the official line was a hamstring injury, yet John Terry claimed it was a groin strain - certainly raised suspicions about how unfit the Ukrainian was. It helps to get the story straight. Shevchenko apparently spent the entire match in the dressing room with a long face.

This is boardroom hardball versus dugout defiance. Even the most entrenched of Mourinho bashers has to admire his front. Indeed, they might end up changing their tune sufficiently to do something they never thought possible: feel sorry for him. But Abramovich's belittling of his manager, by blocking transfers and reportedly wanting to influence coaching and selection decisions, is the kind of nightmare that makes his penchant for taking on authority impressive for once.

After this comfortable return to winning ways, Mourinho was cheekily asked if he now wished he was staying. He broke into laughter, before requesting that we talk about 'serious stuff'. Naturally, a lot of that serious stuff, such as whether he intended to finish his contract, was off limits, although he was at pains to dismiss the morning's story about his assistant Steve Clarke leaving as 'complete nonsense'.

However long he stays at Stamford Bridge, there is a school of thought that Mourinho's intense methods, which rely on consistently cranked-up levels of motivation, work best in short doses. Conventional managerial wisdom says that after a few years either the boss or the players have to change, before drills and messages lose impact through repetition. That theme is accelerated where Mourinho is concerned. He likes to come into a club with a bang, sustain a high electric charge and leave before anything starts to fizzle out.

The spell he has cast around the Kings Road has lasted the longest of his managerial career so far. And now that he has beat his personal record for longevity at Chelsea, the masterplan is being severely tested.

Of course the combination of on-field complications and off-field conflict has masked the prospect that Chelsea are still perfectly capable of pulling their season around. The players who upset Barcelona twice in the autumn are all still at the club. Petr Cech is eligible to play from next week, and if Terry can follow, soon the difference should be radical.

Mourinho was pleased to see life on the pitch returning to some kind of normality yesterday, describing this stroll as a 'nice, enjoying, getting confidence back' kind of game. 'If everyone gives the maximum then we can have a good end to the season.'

Whether the men behind the scenes do everything in their power to help the team rise to the challenge - or whether he can do it in spite of them - remains to be seen.