Chelsea Issues Mourinho Vote Of Confidence

Under fire Jose Mourinho

Chelsea have issued a statement giving Jose Mourinho the dreaded vote of confidence insisting the under fire boss has the “full support” of the club.

The Blues boss was criticised by fans following the 3-1 home defeat to Southampton with some of his decisions coming under the microscope.

Speaking at his press conference after the loss to the Saints, Mourinho said he would not be resigning despite facing the greatest crisis of his managerial career to date.

The latest defeat left the champions sitting just outside of the relegation zone in the table, with just eight points from their first eight games of their title defence.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is understood to have remained at Stamford Bridge until around midnight after the loss as the club held an urgent inquest and examined their options.

They have played down the meeting by saying such discussions take place on a regular basis but the run of results and array of issues both on and off the pitch appears to have raised alarm bells.

But in public they are sticking by Mourinho and even went so far to reassure their beleaguered boss by posting a statement today.

“The club wants to make it clear that Jose continues to have our full support,” it read on the club’swebsite.

“As Jose has said himself, results have not been good enough and the team’s performances must improve. However, we believe that we have the right manager to turn this season around and that he has the squad with which to do it.”

Such statements have often been a prelude to a sacking but, in any case, the fact Chelsea feel forced to make public pronouncements on Mourinho’s future shows the gravity of the predicament if nothing else.