Steve Sidwell has revealed Chelsea players were so upset when Jose Mourinho was sacked in 2007 that several stars were ‘crying on the floor’ when they were told of his dismissal.
Mourinho won Chelsea’s first league title in 50 years in his first spell at Stamford Bridge, but he left after a breakdown in his relationship with club owner Roman Abramovich.
Sidwell was signed by Mourinho just months before his departure and the former Blue explained how gutted he and his team-mates were to see the Portuguese go – particularly John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba.
‘I never felt that tension or thought he was in trouble,’ he told the Athletic.
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‘There were a few games before, you could see things in the press and it really bubbled up. But you didn’t feel it on the inside.
‘The players were all united, no one was turning against him, he hadn’t lost the dressing room.
‘The day he went, I was driving my wife to the airport and the news came on the radio. I just thought, “Sh*t, he’s gone. What’s going to happen?”
‘We were then all called into a meeting at Cobham.
‘It was awkward when Jose came to say his goodbyes. You could have heard a pin drop. It felt like someone had died.
‘When you see strong characters like Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and John Terry either crying on the floor or certainly welling up… I got upset as well. It was really weird.
‘I called him later in the day to thank him for bringing me to Chelsea and to express regret that we didn’t work together for longer.
‘He told me he had no doubts I would go on to have a great career, which was nice of him.
‘Every time I’ve seen him since then, through football or socially, he’s been top drawer.’
Sidwell would leave the club after just a year, while Mourinho would be welcomed back as manager in 2013 and he would win another league title.
But another successful spell ended on sour note when Chelsea axed Mourinho in December 2015, just five months after he signed a four-year deal and seven months after he lifted the Premier League title.
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