Something special. That’s how I first remember him.

I couldn’t tell you why at the time, although I look back now and I know why.

I was quite young when José Mourinho first came into Chelsea – only 23. But, after a few training sessions, I went and got a notepad and started jotting stuff down.

Things he said in team meetings; things he said before a game, or to the press. Sometimes I’d come in after a training session and write down everything we’d just done.

The lads would look at me as if to say: “What are you doing? No one else is doing it.”

But I was intrigued by what we were doing. You’d come into the dressing room and everyone would be talking about what a great session that was. “The best training we’d ever done.”