Meet the board: Abramovich’s team will have the final say on Mourinho

Chelsea are reportedly considering Juande Ramos as a replacement for Jose Mourinho, with the former short-term Tottenham and Real Madrid manager being pegged as an interim manager for the club if they choose to sack to sack their current manager.

Last week’s win over Porto, which sealed as place in the last-16 of the Champions League, also bought him more time.

Though settling the compensation may not be a problem for the Chelsea owner, it is reported to be one of the reasons for his hesitation to sack the embattled manager.

“Some of them need to rethink how the way they live Chelsea, they live football, they live their job”, Mourinho said on Chelsea TV.

“We will all have to take our responsibility”.

“We must always be at the top of our games, even when it’s not, and the behaviour has to be better than what we are seeing right now from every single Chelsea player”.

“Last season was fantastic, this season has been tough, but we’re looking to turn that around”.

He told a French radio station, “It’s best for me to stay until the end of the season”. With Leicester now sat top of the Premier League there were rumours that some of the bigger clubs were considering a January move for the player.

Chelsea’s dismal Premier League season is beginning to take its toll on the dressing room after reports of a rift between the players emerged on Wednesday, with Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas appearing to bear the brunt of the criticism. There is enough time to achieve it, but we must start now.

Fabregas was joined by former Arsenal team-mate and Sky Sports pundit Thierry Henry – the pair have more than 15 million combined Facebook fans between them. “I worked four days on this match, I prepared everything related to the opponent, I identified four movements where they score nearly every one of their goals”, Mourinho is quoted on Telegraph as saying.

“I accept we are around the relegation zone, I don’t accept we are in a relegation battle”, added Mourinho.

“I put that target at the beginning of the season”.

“They have to feel “I am not the player of the season, not the World champion, not the Premier League champion”.