When Jose Mourinho returned to English football in 2013, he produced a pair of spectacles from his pocket to claim it was the only thing that had changed in six years away from Chelsea. This time Mourinho has read the small print, carrying out Roman Abramovich’s vision for his club to be self-financing and operating within UEFA’s strict Financial Fair Play guidelines. They were rather more gung-ho in 2004, spraying money around Europe to sign some of the best talent in the game to make sure Chelsea cleaned up in Mourinho’s first three seasons at Stamford Bridge. From July 1, 2004 to July 20, 2004, Abramovich splashed £89million on seven players — including Petr Cech, Arjen Robben and Didier Drogba — in a whirlwind shopping spree. They finished the season with the title. Jose Mourinho won his first trophy since returning to England when Chelsea beat Tottenham on Sunday . The Portuguese manager has reduced spending at the club but has continued to bring success . Players like Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa have been brought to the club and proved a huge success . On Sunday evening, less than half an hour after John Terry had lifted the Capital One Cup, Chelsea’s manager claimed the club are now operating in the ‘third tier’ of clubs. Financial Fair Play has become something of a hobby horse of Mourinho in recent months. He highlights the money-no-object strategies of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain while emphasising how Chelsea are working within strict, fiscal parameters. ‘There are teams who don’t care about FFP and are punished, but they play,’ he added. ‘Then there is a group, which Chelsea are in, the group who care about FFP.’ Last week, City manager Manuel Pellegrini did not have the confidence to start Eliaquim Mangala, who cost £32m last summer, alongside captain Vincent Kompany against Barcelona. After Chelsea collected the Capital One Cup, a trophy City won last season, Mourinho referred to £11m signing Kurt Zouma, 20, as his ‘Marcel Desailly’ after a mature performance alongside Ramires in midfield. Whichever way you look at it, the numbers add up for Mourinho as he turns his attention to winning his third Premier League title. Chelsea sold defender David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain for a staggering £50million last summer . Juan Mata was a star player for Chelsea but when Mourinho arrived he sold him to Manchester United . Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku was sold to Everton for £28m, giving Chelsea a considerable profit . The average age of his Chelsea team at Wembley on Sunday was 27 years and three months compared to the 28 of City, beaten 2-1 by Liverpool at Anfield earlier in the day. And Mourinho’s squad looks the better long-term bet. Once a player has worn that blue shirt, there is an automatic premium, as Mourinho has used to great effect, whenever he decides to move them on. They made a profit of about £18m on Romelu Lukaku, who made just 10 Premier League appearances for Chelsea, when he was sold to Everton before the start of the season. Juan Mata was moved on to Manchester United for £37m and David Luiz went to PSG for £50m. All three, among others, were astute business decisions. In return he signed Diego Costa, who played in last season’s Champions League final for Atletico Madrid, and Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona. Good business all round. At this point it would be remiss not to mention Chelsea’s record shirt sponsorship deal with a tyre manufacturer, which rolls in next season, or their claim that they have 500m fans around the world. Some of them were fortunate enough to be at Wembley as their side beat London rivals Tottenham 2-0 to claim the first meaningful trophy of the season. Mourinho is building a team around a young group of stars like Belgium international Eden Hazard . Chelsea recently announced a new lucrative sponsorship deal with Japanese company Yokohama . The new lucrative endorsement is double the amount of the clubs current sponsors Samsung . Mourinho prepared for the final like a battleship commander, wisely using the eight days he had with his squad after the 1-1 draw with Burnley in the Premier League on February 21. Mourinho took advantage of Tottenham’s misfortune, a team who had just one full training session following Thursday’s elimination from the Europa League to prepare for Sunday’s showpiece. It was an important win for Mourinho, highlighted by the manager’s celebrations with his assistant Rui Faria in the technical area. ‘As you know, this country is very difficult,’ he added. ‘If you look at how difficult it is to qualify for the Champions League, you can imagine how difficult it is to win the Premier League. ‘We are speaking about Chelsea, City, United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Southampton, seven teams for four positions.’ There was relief for Chelsea’s players, too, because they are finally starting to deliver for a manager who admitted it had ‘felt like 20 years’ when he went two years without winning silverware. John Terry believes the Capital One Cup success ca act as a springboard for future trophies . The Chelsea squad and their manager celebrate beating Tottenham in the final at Wembley Stadium . The expensively assembled squad from Mourinho's first reign at Chelsea . There were players at Wembley who have won a European Cup — Terry and Gary Cahill among them — but they celebrated this triumph as if it was the first trophy of their careers. There was a reason for that. ‘It was important to get our first trophy together,’ admitted Terry. ‘I spoke about this being the springboard, like it did when the manager came here in 2004/05. It had that affect then and hopefully it does now.’ Mourinho is a trophy-hunter manager, sniffing out the game’s honours in a coaching career that has taken him to Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid in the past decade. The Capital One Cup meant so much, not because of the size of the prize, but because it proved to this group of players that they can cross the finish line and win the game’s major honours using his methods. Mourinho said: ‘You see the semi-finals we played against Liverpool, you see Tottenham going to Fiorentina and they played with players they didn’t use at Wembley. ‘They saved players to win the Cup. In this country it’s much more difficult to win than in my first period.’ Now, when Mourinho arrives at West Ham on Wednesday for a Premier League clash, his eyes will be on a bigger prize.
Chelsea more careful with their money since Jose Mourinho returned . The Blues are selling players for huge fees and investing wisely . Mourinho has been boasting that the club are complying with FFP . The Capital One Cup success was Mourinho's first trophy since returning . John Terry believes it will be a springboard for this current crop of players .