Chelsea facing 24 hours which could decide Jose Mourinho's future

The next 24 hours may reveal whether Jose Mourinho has the fight in him for the long haul at Chelsea.

With results not going the Blues' way, and the transfer window set to close potentially without the arrival of either of his two main targets, we are well into the territory that saw him walk away from Stamford Bridge in 2007.

Back then, after a series of disagreements with owner Roman Abramovich, Mourinho left the club 'by mutual consent'. And Chelsea were pitched into a state of turmoil where, aside from two years of relative stability under Carlo Ancelotti, they ploughed through seven essentially temporary managers in four years before The Special One returned.

While there are obvious similarities between the landscape today, and where the club was headed back then, there are also many differences. For starters, both Mourinho and Abramovich are older and wiser.

Well-placed sources are quite open that it was a lack of experience in both parties that saw the Chelsea juggernaut career over the precipice so early in the manager's fourth season with the Blues.

While the self-styled 'Happy One' has looked far from that of late, notably in the press conference that followed the weekend's 1-2 home defeat to Crystal Palace, once the cameras were off, and he was in the more comfortable setting of the tunnel briefing with the written press,he did seem more relaxed.

Mourinho has a lot going on at the moment, not least the sort of family health concerns that would cause anyone a deal of consternation both in and out of the workplace.

His ex-international goalkeeper father has been known to be ill since May, and the Chelsea boss has spent much time going back and forward to the country of his birth to be with him ever since. Mourinho will not talk about any of that, but knowledge of it might shed a little light on his state of mind right now.

While the relationship with his father is undoubtedly close, the one with his employer is trickier to categorise.

Mourinho has got notably better at one thing since his first spell with the club – the issue of managing-up. Pretty much all he says and does publicly is planned with consideration of how it will play out with the various watching audiences – especially Abramovich.

That is why so much was made of the changes he made during that defeat to Palace: the introduction of Ruben Loftus-Cheek for the utterly ineffectual Nemanja Matic pointing directly at the Paul Pogba-sized hole in his squad.

On the other side, Abramovich never publicly talks - so we are reliant on what those close to him say, and even then via a whisper to a cupped hand.

There are some regrets at the conveyor belt of managers that have gone through Stamford Bridge – though few at the trophy haul that has accompanied that. And there is probably a realisation that Mourinho's return came about because he and the club were the last two lonely dancers at a singles night where everyone else had already coupled-off.

Unlike before, Mourinho made it a requirement this time that no Avram Grant-like figure would be appointed to report back on training sessions and office politics to the big boss. There is no Roberto Di Matteo on the bench, no Guus Hiddink in the contacts book to call upon should things suddenly hit the skids.

Ancelotti is presently enjoying time off and, after his treatment by Chelsea last time, one expects he has far better plans once he has had his fill of cigars and good red wine than a wander down the Fulham Road might entail.

Further afield, Jurgen Klopp is not really a Chelsea sort of option – being in it for the long haul, and not instant success; while the man thought by many as a potential successor, Diego Simeone, has just signed a new five-year contract with Atletico Madrid.

Whatever the lay of the land once the transfer window closes, at 6pm on Tuesday, Mourinho will have to decide whether he has the ability to win with what he has, or whether to hit self-destruct just two years into a supposed 10-year plan.

Ultimately it is his choice, and nobody else's.