£25m pay-off for Mourinho

Did he go, or was he pushed? The answer is neither according to Chelsea who said today that Jose Mourinho left the club “by mutual consent.”

As new boss Avram Grant set about the not inconsiderable task of preparing to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, Chelsea bosses began the task of explaining the crisis to their fans.

In an “open letter” to supporters on the Chelsea website, a club statement said: "Early this morning we announced that Chelsea and Jose Mourinho had agreed to part company by mutual consent.

"The key phrase here is that there was mutual agreement. Jose did not resign and he was not sacked.

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"What is clear, though, is we had all reached a point where the relationship between the club and Jose had broken down.

"This was despite genuine attempts over several months by all parties to resolve certain differences.

"The reason the decision has been taken is that we believed the breakdown started to impact on the performance of the team and recent results supported this view.

"We did not want this to continue or affect the club further."