Analysing the Potential Replacements Should Chelsea Sack Jose Mourinho

Pretty much every manager, at some point, becomes a victim of poor results or dressing-room unrest or shoddy transfer dealings. Most managers have, at least once, experienced the indignity of an abrupt dismissal. But, at the top of the game, longevity is the criteria that so many elite coaches fall foul of. Even the very best struggle to remain the very best for long, as Jose Mourinho has discovered this season.

The Portuguese coach is in something of a tailspin at present, with Chelsea’s title defence seemingly over before it even began. Stamford Bridge has become a tumultuous place this season, and Mourinho has been at the centre of all that has gone wrong. Such a sharp demise poses a question of his long-term standing in the game.

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If Mourinho is indeed on the decline as an elite coach, he would join a long list of decorated managerial greats—alongside the likes of Marcello Lippi, Bill Shankly and Louis van Gaal—who toiled to sustain their excellence over more than a decade.

Of course, such an outcome is certainly not yet conclusive. A lot still has to happen before Mourinho can be written out of the Premier League’s grand narrative, but nonetheless, pressure is building on the Special One now that he no longer seems so special. 

If reports, such as the Telegraph's Matt Law's, this week are to be believed, Mourinho will be afforded one more chance to prove his worth—at Stoke City on Saturday.

Anything less than a win could see Roman Abramovich hand the Chelsea boss his very costly P45 in an attempt to salvage a campaign that might already be lost. If results go a certain way, it’s possible Mourinho could be out the Stamford Bridge door by next week.

But who would Chelsea look to as his replacement? Managerial appointments midway through the season are notoriously difficult to get right—even more so in the case of a club of such stature.

Top-tier coaches are in short supply at the best of times—and November definitely wouldn’t count as the best of times.

However, if results continue in a similar vein, Abramovich might have no choice but to relieve Mourinho of his duties. The Russian oligarch’s problem, though—should he make such a decision—would be the unfortunate truth that Chelsea have frankly chewed up so many coaches over the past decade. There aren’t many left who haven’t already been given the chop at Stamford Bridge.

And so Chelsea might need to retrace old tracks if they are to replace Mourinho. Carlo Ancelotti, as one of European football’s most successful coaches, might be the obvious candidate—especially following reports, per Matt Lawton, Matt Barlow and Charles Sale of the Daily Mail, that the Italian would be willing to forgive and forget what happened at Stamford Bridge just four years ago.

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But would Ancelotti be open to a King’s Road return were it just on an interim basis? After all, European football’s managerial golden goose might be on the market this summer, with Pep Guardiola’s contract at Bayern Munich set to expire.

The Chelsea owner has long held the Spaniard in the highest esteem, per Rob Draper of the Daily Mail, and will surely make a play for his services in the event of Mourinho’s sacking.

That could complicate things for Abramovich and perhaps afford Mourinho at least until the end of the season to turn Chelsea’s form around. 

As a club, the Blues are more willing than most to make an interim appointment—as they did with both Avram Grant and Rafael Benitez—but are they likely to find a suitable coach prepared to take on such a demanding job on such a short leash?

It would probably prove a difficult task, and so Abramovich might have to wait until next season before making a change in the dugout—compiling his managerial shortlist with the intention of replacing Mourinho.

This season might, therefore, become a scouting mission for the Russian oligarch, plotting the direction Chelsea will take in the long term.

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Indeed, should the Stamford Bridge chief wait until the summer to make a change, a number of options could become apparent.

Diego Simeone, for instance, may well be tempted to take on a new challenge having led Atletico Madrid as far as anyone could. But if Abramovich desires a shift in footballing ideology, then the Argentinian probably isn’t the man for him, given the attritional style he professes in La Liga. Simeone is a Mourinho-lite—and, in some sense, a Mourinho-max.

Abramovich may well curse Liverpool’s hiring of Jurgen Klopp, with the German coach consequently off the market. Chelsea are a club in need of reinvigoration, and Klopp would have been the ideal person to provide that—underlined by Liverpool’s win at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. 

Roberto Mancini is another name linked with the increasingly warm Chelsea hot seat, and given his Premier League experience, he could be a shrewd appointment. But Mancini’s stock has fallen significantly since he led Manchester City to the title three years ago, so his return to England would be something less than the statement of intent Chelsea want.

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However, any change in management is likely to reduce the Blues’ stature as a club—given Mourinho’s reputation as the European game’s greatest, active coach.

Perhaps only Ancelotti—or the hiring of Guardiola in the summer—would keep Chelsea’s coaching prestige on a similar standing, so Abramovich might have to take something of a gamble on an unproven candidate. One wonders if he recalls the Andre Villas-Boas experiment.

As for Mourinho, his escape route from Stamford Bridge—should he desire one—is not so apparent either. In a sense, he faces the same problem as his current employers; he has burnt so many bridges in so many different countries, he might not have one left to cross. If he has sights on another elite job, his only remaining option might be a move into the international game.

As things stand, though, Mourinho is still the Chelsea manager and still capable of turning the club’s season around. Although if things are going against his team at Stoke City this weekend, Abramovich might start drafting his shortlist.