Neo

No one can deny that in Mourinho, English football has lost a great character and a great source of entertainment. We have also lost a great manager and Avram Grant will need to do a lot to get anywhere near to filling the position. Chelsea will now have to battle hard to stay in this title race and avoid having a season only remembered for the loss of the 'special one.' However, the manner of Mourinho's departure must be a warning to all other Premiership clubs. Chelsea are now in the precarious position of having an owner who seems overly ambitious and overly involved in the club. Abramovich has put hundreds of millions of pounds into the club and his expectation is not just for Chelsea to win titles, but to win them with panache and elegance. This is not something that happens overnight, and this proved to be Mourinho's undoing. His achievements were incredible: winning the Premiership in his first two seasons and winning 2 Carling and 1 FA Cup. However, Chelsea's failure to win the Champions League and last year's Premiership, and the failure to consistently play with style (with and without his best omelette eggs), cost Mourinho his job. Abramovich is relentless in his approach and Avram Grant will soon find out that he has to do a lot to keep his job, as will any future Chelsea manager.

The happenings at Chelsea this week must be seen as a warning to the Premiership as a whole. Chelsea are not the only team with a rich and ambitious owner and the league as a whole must be wary that these owners will want rewards for the money they have poured into the club. In pre-season we heard owners, such as West Ham's Egbert Magnusson and Newcastle's Mike Ashley, setting out their ambitions for Champions League football within only two or three season, for Champions League is where the return of money. Birmingham City's new owner, Carson Yeung, said that he wants Birmingham to be the best team in the world. However, there are only 4 teams that can represent England in the Champions League and even that seems likely to change. Those 4 places already seem to be going towards the 'Big 4' this season and it's only September.

So, the league is in a position where many clubs want success but in reality, only 4 teams will get it in the next 3 or 4 seasons. It may be presumptuous to say that the 'Big 4' will not be penetrated in the next 2 seasons, but top teams are formed over time and it is questionable as to whether the owners are patient enough to wait for the Champions League bounty. If these owners are as impatient as Abramovich, we could be in the position where there is a similar turnover of managers to the turnover of players coming in and out of the league. If you look at the two most successful clubs throughout the Premiership years,you will see that their managers are in a position of complete control of their clubs and you will also see that they have the two longest serving managers in the league (Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson.)