Unappreciated Mourinho sings the blues (again)

JOSE MOURINHO claims it was a lack of respect for his achievements at Chelsea which almost forced him out of the club.

Mourinho clinched his second title in two seasons at Stamford Bridge, on Saturday, but he was not in joyous mood when he reflected on the season.

He admitted he had been close to quitting Chelsea and said he reached his lowest ebb around the time when Barcelona knocked them out of Europe.

Mourinho said: “It is a feeling you have inside that this club deserves much more.

“It’s like the man loves a woman but the woman doesn’t love him, so why is he married? He has to think about a divorce. It’s a similar situation.”

Mourinho repeated his belief that the world is against Chelsea because of their success and the immense financial backing of multi-millionaire Roman Abramovich.

The Blues boss thinks the FA treat his club unfairly and, as evidence, he pointed to Chelsea’s £10,000 fine for failing to control their players against West Brom. He grumbled about never winning manager of the month.

He then accused the press of ganging-up against him and helping Barcelona beat the Blues in the Champions League.

Mourinho said: “Chelsea are always treated in a negative way. The low point was when the English press helped to take away Chelsea’s possibilities of winning the Champions League. You have a big responsibility on that.”

Mourinho insisted there were no job offers from other clubs tempting him away and said he eventually decided he must stay because he loved the club and the people he was working with.

“This is an optimistic club and the people above me in administration believe very much. I am with them. I don’t want to turn my back on this fantastic club and these fantastic people.

“I have a contract until 2010. It wasn’t a question of changing my mind. It was just that during the season I was getting some negative feelings about my future.

“I didn’t have to speak to anyone above me at the club. They are very intelligent people. They smell it. We kept together all the time.

“It’s easy for this club to persuade you and create good feelings about the future and I am very much looking forward.”

Mourinho saw his team beat closest challengers Manchester United 3-0 on Saturday to clinch a back-to-back title.

He has now won a league title for the last four years.

He won two with Porto before he came to Chelsea and has won two in two years since arriving in England.

Mourinho, who threw his medal into the crowd after the match, said: “I should be the happiest manager in the world but I am not.

“We can achieve and win but it’s never enough. For a manager, it is the worst club you can work at.”

He tried to explain the problems of managing Chelsea with the help of a glass of water.

“I want to sell this glass of water. There are two markets for the glass of water. There is one market of 200 teams and one market of one team. The glass of water costs £2 to the 200 teams but it costs £200 for one team. But it is the same glass of water.

“I am not guilty if my team spends one zero more than the other teams.”

Opta Fact: Didier Drogba has set up the joint-highest number of goals in the Premiership than any other player — 10.

Opta Fact: Chelsea haven’t lost any of their last 44 home league games — a Premiership record. And they’ve scored more goals from corners than any other team — 11.

* Additionally, Chelsea need to win their remaining two games to beat last season’s points tally of 95, which is a top-flight record. The champions won 18 home games — more than any other team in any Premiership season.