Because for the last three seasons, more so than Steve Staunton furrowing his brow or Thierry Henry looking pretentious after a goal, the one sure thing was that to finish first you had to better Mourinho's Chelsea. A task simply set but daunting in execution. For whatever about his style of play or inability to buy a European Cup with Roman Abramovich's money, the fact is that, like a particularly rapacious It Girl a little too close to the Royal Family, the man simply knew how to claim titles. That amount of financing was merely a variable factor . . . he had an innate sense for setting out a team for the long haul.

Of course the basic facts illustrate that far better than any empty eulogies of his Chelsea (or indeed Porto) side's Terminator-like relentlessness. His first season yielded a greater points haul . . . 95 . . .
than any other Premier League champion since 1992. That's three more than even that testosterone-fuelled Manchester United of 1994, who had 21 teams to beat rather than 19 and thus 12 extra points up for grabs. Indeed, his secondseason tally of 91 was only bettered by that double-winning United. Perhaps the greatest compliment that has been paid to him though is that Alex Ferguson, that master of navigating a title race, reportedly changed his approach in the league to counter Mourinho's challenge.

Rather than the cod psychology of putting names not up to it in an envelope or his unsettling verbal sparring, he merely set his side a points target and told them to meet it.

Tellingly, the number that won it for them was still less than either of Chelsea's totals for the previous two seasons. The doubt remains that, had Abramovich not wanted a few flashy more accessories for his boring old dollhouse and left Mourinho with the freedom he enjoyed in his first two seasons, it would have been three in a row for Chelsea. With their apparent entente during the summer, what else explains Ferguson's very public trepidation after United's poor start to this season? In both 2005 and 2006 Chelsea never gave up top spot once they secured it and Ferguson was clearly worried the same would happen again.

Of course, to definitively answer the question of whether United merely won the championship by default last season, Ferguson would have had to fend off Mourinho again. With the Portuguese gone, he won't get that chance. Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez . . . in the league at least . . . won't even get to say they've done it once. For, above all, Mourinho's departure has created a vacuum at the top of the Premier League which the rest will now be striving to fill. For, though United are the champions, the team that set the present benchmark have effectively gone with their manager. It's doubtful any slip-ups this season will be punished with the finality Chelsea managed in 2005 or 2006 . . . surely two of the most dispiriting seasons for any football fans looking to sport for the drama of competition.

That, at least, should ensure that this is one of the most open and engaging campaigns for some time. For the first time since arguably the 1992/93 season, there is no team who are outright favourites to win the league.

United, the most likely to inherit that status, have emulated Chelsea in their style of victory recently but a worrying rigidity is preventing them playing the football of last season that was beginning to look like it would make them great in their own right again.

At Arsenal, few would begrudge Wenger's purist philosophy another title but doubts remain about his young team's resilience . . .

doubts reinforced by the fact none of their 2002 squad remains while only Kolo Toure, Philippe Senderos and the sidelined Jens Lehmann remain from the 2004 victors.

Benitez's Liverpool meanwhile, closest to Mourinho's Chelsea in that meticulous and methodical approach, so far lack the latter's ruthlessness. Regardless of who was rotated, it's doubtless the Chelsea of two years ago would have drawn with Birmingham at home. Of course, with the margin for error now widened, the eventual champions may not even have to address those flaws.

As for Chelsea themselves, well, if the sensational reports of a directionless club being pulled apart by various power struggles in last week's Observer are to be believed then perhaps it's not first place they should worry about. Martin Jol may yet justify his stay of execution by finally claiming fourth.

All uncertainties at the moment of course, but one certainty prevails. Unless it's Avram Grant who wins the title, that league victory will feel somewhat cheaper without Mourinho's challenge.