José Mourinho – how the women of Britain will mourn his passing from Stamford Bridge. Blue is the colour and blue is the mood over the disappearance from the public scene of a very handsome man who succeeded in looking supremely elegant in the usually uninspiring combination of an adidas tracksuit and stubble, and was able to make quite a good joke in a language that was not his own. The recent surreal witticism about Waitrose eggs and the quality of players is just one example of his way with words.

There will be considerable nostalgia for his ability to pout moodily without looking in the least preposterous. In short – and this is not a reference to any lack of stature; he is around 5ft 9in tall – he represents a lot of what women like in a man. Cute, confident, authoritative, willing to take the flak for his players when success is elusive, not ashamed of owning a Yorkshire terrier and familiar with the different types of eggs on sale in supermarkets.

He represented the civilising force that the often-criticised international invasion has brought to British football. This has made many women who were not natural soccer enthusiasts feel more at home with the game and understand the obsessional interest of their sons and husbands. For this the umpteenth reason – and I will get round to the hair – we will remember the outgoing Chelsea manager as the “Special One”, the nick-mame he coined for himself in his characteristically arrogant style. Plenty of cheek, always a good thing in a man.

Other sterling Mourinho qualities include his very evident attachment to Tami, his wife who was his childhood sweetheart, and their two children, José Jnr and Matilde. His ability to pick an impeccable overcoat was another supreme strength. The “lucky” black Armani cashmere coat he sported during his first season sold at auction in 2005 for £22,000.

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Background

• Blue is colour, total chaos the game

• No special side to Grant

• Shoot-out at the Bridge goes to Abramovich

• Grant's job under threat from lack of Uefa licence

Background

• Ferguson keeps Chelsea under pressure

• California dreamin’ in bid to lure Mourinho

• Machiavellian manager will not remain on shelf

• Chelsea could become Southern Rock

Background

• Ferguson upset by 'relieved' Mourinho's exit

• What did Roman’s magician ever do for us ...?

• How Jose made the game more beautiful

Multimedia

• Who needs Mourinho - TheGame online

• Fanzine Fanzone

• Jose Mourinho video highlights

Multimedia

• Pictures: Chelsea, the Mourinho years

But would anyone else have been able to wear it with the same mixture of dignity and assertiveness as Mourinho when he strode down the side of the pitch to remonstrate with a recalcitrant linesman, or when he would maintain in a TV interview that a miserable performance in an important match was somehow a triumph? The drawbacks of a diamond, or any other formation on the pitch, seemed to recede as you pondered the length of his sleeves – a little longer than a British man would prefer, but absolutely the right length for style. The traditional manager’s coat was a tan-coloured vicuña number, the buttons straining over an ample stomach.

Mourinho, although a less than successful player himself at the small clubs where he started his career, looks as if he trains almost as hard as John Terry, Frank Lampard and the rest.

With Mourinho, it always comes back to the clothes. Even at this week’s lacklustre Champions League match against Rosenborg, Mourinho looked defiantly well turned out. It is possible to speculate that some of the antagonism between Mourinho and Roman Abramovich, the club’s owner, arose from Mourinho’s irritation over the oligarch’s lack of flair with casual clothing. Maybe a trip together to some of Mourinho’s favourite stores, such as Hugo Boss, could have helped to soothe the tensions.

Maybe also he should have spent a little more time on tactics and increasing the goal tally in matches than on detailing the precise shade of chocolate brown of the suede boots to go with the Chelsea team’s new official Armani suit. But I think his female fans will forgive him this managerial lapse.

When I canvassed opinion yesterday about Mourinho, usually matter-of-fact women sighed and mentioned such attributes as his wild but very attractive gesticulating on the touchline (“so masterful, so Latino”) and his crisp, springy, expertly cut dark hair, now turning “gorgeously grey – I wish my husband could find a hairdresser like José’s”.

It also revealed that Mourinho’s effect on women has left one legacy: he may just have made some of our men a bit better dressed. As one woman put it: “The one thing that I will miss is his sartorial influence on men. I’m sure that it is in no small part thanks to him that there has been a marked improvement in the style of clothes evident at football matches, and that men in general seem to have realised that it is OK to care about tailoring. For instance, my boyfriend has in the past said: ‘Do I look like Mourinho in this?’ when trying on clothes. Football is clearly losing a credible style icon.” The woman then started to sniff a bit. Does José know how he will be missed? I suspect so.