'Mourinho has brought conviction, confidence and clarity'

IN 1931 a Chelsea team travelled north on a freezing winter afternoon for a cup tie against Blackpool.

By the time the final whistle blew they had lost 4-0 and five of the side had left the field, unable to carry on because of the Arctic conditions.

"Southern softies", chanted the home crowd and a stereotype was born which has lasted three quarters of a century. Until, that is, the arrival of Jose Mourinho.

Softies? Not the current Chelsea side which leads the Premiership table by 10 points from Arsenal and which swept into the Carling Cup final with a northern raid on Old Trafford which merely confirmed the changing of the guard in English football.

Not this Chelsea side which appears to be without even a hint of physical or mental weakness. It is a side blessed with wonderful players in Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba, Damien Duff and Claude Makelele.

Even more encouraging from an England point of view is that its twin peaks of inspiration come in the shape of John Terry and the magnificent Frank Lampard.

But none of these is the single most important reason why the odds - now 16-1 - are tumbling on Chelsea winning all four major trophies this season.

That is down to one Portuguese man of awe - Mourinho.

Of course, Chelsea would not be where they are without the €507 million pumped into the club so far by Roman Abramovich. You can argue every which way whether that is good or bad for English football, although surely there is an inherent injustice when a club does not have to balance the books and therefore plays the game according to different rules from everyone else.

But it is Mourinho who has brought conviction, confidence and a clarity of thought which was beyond his predecessor Claudio Ranieri.

He has brought unity too. Nowhere in the Premiership are the pre-match huddles, the goal congratulations or the post-match celebrations quite as wonderfully earnest as among the blue shirts of Chelsea's foreign legion.

It is a commodity Graeme Souness would give anything to possess at Newcastle.

Which is not to suggest that Mourinho would do any better with a misfit such as Craig Bellamy, a man who could start an argument in an empty room and whose feisty nature is in danger of rendering him unemployable in the upper echelons of football.

Yet Mourinho does do things differently. There is not another manager in Britain who would have stood in the tunnel to shake hands with every one of his opponents as he did before the game at Old Trafford.

Few would have saved their post- match eulogy for the squad players who missed out on the semi-final. Not many would have announced that number two goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini would play against Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium in the final next month.

Loyalty, respect, honesty, humility. Not the qualities we had come to expect from Mourinho when he breezed arrogantly into the Premiership, proclaiming he was a special manager and declaring that the title race could be over by Easter.

Effectively, it's over already. And there's a growing invincibility about Mourinho and his side which suggests winning all four trophies is not as impossible as Ferguson makes out.

"Never mind the players, the manager is the best signing Chelsea have made", was former Arsenal and Tottenham manager George Graham's verdict after the Carling Cup win.

Mourinho still believes that winning the Premiership ranks above being crowned Champions League champions. "In the Champions League it is not the best team which wins, because when you go to the knock-out stages it depends on moments. When Porto came to Old Trafford last year we scored in the last minute, if we didn't we were out of the competition.

"Milan played a final at Old Trafford against Juventus and won because of a penalty. To win the Champions League you need a little bit of luck, but not the Premiership. In the Premiership, the best team over the whole 38 matches wins.

"I think that is more significant and to do it in our centenary year, and 50 years after we last were champions, would be a fantastic achievement for our club."

He added: "When I came, I knew I needed time to adapt to a new reality, I know the players needed time to adapt to me, I know what English football is like in terms of very difficult opponents but I trust my work and the work of everybody who surrounds me. From the beginning I have thought we could do good things.

"The mission is done only if at the end of the season we can get a trophy and I hope the trophy is the Premiership, that would be best for me."

However, Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane are convinced Manchester United have every reason to remain positive despite having Alex Ferguson's proud domestic semi-final record wrecked.

"When we upped the tempo of our play in the second half, I didn't think Chelsea could live with us," said Giggs, whose brilliant equaliser looked set to turn the contest United's way.

"We all recognise Chelsea are a quality side but I have not seen them rattled like that before. Once we scored, it looked like there would only be one winner," he said.