Mourinho braced for sprint after avoiding sack race

Jose Mourinho is today able to focus all his energy on completing an unprecedented quadruple at Chelsea after learning he will not be sacked by the club in the summer.

Chief executive Peter Kenyon yesterday reassured Mourinho that his job was safe as the club looked to put an end to constant speculation over their coach’s future.

A total of 13 managers have been linked with the Blues as possible successors to Mourinho but Kenyon insisted no shortlist had been drawn up and, more importantly, no-one else had been offered the job.

Kenyon told Chelsea TV: “Jose has a contract to 2010 and he wants to stay. We are not going to sack him, he has the club’s support. That’s the situation and we are agreed on it.

“We support Jose as manager and given the level of speculation, where we are now is an even bigger achievement.

“Whatever you have read or heard, no lists of candidates have been drawn up, no one has been offered the job. So let’s put that to bed straight away.

“Hopefully, the speculation will stop and I think it should. As far as we are all concerned, what is most important is that it is business as usual at Chelsea and putting all our energy into winning the three remaining trophies.”

One of those trophies is the hunt for a third successive Premiership crown and Chelsea go to Newcastle tomorrow hoping Manchester United will have dropped points at home to Middlesbrough.

However, even though PFA Player of the Year nominee Didier Drogba notched his 31st goal of the season in the 4-1 win over relegation-haunted West Ham on Wednesday night, Mourinho has paid tribute to Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho as they prepare for the trip to Tyneside.

It will be Carvalho’s 50th match of the season and Mourinho said: “The West Ham game was very difficult but we played very well and, with the fourth goal, the game was over.

“Didier and Lamps (Frank Lampard) are the kind of guys who, even without people knowing, will play with injuries and sickness.

“They are the ones who deserve a lot the rest and Ricardo is another one who deserves it, but the central defender position is difficult to change during a game.

“It is Ricardo’s best season with me. For a long period there was no Petr Cech behind him, no John Terry alongside and no Michael Essien in front and he was amazing.

“Thursday was quite interesting because I gave the players a day off and, in the morning, eight of them were at the training ground, looking after themselves, having massage and treatment to small problems.

“You can see how committed and professional people are.

“You can talk about Lamps and Didier but at West Ham, I think everybody had a rest towards the end of the 90 minutes because we passed the ball well and everybody was in a situation to save.”

Chelsea should have Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko back in the squad after he missed the victory over West Ham with a minor leg injury sustained in the FA Cup semi-final win over Blackburn last Sunday.