Jose Mourinho is the self-proclaimed Special One and the moniker is not without good cause, according to Chelsea’s assistant first-team coach Steve Holland.
Holland has been part of the management setup at Chelsea since 2009 and worked under the likes of Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo and Rafa Benitez.
However, there is one name that stands out above all others for the former Crewe Alexandra boss.
Chelsea’s current incumbent Mourinho, who returned for a second spell at Stamford Bridge last season, is head and shoulders above the rest.
Holland admits even the great Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, doesn’t excel in every area but he reckons the Portuguese comes pretty close to perfection.
"I've been fortunate to work with some top-class managers in my time here at Chelsea,” Holland explained.
"With managers they have areas they score very highly on, whether it's man-management, tactical, as a coach.
"You can also have examples of course of very successful managers that don't particularly coach.
“Sir Alex, I think I would be right in saying, that was the case with him.
"So you haven't necessarily got to tick all of the boxes to be successful, but certainly nobody that I've ever worked with has ticked so many of the fundamentally important boxes [as Mourinho ].
"Whether it's coaching, man management, the psychological elements to operating a top level team and the ability to change the direction of a game, with substitutions, with half-time team-talks, the impact that he has [he ticks all those boxes].
“He always gets the best out of his players. You’ve perhaps seen that with Eden Hazard this year as he’s taken his game to another level. For me it's been a fantastic education."
A rare midweek break has given Chelsea their best preparation in months for tomorrow’s visit of Newcastle United.
The Blues have come through a relentless festive fixture schedule and remain top of the Premier League on alphabetical order ahead of Manchester City.
Mourinho’s side have not played since the weekend win over Watford in the FA Cup third round to leave them focused solely on the Magpies clash.
“The tactical preparation we’ve had this week is the best it’s been for months given we’ve had a clear week to prepare so we’re in good shape,” Holland explained.
“Jose is very focused on the game tomorrow as we all are.
“It’s an important game. We lost the away game very recently against Newcastle so we’re all very determined to put that right tomorrow.
“My experience of playing against Newcastle is it’s always a hard game under any circumstances wherever you play them.
"We’re expecting no different tomorrow.”
Follow all the build-up, matchday action and post-game reaction from Chelsea v Newcastle United right here on GetWestLondon.
