Divisions emerged in the dressing room during the last few months of Mourinho’s reign at his previous club Real Madrid and he seems determined to avoid a repeat.

“If you are a top professional, if you are not a selfish person, if you put the club in front of yourself and if you are here to work 100 percent for me, for your fellow players and for the club, we will have a wonderful relationship,” he told reporters.

“If you are selfish, if you don’t care about the club, don’t care about the fans, don’t care about the image… we are in big trouble.

“Sometimes you have groups that adapt to this in a very easy way. Sometimes you have groups that this becomes like a doctrine and everything is easy,” said Mourinho.

“Sometimes you have a couple of guys who are not so keen to accept these kind of rules and this is where you have some problematic relationships.”

Mourinho is one of eight Chelsea managers to have been appointed since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

The Portuguese’s close friend Alex Ferguson, who retired last month following a remarkable 26-year spell as Manchester United boss, once said that a regular turnover of managers gave more power to the players.

“What Sir Alex says in relation to English football is doctrine, it’s the bible,” said Mourinho.

“If he says that with so many years of experience then I think he is correct. Does it relate to this club? I don’t know.”

Mourinho has signed a four-year contract with Chelsea and he believes stability is important to the Europa League winners especially as they have started to invest in youth in the last year or two.

“Last season this club won the trophy I don’t want to win,” he said. “I won it with Porto before I won the 2004 Champions League and that is the way it should be done, you win first the Europa League and after you win the Champions League.

“I want to go back to always playing in the Champions League and playing in it without risk.

“Two seasons ago Chelsea had risk, if we hadn’t won the 2012 Champions League we wouldn’t have played in it the following season because we finished sixth,” said Mourinho.

“This season we also had risk until the last match… so we need to go back to this stability. Stability is important for the development of the young players, for the club, the fan base, for the economic situation that is more and more important with FFP (Financial Fair Play).

“I think the owner and board, they want very, very much this stability.”

(Editing by Ken Ferris)

Divisions emerged in the dressing room during the last few months of Mourinho’s reign at his previous club Real Madrid and he seems determined to avoid a repeat.

“If you are a top professional, if you are not a selfish person, if you put the club in front of yourself and if you are here to work 100 percent for me, for your fellow players and for the club, we will have a wonderful relationship,” he told reporters.

“If you are selfish, if you don’t care about the club, don’t care about the fans, don’t care about the image… we are in big trouble.

“Sometimes you have groups that adapt to this in a very easy way. Sometimes you have groups that this becomes like a doctrine and everything is easy,” said Mourinho.

“Sometimes you have a couple of guys who are not so keen to accept these kind of rules and this is where you have some problematic relationships.”

Mourinho is one of eight Chelsea managers to have been appointed since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.

The Portuguese’s close friend Alex Ferguson, who retired last month following a remarkable 26-year spell as Manchester United boss, once said that a regular turnover of managers gave more power to the players.

“What Sir Alex says in relation to English football is doctrine, it’s the bible,” said Mourinho.

“If he says that with so many years of experience then I think he is correct. Does it relate to this club? I don’t know.”

Mourinho has signed a four-year contract with Chelsea and he believes stability is important to the Europa League winners especially as they have started to invest in youth in the last year or two.

“Last season this club won the trophy I don’t want to win,” he said. “I won it with Porto before I won the 2004 Champions League and that is the way it should be done, you win first the Europa League and after you win the Champions League.

“I want to go back to always playing in the Champions League and playing in it without risk.

“Two seasons ago Chelsea had risk, if we hadn’t won the 2012 Champions League we wouldn’t have played in it the following season because we finished sixth,” said Mourinho.

“This season we also had risk until the last match… so we need to go back to this stability. Stability is important for the development of the young players, for the club, the fan base, for the economic situation that is more and more important with FFP (Financial Fair Play).

“I think the owner and board, they want very, very much this stability.” (Editing by Ken Ferris)

Mourinho said he was in complete control of all playing matters between 2004-07 and also gave an insight into the behind-the-scenes activity that led to the signing of AC Milan striker Shevchenko for 30 million pounds ($47.04 million).

“The owner never, never during my time did he try to interfere in the basic things of the manager,” the 50-year-old Portuguese told reporters.

“The basic things are training sessions, team selection, profile of the players you want to bring.”

Mourinho, who signed a four-year contract earlier this month to return to Chelsea, said the Shevchenko transfer was a good example of how he and the billionaire owner used to work in tandem in his previous three-and-a-half-year stint at Stamford Bridge.

“We wanted to buy Samuel Eto’o from Barcelona,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager. “Why? Because he was the only player I could play with Didier Drogba, changing the system to two strikers.

“The boss (Abramovich) did everything to bring Eto’o. In the end Barcelona said ‘we don’t sell, forget it’.

“After that we went to other options and got to Shevchenko, and I was happy with Shevchenko,” Mourinho said.

“When you buy 20 kids, not 20 kids will go to the first team, and even with the top dogs when you pay 30, 40, 50 or 60 million sometimes it just doesn’t work and it doesn’t mean you or the club made a mistake.”

Ukrainian international Shevchenko was one of the finest strikers in world football but he flopped at Chelsea and was never able to recapture the form that won him the 2004 European Footballer of the Year award.

DIFFICULT AREA

Looking forward, Mourinho said he was happy to work with sporting director Michael Emenalo over incoming transfers.

“There are many things in a manager’s job you cannot do, or if you do, you don’t do it properly,” Mourinho said. “Or if you do, it means you are losing your influence in other areas that become more and more important.

“So it’s important you have around you some structures that can deliver the best possible information. The scouting area is a very difficult area for a person like me.

“I cannot travel because I have more important things to do inside the club. I also cannot travel because everybody knows I’m travelling, everybody knows who I am, everybody knows the player I’m looking for.

“Michael is working well. The club are doing good work there and Michael and his staff will provide me with the kind of information I need.”

Mourinho also scotched the idea Europa League winners Chelsea were his second-choice club behind Premier League champions Manchester United, who decided to appoint Everton manager David Moyes last month when Alex Ferguson announced he was retiring.

“I would turn down everyone in the world for Chelsea,” he said, before adding that he was aware a long time ago that Ferguson was planning to quit.

“I knew Ferguson was retiring many months ago…and I’m so happy with this trust because it’s big news for the world. I can imagine just a very close circle around him knew that, and it was a big responsibility for me to know.

“I was always afraid, ‘please don’t let the news come out’, because I knew I’m one of the guys that knows. Why do I know that? I know because we are friends,” Mourinho said.

“He is also my friend to know that the club I wanted to coach in England is Chelsea. From an emotional point of view I feel I’m coming back – it’s my dugout, my stadium, my dressing room, my Cobham (training ground) and my office.”

($1 = 0.6377 British pounds)

(Editing by Stephen Wood)

Mourinho said he was in complete control of all playing matters between 2004-07 and also gave an insight into the behind-the-scenes activity that led to the signing of AC Milan striker Shevchenko for 30 million pounds ($47.04 million).

“The owner never, never during my time did he try to interfere in the basic things of the manager,” the 50-year-old Portuguese told reporters.

“The basic things are training sessions, team selection, profile of the players you want to bring.”

Mourinho, who signed a four-year contract earlier this month to return to Chelsea, said the Shevchenko transfer was a good example of how he and the billionaire owner used to work in tandem in his previous three-and-a-half-year stint at Stamford Bridge.

“We wanted to buy Samuel Eto’o from Barcelona,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager. “Why? Because he was the only player I could play with Didier Drogba, changing the system to two strikers.

“The boss (Abramovich) did everything to bring Eto’o. In the end Barcelona said ‘we don’t sell, forget it’.

“After that we went to other options and got to Shevchenko, and I was happy with Shevchenko,” Mourinho said.

“When you buy 20 kids, not 20 kids will go to the first team, and even with the top dogs when you pay 30, 40, 50 or 60 million sometimes it just doesn’t work and it doesn’t mean you or the club made a mistake.”

Ukrainian international Shevchenko was one of the finest strikers in world football but he flopped at Chelsea and was never able to recapture the form that won him the 2004 European Footballer of the Year award.

DIFFICULT AREA

Looking forward, Mourinho said he was happy to work with sporting director Michael Emenalo over incoming transfers.

“There are many things in a manager’s job you cannot do, or if you do, you don’t do it properly,” Mourinho said. “Or if you do, it means you are losing your influence in other areas that become more and more important.

“So it’s important you have around you some structures that can deliver the best possible information. The scouting area is a very difficult area for a person like me.

“I cannot travel because I have more important things to do inside the club. I also cannot travel because everybody knows I’m travelling, everybody knows who I am, everybody knows the player I’m looking for.

“Michael is working well. The club are doing good work there and Michael and his staff will provide me with the kind of information I need.”

Mourinho also scotched the idea Europa League winners Chelsea were his second-choice club behind Premier League champions Manchester United, who decided to appoint Everton manager David Moyes last month when Alex Ferguson announced he was retiring.

“I would turn down everyone in the world for Chelsea,” he said, before adding that he was aware a long time ago that Ferguson was planning to quit.

“I knew Ferguson was retiring many months ago…and I’m so happy with this trust because it’s big news for the world. I can imagine just a very close circle around him knew that, and it was a big responsibility for me to know.

“I was always afraid, ‘please don’t let the news come out’, because I knew I’m one of the guys that knows. Why do I know that? I know because we are friends,” Mourinho said.

“He is also my friend to know that the club I wanted to coach in England is Chelsea. From an emotional point of view I feel I’m coming back – it’s my dugout, my stadium, my dressing room, my Cobham (training ground) and my office.”

($1 = 0.6377 British pounds) (Editing by Stephen Wood)

Since his Stamford Bridge comeback was rubber-stamped last week, there has been a barrage of media speculation on the future of John Terry, Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Juan Mata among others.

“I have to start working with the players, even those I’ve already worked with,” Mourinho told reporters after going back to the London club he first managed from 2004 to 2007. “Time changes people, changes players, changes qualities.

“Even that group of five or six boys from my time here before, I need to meet them again. The others? I think I know them because I watch them on TV 20 times every season, minimum, but I don’t know them.

“That’s the first part of this job. It’s not to arrive and say, ‘Mr Abramovich and members of the board, I need some more money with a lot of zeros, I need to change half the team, move this one and buy that one’,” added Mourinho.

“No, I need to work with the players and not commit injustice. I need to give them a chance, be fair with them. After that we’ll have time to make decisions.”

Captain Terry was relegated to fourth-choice centre half last season and while Mourinho offered no guarantees of regular starts, he did say the 32-year-old would remain club skipper.

“John is the club captain,” he said. “I am more than happy with that, so are the fans, so I think he has to be the club captain.”

Mourinho refused to criticise his predecessor, Chelsea’s former interim manager Rafa Benitez, over his handling of Terry or other decisions.

“One of my good qualities – I also have some bad ones – is that I don’t speak about a club when I leave it and when I arrive at one I don’t like to comment on what happened before me,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager.

“For me, not one word about Benitez’s decisions either on John or another player. What I can say is about the future and the future is to meet John in the first week of July and try to get the best out of him.

“I know what he can give. Let’s try to make him a very important player that he couldn’t be last season.”

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel all played under Mourinho in his first stint at Stamford Bridge but the Portuguese said none of them would be granted special treatment.

“It’s important to tell you, not them because they know, there’s no privileges for them,” said the manager. “They know my nature, they don’t have an advantage in relation to the others.

“We have ambitions to add a couple of new players to improve the squad, increase the competitiveness, but my biggest job at the moment is the all-round improvement of the squad.

“Chelsea have done very well to get some young boys in with great potential, with great ability, with great futures, and I look forward to trying to improve them,” added Mourinho.

“I’m more than happy to follow this philosophy the club has. My area is the football area but more and more you have to be deeply connected with the other areas of a club and I think the club and I have the same kind of vision.”

Mourinho has been involved in a series of on and off the field incidents during his career but he said he returns to Chelsea as a calmer, more mature individual.

“Football is an industry that demands a lot and you learn a lot every day,” he added. “Back in 2000 when I was managing for the first time, I thought I knew everything.

“After 13 years you realise you knew nothing. At 50, I think I’m still very young as a manager and I think I am at the beginning of a new period.

“Do I have a different personality? For sure, no, but will I have a different approach and way of looking at things? I’m the same personality, I have the same nature, but a different perspective.”

(Editing by Sonia Oxley)

Since his Stamford Bridge comeback was rubber-stamped last week, there has been a barrage of media speculation on the future of John Terry, Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Juan Mata among others.

“I have to start working with the players, even those I’ve already worked with,” Mourinho told reporters after going back to the London club he first managed from 2004 to 2007. “Time changes people, changes players, changes qualities.

“Even that group of five or six boys from my time here before, I need to meet them again. The others? I think I know them because I watch them on TV 20 times every season, minimum, but I don’t know them.

“That’s the first part of this job. It’s not to arrive and say, ‘Mr Abramovich and members of the board, I need some more money with a lot of zeros, I need to change half the team, move this one and buy that one’,” added Mourinho.

“No, I need to work with the players and not commit injustice. I need to give them a chance, be fair with them. After that we’ll have time to make decisions.”

Captain Terry was relegated to fourth-choice centre half last season and while Mourinho offered no guarantees of regular starts, he did say the 32-year-old would remain club skipper.

“John is the club captain,” he said. “I am more than happy with that, so are the fans, so I think he has to be the club captain.”

Mourinho refused to criticise his predecessor, Chelsea’s former interim manager Rafa Benitez, over his handling of Terry or other decisions.

“One of my good qualities – I also have some bad ones – is that I don’t speak about a club when I leave it and when I arrive at one I don’t like to comment on what happened before me,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager.

“For me, not one word about Benitez’s decisions either on John or another player. What I can say is about the future and the future is to meet John in the first week of July and try to get the best out of him.

“I know what he can give. Let’s try to make him a very important player that he couldn’t be last season.”

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel all played under Mourinho in his first stint at Stamford Bridge but the Portuguese said none of them would be granted special treatment.

“It’s important to tell you, not them because they know, there’s no privileges for them,” said the manager. “They know my nature, they don’t have an advantage in relation to the others.

“We have ambitions to add a couple of new players to improve the squad, increase the competitiveness, but my biggest job at the moment is the all-round improvement of the squad.

“Chelsea have done very well to get some young boys in with great potential, with great ability, with great futures, and I look forward to trying to improve them,” added Mourinho.

“I’m more than happy to follow this philosophy the club has. My area is the football area but more and more you have to be deeply connected with the other areas of a club and I think the club and I have the same kind of vision.”

Mourinho has been involved in a series of on and off the field incidents during his career but he said he returns to Chelsea as a calmer, more mature individual.

“Football is an industry that demands a lot and you learn a lot every day,” he added. “Back in 2000 when I was managing for the first time, I thought I knew everything.

“After 13 years you realise you knew nothing. At 50, I think I’m still very young as a manager and I think I am at the beginning of a new period.

“Do I have a different personality? For sure, no, but will I have a different approach and way of looking at things? I’m the same personality, I have the same nature, but a different perspective.” (Editing by Sonia Oxley)

Mourinho took an entirely different approach when he picked up the reins at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 2004, splashing out a fortune on ready-made talent such as Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.

Chelsea, though, have made a big investment in youth in the last year or two, bringing in players like Eden Hazard, Oscar, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne and the new manager is relishing the prospect of working with the younger players.

“It’s a different situation but it’s something I want to live,” Mourinho told his first news conference since signing a four-year contract. “I haven’t changed my nature and I won’t accept development without trying to win – ever.

“It’s more difficult to keep trying to win and trying to be successful while at the same time developing young players and giving an identity to the team – but it’s something I want at this stage of my career.

“Titles I have, money I have, I need challenges. Nothing motivates me more than challenges. It’s about changing the club, I think, and the club thinks so too.”

Hazard and Oscar were regular starters last season as Chelsea won the Europa League and qualified for the Champions League by finishing third in the Premier League.

Striker Lukaku, winger De Bruyne and defender Tomas Kalas spent the season on loan, at West Bromwich Albion, Werder Bremen and Vitesse Arnhem respectively, but Mourinho hinted the trio would be brought straight back into the fold.

“Imagine if you bring back Lukaku, De Bruyne and perhaps Kalas,” said the 50-year-old manager. “Bring three guys back, that’s zero (spent) because the investment was made before.

“We want to go in this direction. The one or two we may buy are complements because the structure and philosophy is this.

“I’m more than happy to do that and to help these young guys grow up. Not build the team, because the team has a structure to it, but I want to help the team improve.”

BRASH FORECAST

Mourinho made a typically brash forecast when he joined Chelsea the first time, predicting the London club would win their first top-flight title in 50 years the very next season.

He was true to his promise, and also added a second successive Premier League championship in 2006, but this time he is being more circumspect.

“I don’t need anybody to push me to have that ambition,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto boss. “I’ve enough motivation and self-esteem myself.

“If we don’t do it but show an evolution in the first season, show we’re moving in the right direction, I think we’ll be champions in the second season.

“When you have this profile you can’t think the best will come next year. It has to come in two, three, four, five or six years’ time.”

Mourinho also said Fernando Torres could still have a future at the club despite often flattering to deceive since the Spain striker left Liverpool two-and-a-half years ago for a British record transfer fee of 50 million pounds.

“He is a Chelsea player with a contract and is more than happy to stay and work hard,” the manager said. “I think he deserves respect from me, especially, and the club.

“That respect starts by speaking with him face to face after the Confederations Cup (in Brazil this month) and deciding what is best for all of us. If the best for all of us is for Fernando to stay, let’s help him and try and get the best out of him.”

Mourinho said he was not in the least bit concerned that Premier League winners Manchester United or 2012 champions Manchester City had not come calling for him following the retirement of Alex Ferguson and the sacking of Roberto Mancini.

“I am where I want to be, I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he added.

“It’s my job, the job I want, a job I was offered and accepted immediately … the only thing that affects me is these glasses I wear – I need them to read the newspapers,” he laughed.

“After that I am happier than ever.”

(Editing by Sonia Oxley)

Mourinho took an entirely different approach when he picked up the reins at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 2004, splashing out a fortune on ready-made talent such as Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.

Chelsea, though, have made a big investment in youth in the last year or two, bringing in players like Eden Hazard, Oscar, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne and the new manager is relishing the prospect of working with the younger players.

“It’s a different situation but it’s something I want to live,” Mourinho told his first news conference since signing a four-year contract. “I haven’t changed my nature and I won’t accept development without trying to win – ever.

“It’s more difficult to keep trying to win and trying to be successful while at the same time developing young players and giving an identity to the team – but it’s something I want at this stage of my career.

“Titles I have, money I have, I need challenges. Nothing motivates me more than challenges. It’s about changing the club, I think, and the club thinks so too.”

Hazard and Oscar were regular starters last season as Chelsea won the Europa League and qualified for the Champions League by finishing third in the Premier League.

Striker Lukaku, winger De Bruyne and defender Tomas Kalas spent the season on loan, at West Bromwich Albion, Werder Bremen and Vitesse Arnhem respectively, but Mourinho hinted the trio would be brought straight back into the fold.

“Imagine if you bring back Lukaku, De Bruyne and perhaps Kalas,” said the 50-year-old manager. “Bring three guys back, that’s zero (spent) because the investment was made before.

“We want to go in this direction. The one or two we may buy are complements because the structure and philosophy is this.

“I’m more than happy to do that and to help these young guys grow up. Not build the team, because the team has a structure to it, but I want to help the team improve.”

BRASH FORECAST

Mourinho made a typically brash forecast when he joined Chelsea the first time, predicting the London club would win their first top-flight title in 50 years the very next season.

He was true to his promise, and also added a second successive Premier League championship in 2006, but this time he is being more circumspect.

“I don’t need anybody to push me to have that ambition,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto boss. “I’ve enough motivation and self-esteem myself.

“If we don’t do it but show an evolution in the first season, show we’re moving in the right direction, I think we’ll be champions in the second season.

“When you have this profile you can’t think the best will come next year. It has to come in two, three, four, five or six years’ time.”

Mourinho also said Fernando Torres could still have a future at the club despite often flattering to deceive since the Spain striker left Liverpool two-and-a-half years ago for a British record transfer fee of 50 million pounds ($77.63 million).

“He is a Chelsea player with a contract and is more than happy to stay and work hard,” the manager said. “I think he deserves respect from me, especially, and the club.

“That respect starts by speaking with him face to face after the Confederations Cup (in Brazil this month) and deciding what is best for all of us. If the best for all of us is for Fernando to stay, let’s help him and try and get the best out of him.”

Mourinho said he was not in the least bit concerned that Premier League winners Manchester United or 2012 champions Manchester City had not come calling for him following the retirement of Alex Ferguson and the sacking of Roberto Mancini.

“I am where I want to be, I wouldn’t change it for anything,” he added.

“It’s my job, the job I want, a job I was offered and accepted immediately … the only thing that affects me is these glasses I wear – I need them to read the newspapers,” he laughed.

“After that I am happier than ever.” ($1 = 0.6441 British pounds) (Editing by Sonia Oxley)

Since his Stamford Bridge comeback was rubber-stamped last week, there has been a barrage of media speculation on the futures of John Terry, Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Juan Mata among others.

“I have to start working with the players, even those I’ve already worked with,” Mourinho told reporters after going back to the London club he first managed from 2004 to 2007. “Time changes people, changes players, changes qualities.

“Even that group of five or six boys from my time here before, I need to meet them again. The others? I think I know them because I watch them on TV 20 times every season, minimum, but I don’t know them.

“That’s the first part of this job. It’s not to arrive and say, ‘Mr Abramovich and members of the board, I need some more money with a lot of zeros, I need to change half the team, move this one and buy that one’,” added Mourinho.

“No, I need to work with the players and not commit injustice. I need to give them a chance, be fair with them. After that we’ll have time to make decisions.”

Captain Terry was relegated to fourth-choice centre half last season but Mourinho refused to criticise his predecessor, Chelsea’s former interim manager Rafa Benitez.

“One of my good qualities – I also have some bad ones – is that I don’t speak about a club when I leave it and when I arrive at one I don’t like to comment on what happened before me,” said the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto manager.

“For me, not one word about Benitez’s decisions either on John or another player. What I can say is about the future and the future is to meet John in the first week of July and try to get the best out of him.

“I know what he can give. Let’s try to make him a very important player that he couldn’t be last season.”

DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Terry, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel all played under Mourinho in his first stint at Stamford Bridge but the Portuguese said none of them would be granted special treatment.

“It’s important to tell you, not them because they know, there’s no privileges for them,” said the manager. “They know my nature, they don’t have an advantage in relation to the others.

“We have ambitions to add a couple of new players to improve the squad, increase the competitiveness, but my biggest job at the moment is the all-round improvement of the squad.

“Chelsea have done very well to get some young boys in with great potential, with great ability, with great futures, and I look forward to trying to improve them,” added Mourinho.

“I’m more than happy to follow this philosophy the club has. My area is the football area but more and more you have to be deeply connected with the other areas of a club and I think the club and I have the same kind of vision.”

Mourinho has been involved in a series of on and off the field incidents during his career but he said he returns to Chelsea as a calmer, more mature individual.

“Football is an industry that demands a lot and you learn a lot every day,” he added. “Back in 2000 when I was managing for the first time, I thought I knew everything.

“After 13 years you realise you knew nothing. At 50, I think I’m still very young as a manager and I think I am at the beginning of a new period.

“Do I have a different personality? For sure, no, but will I have a different approach and way of looking at things? I’m the same personality, I have the same nature, but a different perspective.”

(Editing by Sonia Oxley)

The outspoken Portuguese manager arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2004 amid a blaze of publicity, describing himself as ‘A champion, not one of the bottle’ and arrogantly forecasting the club’s first top-flight title for 50 years.

Nine years on there was no controversy, no brashness and no headline statements as Mourinho addressed the media for the first time since leaving Real Madrid to sign a four-year contract to return to Chelsea.

The 50-year-old’s news conference attracted 250 reporters from around the world, dozens of television crews and his arrival on stage was greeted by a hail of flashing camera bulbs.

Mourinho normally revels in the spotlight but on this occasion he was low-key, giving measured responses to questions and even suggesting the whole paraphernalia surrounding news conferences was something he had little time for.

“I don’t love this but it’s part of my job,” he told reporters. “I try to give you what you want but I cannot always give you a good line.

“I try to be honest and give you what you’re expecting from me but at this moment what I want to do is work. I’m humble, sometimes it doesn’t look like I am, but I am.”

When Mourinho arrived at Chelsea the first time, his mission was to transform a bunch of nearly men into winners and he did precisely that.

The Londoners lifted back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006 and although the Portuguese left under a cloud in 2007, they continued collecting trophy after trophy until finally reaching the ‘Holy Grail’ 13 months ago by winning the Champions League for the first time.

Mourinho did not make any bold predictions about the Champions League or Premier League on Monday, preferring to set his sights on more modest targets.

DIFFERENT PICTURE

“In 2004 Arsenal were the power,” said Mourinho who wore a light blue shirt and light grey tie under a charcoal grey suit.

“They had won the league without losing a game and were an absolutely fantastic team – now the picture is different.

“Manchester United are the champions, Manchester City were the champions in 2012 … you have Arsenal and Tottenham coming up and Liverpool with Brendan Rodgers will be up there for sure.

“This competition starts with everyone trying to finish in the top four, then the top three … then to try and win it. We go step by step.”

Mourinho smiled throughout, clearly delighted to be back at the club he said he had always loved.

“If I have to choose a nickname for this period I would choose ‘the Happy One’,” he declared. “Time flies, it seems like it was a couple of days but it was nine years ago when I first became manager.

“I have the same nature, I am the same person,” said the title-winning former Real and Inter Milan manager before adding he had the same heart and emotions.

“It is the first time I arrive at a club where I already love the club – before I had to build an emotional relationship and I only came to love the club a little later.”

It was widely reported his relationship with billionaire Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich broke down in 2007, a claim Mourinho rejected.

“I read and I kept listening I was fired, I was sacked,” he said. “That was not true. Many people didn’t believe it but it was by mutual agreement.

“At the time we thought it was best for both of us. Of course it was a sad moment but I don’t regret that decision.”

Since leaving Chelsea, Mourinho spent two years at Inter where he won two Serie A titles, the domestic cup and the Champions League before moving to Real where he won a La Liga title and a King’s Cup.

MORE STABILITY

The Portuguese has never stayed more than three years at one club but he hopes to at least see out his new deal with Chelsea.

“I’m prepared for that,” he said when asked if he wanted more stability in his career. “Before I wasn’t.

“I have a contract for four years. I hope to go to the last day of that. If the club then wants me to stay, I’ll be more than happy.”

Mourinho inherits a side that again qualified for the Champions League, after finishing third in the Premier League. They also won the Europa League but may need some restructuring if they are to overhaul United and second-placed City.

“I didn’t choose for my career a comfortable position because I’m returning to a house where I was happy and successful and where the fans love me,” he said.

“No. I’m coming with exactly the opposite perspective. I have more responsibility because of that. The expectations are higher because people know what I can deliver.”

(Editing by Ed Osmond)