Chelsea: Mourinho relationship had 'broken down'

Director of football Avram Grant and assistant manager Steve Clarke have been put in charge of first-team affairs, with their first job to prepare the team to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Special One: Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho arrives at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night

Mourinho's relationship with the club had clearly soured beyond the point of being salvaged, and the Blues hierarchy felt it had begun to affect performances.

A club statement read: "Early this morning we announced that Chelsea and Jose Mourinho had agreed to part company by mutual consent.

"The key phrase here is that there was mutual agreement. Jose did not resign and he was not sacked.

"What is clear, though, is we had all reached a point where the relationship between the club and Jose had broken down.

"This was despite genuine attempts over several months by all parties to resolve certain differences.

"The reason the decision has been taken is that we believed the breakdown started to impact on the performance of the team and recent results supported this view.

"We did not want this to continue or affect the club further."