{"id":6767,"date":"2026-05-10T12:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T12:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6767"},"modified":"2026-05-10T12:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T12:56:06","slug":"the-best-move-the-club-could-make-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6767","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe best move the club could make now&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5165542\" data-slug-id=\"2780121\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chelsea icon Joe Cole has asked his former club to make a sensational move to bring back Jose Mourinho in what would be his third stint at the club. After parting ways with Liam Rosenior, the club appointed Calum McFarlane as the interim head coach until the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues are looking to hire a new coach to lead them into the 2026\/27 Premier League season. The London based club have had a poor season so far, they sit 9th on the PL table with 49 points after 36 games played. The fans have started questioning the hierarchy for their decision making and believe the identity of the club has been lost.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Cole believes hiring Mourinho and giving him a long-term deal could help get Chelsea back on track. He said (via The Sun):<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe best move the club could make now, a realistic move as well, is to go to Jose Mourinho. Say that this is what we can do, and just let the man take charge of the club.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Just say, \u2018rebuild my club for me, we\u2019re going to step back, you get us back on track.\u2019 Give him a long contract, and tell the players and the fans just to take the transition.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Cole added that the fans would welcome Mourinho back if he was given full control of the club.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cTell the fans, \u2018We\u2019ve given you what you want. Jose is in charge of bringing the players in. Jose is in charge of everything&#8217;. So, the fans know where they stand, and the players know where they stand as a group. And then leave it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Mourinho has been linked with a move back to another one of his former clubs in Real Madrid who have also struggled this season. Chelsea will have to move quickly if they have to re-sign the iconic Portuguese manager.<\/p>\n<h2>Chelsea hold talks with priority managerial candidate: Reports<\/h2>\n<p>Amid pleas from Joe Cole to hire Jose Mourinho, Chelsea have seemingly decided to take a different route. According to reports, the Blues have held talks with former Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso. Journalist Nico Schira claims the London club have had positive talks with Alonso who has given his availability for a long-term project with the club.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea have other candidates on their list and will make a decision soon. They play Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 16 next where they hope they can turn a sub-par season into a trophy winning one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Vignesh Raja<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea icon Joe Cole has asked his former club to make a sensational move to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}