Chelsea FC

José Mourinho: Double League Champions (2004-2007)
2004-05 was the most successful season in the history of Chelsea Football Club. After a slow start to the league season, scoring eight goals in their first nine games and trailing leaders Arsenal by five points, Chelsea's title campaign gradually picked up momentum, driven by the high-scoring Frank Lampard and the return from injury of brilliant young Dutch winger Arjen Robben - with the latter in the side, Chelsea both won more and scored more. They topped the table after a win against Everton in November 2004 and never relinquished their lead, losing only one league game all season and winning a record 29, gaining a record 95 points in the process. A record-breaking defence, led by captain John Terry, the versatile William Gallas, midfield linchpin Claude Makélélé and talented goalkeeper Petr Čech, provided the backbone of the side, conceding just 15 goals all season and keeping 25 clean sheets while Čech went a Premiership-record 1025 minutes without conceding a goal. Chelsea eventually secured the title with a 2-0 away win at Bolton Wanderers thanks to two goals from Lampard, almost fifty years to the day since they had won their last league title. Winning the league completed a domestic double for the club, since Chelsea had already won the League Cup in February after a thrilling 3-2 win over Liverpool in the final at the Millennium Stadium.
In the Champions League, Chelsea coasted through the group stages, qualifying for the knockout phase with two games to spare, and were drawn against FC Barcelona, one of the strongest sides in Europe. In the first leg at the Nou Camp, Chelsea took a 1-0 lead but had Didier Drogba controversially sent-off in the second half with Chelsea still ahead, and the Catalans eventually won 2-1. Mourinho claimed that Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard had spoken to referee Anders Frisk at half-time - a claim later proved correct - and that the result had been "adulterated". After receiving death threats from Chelsea fans, Frisk retired and Mourinho received a two-match touchline ban for bringing the game into disrepute. Chelsea won a pulsating return leg 4-2 at Stamford Bridge, with John Terry heading in a controversial winner to send them through. In the quarter-finals, a 4-2 home win over German champions Bayern Munich and a 3-2 loss in Germany were enough to ensure passage through to the semi-finals, where they faced Liverpool. Following a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool went 1-0 up at Anfield thanks to a disputed goal from Luis Garcia and Chelsea were unable to break down a resilient defence, thus missing out on the chance of a treble.
A year later Chelsea retained their league title, setting more records in the process. Winning their first nine games, the side emphatically set the pace in the Premiership - including a 4-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield - and at one stage were 18 points ahead of nearest rivals Manchester United. Following a late-season blip, and with United on a run of nine consecutive wins, the points gap was closed to seven points as Chelsea went into a key match with West Ham United. A goal down after ten minutes and a man down after 17 following Maniche's sending off, the side bounced back to win 4-1 and maintain the gap. The title was eventually secured with a 3-0 win over United at Stamford Bridge. They became the first London club to win back-to-back league titles since the 1930s, and only the fifth side to do so since the Second World War. They also set the record for the most clean sheets (six) from the start of the season and equalled the best home record for a top division team since Newcastle United in 1906-07 (18 wins and 1 draw from 19 games). In the cups, however, there was less success as they were knocked out of the Champions League by FC Barcelona and the FA Cup semi-final by Liverpool.
The 2006-07 season saw Chelsea relinquish the Premier League trophy to Manchester United after remaining second in the league for the majority of the season. The club were still in the running to achieve an unprecedented quadruple at the end of April, and played all but one of the maximum 63 possible games at the start of the season. They won the League Cup by beating Arsenal 2-1 in the last ever English cup final at the Millennium Stadium, and beat United 1-0 in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium; Chelsea were also the last team to win it at the old Wembley. They reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, only to be knocked out again by Liverpool, this time in a penalty shoot-out.
On 20 September 2007, it was announced that Mourinho had left Chelsea by "mutual consent"following several months of well-documented friction between Mourinho and Abramovich. Shortly afterwards Avram Grant, who had been appointed Chelsea's director of football on 8 July 2007, was announced as Mourinho's successor with Steve Clarke as his assistant. The effect of this change upon the Chelsea players was evident, with them losing to the champions Manchester United 2-0 on 23 September.