Robert Huth speaking on In the Mixer
Former Chelsea centre-back Robert Huth was given a strong first impression of a new Blues manager(Image: All Out Football)
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Former Chelsea centre-back Robert Huth was just finding his feet at the club when Jose Mourinho took over as manager. The German defender had enjoyed a breakout season under previous boss Claudio Ranieri but the new man in the dugout left an instant impression.
Huth was a teenager when he made his Blues debut, barely a year before Roman Abramovich completed a 2003 takeover of the club. However, everything changed when Mourinho came in.
The Portuguese manager had just won the Champions League with Porto and arrived ready to make some changes. When Huth met him for the first time, then, there was an element of fear.
"[I was] scared," the defender admitted on All Out Football's In The Mixer. "You didn't know what was going to happen because when a new manager comes in, he might just bin you off and go, 'See you, mate, you're not good enough for my team.'
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"So there was always a bit of that. And I just remember meeting him at Stamford Bridge at the office really briefly because I'd just signed an extension that morning. And I was scared, I've got to be honest.
"I was going to be trying to leave a good impression on him. And I think we started pre-season two weeks later. But yeah, weird mixture of excitement, nervousness. Obviously I was aware of the financial situation as well and things are going to change in terms of new players are going to be bought in.
"So I was looking forward to it, but I knew I was up against it because obviously he'd won the Champions League the season before. I didn't quite expect it to go the way his first press conference went and the players we bought, I didn't expect it to be that [extent of] bigger things right away."
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Jose Mourinho and Robert Huth in Chelsea training
Huth was at Chelsea for their first two title wins under Jose Mourinho(Image: JOERG KOCH/DDP/AFP via Getty Images)
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Robert Huth at Chelsea in 2004
He was still a teenager when Mourinho arrived at the club(Image: Press Association)
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The press conference he refers to was a memorable one, with Mourinho calling himself a "special one". It came off the back of a momentous Champions League triumph with Porto and was followed by even more success.
Huth was a few weeks shy of his 20th birthday when Mourinho took charge but was never likely to be a regular after the manager brought Ricardo Carvalho over with him from Porto. He had some opportunities, though, playing 36 times in two seasons under the Portuguese before leaving for Middlesbrough.
The centre-back pairing of Carvalho and John Terry clicked instantly, delivering back-to-back titles in Mourinho's first two seasons. The first of those came with just 15 goals conceded in 38 games - still a Premier League record.
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