Football’s salt and pepper man still curries favour

If it is the moment that Chelsea have been waiting six years for, it is also one that Jose Mourinho will try to be prepared for.

As the new Stamford Bridge boss takes his seat in the dug-out for his first match back against Hull City tomorrow, the home crowd is likely to be raucously emotional at the return of their Special One. The man himself insists he cannot afford to be.

That is not to say Mourinho will not feel anything. Quite the opposite. He just plans to let those shivers run down his spine this afternoon, by visiting an empty Stamford Bridge and getting reacquainted with the surroundings.