'Jose Mourinho demanded I get him out of Chelsea – I could see it coming'

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Jose Mourinho's first reign at Chelsea was utterly spectacular. But it ended far more suddenly than most anticipated, as former Blues chief executive Peter Kenyon has now revealed.

After arriving from Porto in 2004 and famously labelling himself "the special one," Mourinho reshaped Chelsea into a powerhouse. He won consecutive Premier League titles and added three domestic trophies in just three seasons. His personality, self-belief and forward-thinking tactics distinguished Chelsea, enabling them to blow opponents away with remarkable authority.

However, early in his fourth campaign, things began to fall apart. As Kenyon - who moved to Chelsea from Manchester United in 2003 - explained, the underlying issue was a gradual but significant shift in the dynamic between Mourinho and club owner Roman Abramovich , which eventually resulted in Mourinho leaving in September 2007.

"Jose came to me and said, 'Pete, get me out of here, will you?' And we sorted it [Mourinho's exit] that night," Kenyon said on the High Performance podcast .

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Chelsea's early achievements under Abramovich were founded on what Kenyon calls a 'holy trinity' involving himself, Mourinho and the owner - three individuals united in vision and decision-making. However, as Abramovich's knowledge of football grew, so did his involvement.

"The first time I saw Roman, he knew nothing about football. Two years in, he knew a lot. So he started to have an opinion," Kenyon said.

"He's an incredibly smart person... I think he became the best owner in Premier League football and he certainly became the most knowledgeable. He was interested in it, he watched it, he came to games. He got really into it. But as a consequence of that, he started to have an opinion.

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"Then these things start to creep in in terms of, we'd win 1-0, [but Abramovich would insist] we should have won 3-0. Jose was the best coach in the world at that time... so it ended early, that's the reality.

"It wasn't that he got fired. Jose came to me at a cinema launch, we'd done a Chelsea film, and he said, 'Pete, get me out of here will you?' And we sorted it that night."

Kenyon, who spent six years at Stamford Bridge, insists he holds no regrets about Mourinho's departure, feeling the partnership had simply run its natural course.

"If you look at Jose's career, he never stays 10 years. He's a builder, he's dynamic, he's got his own style which is not easy and that's all great. But it was sort of coming to an end and I think the three of us all saw it.

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"It didn't happen on that night... there wasn't one event, there wasn't an explosion or a big argument, there was just a gradual changing of the style that Roman wanted... it started off as explanatory, then it started to become confrontational, 'What are you asking me that for? We got three points.'

"Jose and I are really good friends. Him and Roman are really good friends. Jose went on to do great things after Chelsea. We went on to win as Chelsea [in Mourinho's absence]. So I think it ran its course."

After successful periods with Inter Milan and Real Madrid , Mourinho made a return to Chelsea in 2013. He led the club to another Premier League title in the 2014/15 season before once again exiting midway through the next campaign, in similarly sudden fashion.

He later took charge of Manchester United and Tottenham , but his legacy at Stamford Bridge remains unparalleled. His first stint in west London - where he transformed Chelsea into a European giant and one of the Premier League's most dominant teams - stands as one of the most influential managerial periods in modern football history.

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Chelsea's 2004/05 Premier League victory - their first league championship in 50 years - was notable not only for ending a long wait but for redefining what dominance looked like. They set a record points total at the time and conceded only 15 goals throughout the season, a defensive landmark that, to this day, looks unbeatable.

"When we got Jose, from day one... he made them [Chelsea's players] all bigger than what they were," Kenyon said. "The way he talked about them, the way he was going to get them to play, the role they were playing in building Chelsea to be a big European team.

" Frank Lampard , John Terry , Joe Cole, these guys physically grew. And at that point, I knew we'd made the right decision [to hire him]. Man management ability... he could get these guys walking through walls, utter belief.

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