Kenyon: Mourinho stannar (uppdaterad)
José Mourinho blir kvar i Chelsea. Klubben avvisade på fredagen eftermiddag helt påståenden om att managern kan sparkas
Det var Chelseas vd Peter Kenyon som i ett uttalande på Chelsea TV meddelade att ”Mourinho har styrelsens fulla stöd” och att han ”inte kommer att sparkas”. Beskedet är det närmaste man kan komma en bekräftelse på att Mourinho blir kvar i klubben för överskådlig framtid.
Portugisen har redan tidigare klargjort vid upprepade tillfällen att han inte har någon som helst avsikt att lämna Chelsea. Mourinho har kontrakt med Chelsea till 2010.
Här är ett utdrag från eftermiddagens uttalande:
Peter, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding Chelsea recently?
"There has, and I would like to be clear on one thing. We support José 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 straightaway.
"José 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."
Will this stop the speculation?
"Hopefully it will 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."
And what about the situation re player contracts?
"Every contract is unique, no two contracts are the same. Michael Essien, Wayne Bridge and Didier Drogba have all signed new deals. That's fantastic news for the future of Chelsea. John Terry and Frank Lampard are not yet completed. That's football. What's important to remember about contract speculation is that there are only two definitive stages, when the discussions start and when they end, either with an agreement or with no agreement. And at the moment we are in between those situations. Again, I don't want anything to deflect us from our main goal, winning matches and trophies. And I think the players we have been talking to agree, both John and Frank have said similar."
