New Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has told Ghana star Micahel Essien and his Blues team-mates he will not tolerate the club's image being tarnished by race rows and off-field incidents like it was last term.
Last season when Mourinho was coaching Real Madrid, Chelsea’s image was battered senseless by one unsavoury Âincident after another.
If it has not been High Court Âracism cases involving skipper John Terry, it has been front page headlines surrounding his and other team-mates’ extra-marital affairs.
And if it has not been Terry being stripped of the England captaincy – TWICE – it has been fellow Three Lions ace Ashley Cole causing mayhem with an air rifle at the training ground or sending abusive tweets attacking the FA.
To the outsider it Âappears the team who cannot stop winning? silverware?every year are equally Âincapable of Âbehaving in an Âacceptable manner.
Yet, listening to Mourinho, you sense that is set to change.
Whether or not you Âbelieve his pledge that he is a Âreformed character, his Âmessage on maintaining dressing room discipline is deadly serious.
And it is one he will deliver to his multi-millionaire stars that includes Essien on the first day of Âpre-season. Just as he has done wherever his talents have taken him.
Mourinho, 50, said: “I say the same thing with every club I go to and I will say the same when I meet the players here on July 8.
“Some of the boys have heard this before from me but there is a sentence I always say first.
“If you are a top professional, if you are not a selfish person, if you put the club in front of yourself and if you are here to work 100 per cent – for me, for your fellow Âplayers and for the club – we’ll have a wonderful relationship.
“But if you’re selfish, if you don’t care about the club, you don’t care about the fans and don’t care about image, then we are in big trouble.
“So it depends on them if the Ârelationship is fantastic or not Âfantastic. It’s down to players and it’s all about respect.â€
That might be easier said than done. When Mourinho first Âarrived, ÂTerry and Co had not won Âanything. Now their Âpower has grown with every trophy collected. No fewer than EIGHT coaches have been hired and fired in the meantime.
Mourinho’s great friend, Sir Alex Ferguson, reckons managerial Âinstability at a club serves only to increase the Âinfluence of the Âmodern-day, mega-rich footballer.
The Happy One, as he now likes to be called, does not disagree. But as long as he has the club’s Âbacking he is Âconfident of stamping out the rebels.
“What Sir Alex says in Ârelation to English football is Âdoctrine, it’s the Bible,†said the ex-Real Madrid, Inter and Porto boss.
“If he says that, with so many years’ experience, he’s Âcorrect. Does it Ârelate to this club? I don’t know.
“Sometimes you have groups that adapt Âeasily.?Sometimes there’s a couple of guys who are not so keen to accept these rules and this is where you have Âproblematic Ârelationships.
“If the club supports the Âmanager, the little guys are…â€
Mourinho did not need to finish the Âsentence – ‘goners’ was the missing word.
And those wondering if his Ârelationship with Âowner Roman Abramovich will be as solid second time around need not bother.
Mourinho added: “Never in my time did Roman try to interfere in the basic things of the manager – training sessions, team selection or in the players that you want to bring in to the club. Never.â€