Premier League iconic moments: Jose Mourinho's Chelsea clinch title - On This Day April 30 1996

When Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in the summer of 2003, he immediately got his cheque book out to launch the club into a stratosphere they could previously only have dreamt of.

Their overnight metamorphosis would prove to be the first in a string of high-profile financial transformations over the next decade which changed the landscape of European football forever.

But Chelsea's billionaire owner is not the only reason why the club has enjoyed such unparalleled success for more than 15 years, he needed someone to make his dream a reality.

And on April 30 2005, at Bolton's Reebok Stadium, Jose Mourinho did just that.

Life before Jose

Before reliving Chelsea's Premier League title-winning day of 2005, let's remind ourselves of how they got there in under two years of Abramovich's ownership.

When the Russian arrived at Stamford Bridge the Blues had just finished fourth, had debts of around £80m and were nowhere near pushing for the championship.

All of a sudden world famous players like Hernan Crespo, Juan Veron and Claude Makelele were signed in a £120m transfer splurge, which was overseen by manager Claudio Ranieri.

But when that failed to yield instant success - with Chelsea finishing as league runners-up to Arsenal's Invincibles and losing to Monaco in the Champions League semi-finals - the modest Italian was sacked.

His replacement couldn't have been less modest if he'd tried.

The Special One

"Please don't call me arrogant because what I'm saying is true. I am European champion, so I'm not one of the bottle, I think I'm a special one."

Wow did Jose Mourinho breeze into Stamford Bridge like a whirlwind, a matter of days after sensationally winning the Champions League with rank outsiders Porto.

It was truly incredible. The sheer arrogance of the man, allied with his charm and style was electrifying, and gave Chelsea the jolt they needed after half a century without a top-flight crown.

All the financial backing that Ranieri was handed a year previously was given to Mourinho too.

Another £100m helped form the backbone of one of the most powerful teams in Premier League history, as Petr Cech, Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba joined along with Portuguese trio of Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and Tiago.

And they played 4-3-3, which at the time was almost unheard of in English football.

Record-breaking season

What followed, and ultimately peaked on 30 April, was near total domination.

Arsenal went into the campaign as huge favourites to retain the title they'd won by becoming just the second team in English football, and first for 115 years, to go an entire top-flight season undefeated.

They would go on to finish as runners-up, 12 points behind a Mourinho side whose own record points tally of 95 surpassed the Gunners' mark of 2003/4.

Astonishingly, the Blues conceded only 15 league goals that season.

A 1-0 defeat at mid-table Manchester City, who incidentally they also failed to beat at Stamford Bridge, in October would prove to be the only blot on Chelsea's Premier League season.

And that lengthy unbeaten run meant victory over Bolton on April 30 2005 would end 50 years of hurt.

Second-half goals from Frank Lampard, a player reinvented by Mourinho into the version that everyone now remembers the midfielder to have always been, secured a 2-0 win and the league title.

First of many

While perhaps the iconic moment of Chelsea's season came three days later, when Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal' saw them lose to eventual winners Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals, victory at Bolton was the beginning of an incredible period of success for both the Blues and Mourinho.

Between 2005 and 2019 Chelsea won 16 major trophies. In the club's 100-year history prior to that, they had won nine.

And although Mourinho would be sacked, return, and be sacked again, the current Tottenham boss didn't fair too badly in those spells, and had his successes at Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Manchester United too.

Despite being out of work for two-and-a-half years of the same period, the Portuguese has collected just one fewer major trophies than the Blues have in that time.

So for Chelsea and Mourinho, April 30 is pretty worthy of remembrance.

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