Chelsea arrived in Hong Kong yesterday — with its amazing density of skyscrapers and high-rises — with Petr Cech claiming that successive managers have been sacked by the club for failing to reach the daunting heights set by Jose Mourinho.
The spectre of The Special One still looms large. Cech said he regarded Mourinho as the benchmark for Chelsea and that, until he is emulated, whoever is in charge will struggle to stay in the post for long.
“Managers have their own philosophy and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” said the goalkeeper, who is entering into his eighth season at Chelsea, working with his seventh different manager in Andre Villas-Boas.