-Call me vain, says Mourinho, but Chelsea are better because of me-
Jose Mourinho showed when he declared himself a "special one" on the day he arrived at Chelsea that he does not underestimate his own importance, and he has confirmed that by saying he makes an "enormous contribution" to the income generated at Stamford Bridge with his management and marketability.
Certainly no fans would begrudge him anything right now with Chelsea clear top of their Champions League pool after Wednesday night's comprehensive 3-1 victory at Levski Sofia, featuring Didier Drogba's first hat-trick for the club. Mourinho believes the silverware he has delivered has prompted a huge rise in revenue and revealed he contributes 40% of his image rights to the club.In two full seasons he has won a League Cup and two Premiership titles, ending Chelsea's 50-year wait for the championship, and has no doubt he provides value for his £5m-a-year contract.
"There are managers who, at first sight, earn little but in reality earn too much because they don't produce," he said. "Call me vain, but I produce because there are titles and, in conjunction with them, merchandising in an incomparably superior proportion to what existed before I came here. The seats in the stadium are the most expensive in English football."
Chelsea were hardly giving away tickets before Mourinho took over but the former Porto coach's success has bred greater income and his considerable personal marketability, including advertisement work, is profitable for the club. "The club receives 40% of everything I do," Mourinho, whose total annual earnings are estimated at £7.5m, told the Portuguese magazine Maxima. "For clubs to pay me and the players well, they have to generate an income. That's why I and the players who, like me, have publicity contracts, make an enormous contribution so that the club can pay us [what] it does."
A claim by Mourinho in the interview that Chelsea are "almost self-sufficient" seemed hard to square with the enormous financial underwriting of the club's owner Roman Abramovich and a £140m loss for the year ending June 2005.
Chelsea's chief executive, Peter Kenyon, has said the club hope to break even by 2009-10. "If we took away two or three multimillion-pound signings from the budget, the club would run itself," said Mourinho. That, though, would leave the manager with a squad unlikely to achieve his or Abramovich's ambitions.
"Roman Abramovich and I are not personal friends in the proper sense, though we have an excellent relationship," Mourinho said. "I work focusing on the club's fans, and I work with the maximum passion whether I earn a pittance or millions. I work for the pleasure of working and the pleasure of winning."
Mourinho acknowledged that the pressure he puts on himself means he will have a shorter management career than some of his counterparts. "My life as a coach involves maximum levels of demand, very high targets," he said. "I won't have the longevity that the life of a calmer coach can offer."
He knows he increased that pressure by saying he was special when he succeeded Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea. "[I think] these 'arrogant' initiatives of mine are risky but, at the same time, they are motivating because they create a state of mind which forces me to want more," he said.
Andriy Shevchenko's signing this summer was part of a plan to lift Chelsea on to a higher level, and the striker is confident he will come good. "I know the goals will come for me soon," he said. "I am not worried at all at this stage. It is normal that it takes a while for a new player to get used to a new team and a new style of football, and that is how it has been for me here."
Obozavam ga zbog njegove skromnosti :-) ..
Pozzz Chelsea-jevi navijaci...mrzim Arsenal,mrzim Mancester i sve ostale . Obozavam Chelsea !!!!