

So what we are saying is that leaders in the team are made as well as born?

‘We have those people in the team. You have different types of leaders and you have different personalities and we hear Nemanja Matic now speaking up about Chelsea and his national team, and he is going to be a natural leader. You have someone like Cesar Azpilicueta, he is a natural leader.

‘Eden Hazard leads by the level of his incredible natural talent and you have more coming. Gary Cahill is an England vice-captain so there are leaders in there but they need to grow, they need to develop their own personality and dominance.

‘You have to understand that these players all came in with other players so dominant among the squad, like Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech.

‘Thibaut Courtois, who is only 23, will definitely be another Petr Cech because he is intelligent and confident and these guys will come through and we have to give them time for that to happen.’

It has been notable how many players in the squad have spoken recently and publicly about how they too believe in the squad and manager, and that a big responsibility lies with the players to get matters sorted…

‘One of the aspects of the modern game is that there is a real impatience now. We are in an age of fast technology, everybody can voice an opinion, and people have a fast-food mentality and want fast-food results. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work like that and you have to look at what is happening to English football in particular. The TV money means a lot of clubs now have the resources to buy so you are not always going to be able to buy yourself out of trouble.

‘I am always impressed by the mentality of the players we have because there is a recognition that they are the same team that clearly were the best team in England last season. They understand there must be a reason why things are not going well and I try to articulate that by saying it is the influence of negative momentum, where you start badly and you keep having problems.

‘But we believe we are starting to stabilise now and once we start going upwards there will be a positive momentum. That’s the way to look at it – we started badly, we suffered a negative momentum and given the level of quality we have in the squad and given the reputation of our manager and the club, everybody thought these results would not last and it is a shock to the system that they have lasted more than we anticipated, but we are working very hard to get back to where we were. I think we are good enough and we are confident we can.’

Ramires three weeks ago was the latest in a line of players in their 20s signing new long-term contracts…

‘As part of the policy from four years ago, this is a long-term plan and Eden Hazard came at the age of 21, Oscar came at 20, Ramires came at a young age – 23 - and they are growing now and understand what it means to play at Chelsea Football Club.

‘Eden has never really been under pressure before in his career but he will get past this and he will become a Chelsea player who knows how to deal with pressure, knowing that the club has to win and it has to win playing well. It is a deliberate policy to sign on long contracts these players who are going to help us grow.’

You have spoken about impatience in the world at large but the Chelsea fans have shown at games they remain supportive of the team and Jose Mourinho, and as recently as this week a survey indicates the majority value stability at the club highly…

‘It is good to hear that a lot of fans appreciate this and that it is the way to go.

‘When you look at football now, when you go in for a new player you have about 12 teams who can potentially afford that player as well, whereas a few years ago it would have been maybe three clubs and one of those was us. Now you have six teams in England who can potentially compete with you, and others outside England who can potentially do the same.

‘We anticipated this, along with the Financial Fair Play obligations, and started planning on how to sustain a team for a long time.

‘Everything that we have said indicates we are very confident in the squad we have. Last season we had six players in the Premier League team of the year and among those not making it were Thibaut Courtois, Cesar Azpilicueta, Cesc Fabregas and Willian. When you have that many good players, you certainly have to believe you can’t go to the market every transfer window to try to solve all your problems. It might actually destabilise the squad.

‘The first thing we need to do is to continue to believe and have the confidence that we have enough to get the job done, but we are a big club and we are always on the lookout and if there is something interesting that can make us better, we will address it.’

Finally, the club sadly lost our former manager Bobby Campbell this month who is someone you came to know well…

‘It is emotional for me as Bobby was one of the first people I met when I joined Chelsea and he encouraged me and even gave me recommendations on where to live so he anticipated I was going to be here for a long time.

‘I had a lot of time for Bobby. In the end I gave him a role in the club to look out for potential players because he had a wealth of knowledge and key understanding of what it takes to be a big player, especially for Chelsea, and information he gave me about players was spot on.

‘My last conversations with him a few weeks ago were great. He was still Bobby, very funny and straightforward and we had a wonderful laugh. It is a big loss first and foremost for his family. Personally, I considered Bobby a friend.’