"We are on top, but not because of the club’s financial power. We are in contention for a lot of trophies because of my hard work"

Mourinho February 2005

José Mourinho banked enough money yesterday to buy a half-decent yacht, a sunshine island with its own beach and the private jet to carry him there, but instead of counting his cash, he was talking about heading straight back to the dugout.

Tracked down to an hotel near Stamford Bridge, Mourinho was asked if he was planning a long holiday. “I’m going to enjoy my life, I’m going to wait for the telephone calls,” he told The Times. “I want to work.”

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You probably would not expect any other answer from a 44-year-old who has blazed with ambition since he took his first step in management, but otherwise it was an odd encounter on a strange day in West London.

A fitting farewell for the self-proclaimed Special One required either a screaming row or an open-top bus ride down the Kings Road with the outgoing Chelsea manager throwing his medals and his famous overcoat to tearful supporters. Perhaps both.

Instead, Mourinho was to be found enjoying a quiet lunch with his Portuguese backroom staff in the Wyndham Hotel in Chelsea Harbour, waiting for his agent to confirm that he was about £12 million richer in compensation. He may be unruly, sometimes outrageous, but not even Mourinho was going to jeopardise that sort of sum by speaking out of turn.

So while Chelsea drew up a statement that turned this parting of the ways into a sorrowful break-up, the man who had once appeared hell-bent on sticking up two fingers to every authority figure – including his billionaire boss – was going through the motions by shaking hands, smiling sweetly and putting his name to phrases such as “mutual consent”.

“What does that mean, José?” I asked him yesterday. To which he replied, laughing: “I don’t know. Go look it up in the dictionary.”

In the end, it felt like a platitudinous ending to a reign of mayhem during which Mourinho had flouted just about every rule going.

His next employer will know that he is high-maintenance, but there are few clubs who will not tolerate the tantrums in exchange for the trophies. Would Manchester United touch him? Could he play the stylish football expected at Old Trafford? It is an interesting thought, but Mourinho will not be waiting around for Sir Alex Ferguson to stand down.

He did confirm yesterday that, while he has spoken many times about working for the Portugal team before he ends his coaching career, he had no immediate international ambitions, despite the pressure on Luis Felipe Scolari.

When pressed on his next destination, Mourinho has most commonly talked about heading to Italy and Inter Milan offered him an escape route at the time of one of his many rows with the Chelsea hierarchy. Many would argue that Serie A would suit him, given that they cherish rather than scorn risk-free organisation in the birthplace of catenaccio. It is also the home of Machiavelli, who may be Mourinho’s role model.

A certainty is that, while it is hardly the time of year to be looking around for the biggest jobs in Europe, a man with four championships, a Uefa Cup and a Champions League in the past five seasons will not be short of interesting offers. And we are talking about more impressive suitors than Tottenham Hotspur.

He is a box-office signing, although that vanity, sadly, makes it unlikely that he will absorb the lessons from his time at Chelsea. If only he would show more trust in flair players, if only he would embrace what the Americans call the marquee signings. But, then, there is only one star in the Mourinho show.

We wait with fascination to see where he pops up, just as Chelsea will keep an eye on his ability to hold to a confidentiality agreement. Will Mourinho truly be able to resist a barb about Andriy Shevchenko being the chairman’s pet signing, a dig about replacing a European champion with a man who used to hang around like a spare part at Portsmouth? Will he be able to resist a pot-shot at the Russian kitchen cabinet that thought it knew more than the European Cup winner?

Chelsea will be expecting him to stick to the official script – but you know that we will be hearing from him again.

A fond farewell

Mourinho said an emotional goodbye in a statement last night

“I am very proud of my work in Chelsea Football Club and I think my decision in May 2004 to come to England was an excellent one. It was a beautiful and rich period of my career. I want to thank all Chelsea FC supporters for what I believe is a never-ending love story.

“I wish great success to the club, a club that will be forever connected to me for some historical moments. I wish the players happiness in football and in their family life.

“Finally on my wife’s and children’s behalf we thank the great professionalism of their schoolteachers and the beauty of so many friends.”