Drogba: Jose found it hard after three seasons last time

Didier Drogba says Jose Mourinho found it harder to get his message across after three seasons of his first spell in charge of Chelsea.

After winning two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup between 2004 and 2007, Mourinho left Stamford Bridge early in his fourth season in charge following some poor results.

Now, just months after delivering the Premier League title again for the club, Mourinho finds himself under serious pressure after 12 games of his third season back in the hotseat.

In an extract from his autobiography, ‘Commitment’, as quoted by the Daily Mirror, Drogba wrote of Mourinho’s last previous reign: ‘I believe things often come in three-year cycles [and] we had arrived at the end of such a cycle.

‘By the start of the fourth [season] that Jose had been in charge, I think we had started to reach a point where it was sometimes harder for his message to get through.

‘We wanted to hear it, we tried, but somehow we had lost a little bit of what made us special.’

Drogba did have plenty of praise for his former manager, however.

‘One of his many qualities is that he brings a winning mentality to all the teams he manages,’ says Drogba. ‘Once you know how to do it, you never forget, it stays with you for ever. And that is what he does with his players, at whichever club he is at.

‘The majority of coaches when they arrive at a new club, they will say, “I’ll try to win but it will be difficult.” Jose says, “I’m here to win.”

‘That rubs off on his players.’