It was hard saying goodbye to Mourinho. He had, after all, done so much for Chelsea, bringing endless joy to the supporters and overseeing our transformation into one of the world’s top clubs.
For many of us, it felt like he had been betrayed by the players and the board when he left at the beginning of the year. But what a difference an 11-game winning streak makes.
With each passing week under Conte, the decision to get rid of the ‘Special-One’ looks increasingly like the right one. The Conte ‘era’ has only just dawned and it would be premature to make any predictions; this streak may not go on forever and we may not win the title.
Nonetheless, something big is happening; Chelsea are becoming likeable and it feels good.
We all enjoyed being hated. We enjoyed the jibes from other fans about ‘buying’ the title and having no history. We loved watching the likes of Didier Drogba and John Terry get under the skin of the opposition and we relished the attacks from the purists in the press who criticised our pragmatic ‘bus-parking’ although it must be said, this is a common misconception of Chelsea’s play.
Often, Mourinho’s teams played electrifying football. Mourinho’s belligerent style, his arrogance and his genius, instilled a confidence in the players and fans alike.
Such confidence had never been experienced before by Chelsea fans – it was Mourinho who gave it to us. A mentality grew around the club. An impenetrable bubble formed which meant that the criticisms from the football intelligentsia and the sanctions from the various regulatory bodies washed over us.
In fact, they even became enjoyable. They became badges of honour; a middle-finger up to everyone else as we marched on to another trophy.
But things changed so quickly. Whereas before Mourinho’s arrogant and combative style was softened by his charm and genius (and perhaps most importantly his results), the last year of his Chelsea career saw this façade fall away.
He became a shell of his former self. He was hurt and prickly with the press and the public. His swagger became a limp and he seemed isolated from both the players and the club.
It was heart-breaking for it to end the way that it did but it needed to end. He will always be a legend and when the dust has settled he will no doubt be remembered as the fresh-faced revolutionary of the mid-2000s rather than the paranoid despot of 2016. With him gone, however, the future looks brighter.
The new look Chelsea could not be more different from the one that Mourinho left behind. Under Conte, we are playing clever, modern football built on an exciting 3-4-3. It is rather telling that several other Premier League teams have tried to copy Chelsea’s system but so far none have been successful.
More important than the football though is the atmosphere Conte has built. From the manager himself through to the back-room staff everyone is on the same page and fighting for one another. His recent and well-documented visit to the staff Christmas party demonstrates the kind of camaraderie Conte wishes to cultivate.
Many friends, of varying allegiances, have told me that they can’t help but admire Conte’s Chelsea. One even admitted, with a hint of sadness, “I don’t hate Chelsea like I used to”.
Remarkably, Chelsea are becoming likeable and we have Conte to thank for this. He is the very antithesis of Mourinho. In the press conferences, Conte is humble, polite and funny and on the pitch, he is well behaved and enthusiastic; if Conte were to ever get sent to the stands it would be for celebrating too passionately.
With each game we are winning over both the football elite and the average fan. Being hated was fun, but being liked feels so much better, provided, of course, we keep on winning.
