Mourinho sees the funny side

JOSE MOURINHO’S chiselled features were swathed in storm clouds for so much of last season, it seemed impossible the sun would ever come out again.

The memories of boardroom spats, overloaded treatment tables and, most damagingly, lost titles are not easily banished, but a 10-week break and the challenge of hoisting Chelsea back to the summit of English football have proved timely tonics.

Mourinho has re-emerged for the most eagerly anticipated domesticseason in years refreshed, reinvigorated and with his appetite restored.

The Portuguese was in an uncommonly good humour yesterday. An early question over the state of his injury crisis prompted a grin and a joke about his own hamstring strain — “I do not work hard enough in the gym,” he shrugged — while his assessment of the 2007 Premier League drew an equally jovial response. “It is, in my opinion, the best league in the world,” he said. Pause for comic effect. “But if I ever move to Italy or Spain I will say the same thing about them.”

Yet the smiles and sound-bites were underpinned by a more serious agenda. Mourinho might be grateful that his frosty relations with Roman Abramovich, the club owner, have thawed but a new cold war is only ever a handful of poor results away and, unusually, the manager is not in a position of absolute strength.

This is the first time since 2002 — Mourinho’s first full year in charge at FC Porto — that he will not start the season as champion. Chelsea did not relish the task of chasing United last term and the task of having to regain, rather than defend, the title will pose an entirely new challenge for a man used to leading from the front.

In public, at least, Mourinho remains bullish. “I cannot see the difference between defending and winning a championship,” he said. “When we won the title, we wanted to win every game the following season in order to retain it: now, we want to win every game to bring the trophy back.

“For us, every competition and every game is there to win. The approach doesn’t change at all. And I believe I have the best squad in the world — that is always my philosophy.”

Contending with Chelsea’s diminished status is not the only new obstacle confronting Mourinho this season. The lavish spending of United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur — who have all spent in excess of €44m since May — has threatened to blow the race to finish inside the top four wide open, especially with Chelsea having adopted a noticeably more frugal approach.

But Mourinho hinted darkly yesterday that frittering such vast sums will bring added pressures on his rivals and Chelsea should never be under-estimated. The Blues could serve a reminder of their recent prowess tomorrow, when they have the chance of breaking Liverpool’s record — set between 1978 and 1980 under Bob Paisley — for the longest unbeaten home run in English league history.

It is three-and-a-half years and 63 matches since Edu handed Arsenal a 2-1 win in west London — then under the stewardship of Claudio Ranieri — and while Mourinho would find little to celebrate in a draw against Birmingham, he is aware of having history within his grasp.

“If we do achieve it, it is historic,” he said. “If we can beat the record, then respect to every Chelsea player who has participated in that sequence of games. No one would have believed four years ago that we were starting on that path. But I know my teams are very strong at home.”

As if to emphasise the point, Mourinho can still remember, with uncomfortable clarity, the last time he was vanquished on his own soil: February 2002, at Porto, against Beira Mar.

“We were trying to win the game because we wanted to qualify for the Uefa cup and Champions League,” he said. “Then this guy scores near the end and we are beaten.”

He swishes a hand through the air in annoyance but, for the time being at least, this new mellow Mourinho has no cause to be angry.