Mourinho deserves Chelsea sacking, says Richard Buxton

Jose Mourinho and Chelsea have reached the point of no return, again.

This time, there is simply no turning back. The Special One left Stamford Bridge yesterday under a cloud for his second, and surely, last time.

Sacking the fallen English Premier League champions' 10th manager in 11 years was not a decision taken lightly by owner Roman Abramovich.

His loyalty and perseverance had been tested to its maxim by a man who remains the most successful in the club's history.

Mourinho's identity and ambitions once defined Chelsea's.

It was the reason Abramovich became notoriously impatient with those who succeeded the Portuguese before he made a long-awaited homecoming little over two-and-a-half years ago.

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That the ruthless Russian allowed him to drag Chelsea to within a point of the EPL relegation zone at this season's midway point before firing the managerial bullet indicates just how much time Mourinho was afforded compared to some of his illustrious predecessors.

They included World Cup winners, serial Champions League collectors, coaching wunderkind, former heroes and old adversaries.

Yet none of them could hold a candle to the man who delivered the EPL title back to Stamford Bridge for the first time in five years last season.

Memories of John Terry lifting the trophy aloft on an overcast spring afternoon last May appear as ominous in hindsight as it was unceremonious.

From the second Chelsea's status as champions of England was confirmed, the writing was always on the wall for Mourinho.

Once again, largely of his own doing, he bows out in the season after a landmark triumph; alienating and offending seemingly everybody in his path. Failure to land key transfer targets will be among his inevitable citations.

Offloading Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne, both excelling at Everton and Manchester City respectively, was a far more damning case against both Mourinho's judgment and approach.

BETRAYAL

Those allowed to remain in the Chelsea dressing room had become disillusioned long before he accused his players of "betrayal" following Monday's defeat by Leicester City, now sitting in his side's once-rightful throne.

So often from positions of mid-season adversity, Chelsea have found salvation from Abramovich's ruthlessness.

In the wake of Mourinho's original departure in 2007, they reached the Champions League final.

They went one better and won it after Andre Villas-Boas, his protege, was jettisoned, five years later.

Success in the Europa League with Mourinho's enemy Rafael Benitez preceded his return.

Guus Hiddink, expected to take the reins for the remainder of the season, is no stranger to steering the Blues away from the current choppy waters.

The Dutchman recorded an FA Cup triumph from a similar position, following Luiz Felipe Scolari's departure in 2009.

Putting a brave face on proceedings would transform a campaign of failure into something of success.

It would, however, be merely placing a sticky plaster over the fractious wound left by Mourinho's second whirlwind.

The aftershocks of that volatility will last far longer than his self-appointed nickname.

He is now the Jobless One, no more the Special One.