All hail Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea's new Special One

The Special One will never be forgotten at Stamford Bridge.

But now the Chelsea fans must accept that the Jose Mourinho era is finally over - and that is the testament of what Carlo Ancelotti has achieved.

Like Mourinho, Ancelotti has won the Premier League in his first season in English football - and with the opportunity of surpassing the Portuguese's Year One successes by adding the FA Cup as well.

The big difference comes in how Ancelotti has gone about it - the manner of his triumph and the image he has left in his wake.

With Ancelotti, it is not all about "Me", not about seeking conflict even when there is none, not about the creation of an edifice to his own genius.

By contrast, Ancelotti has appeared reluctant to take the credit, determined to seek consensus, more willing to be the kindly uncle to the players under his command than the all-knowing father.

That attitude has not always helped, especially with the Chelsea fans who still hold a burning candle to Mourinho, the ones who cruelly dubbed the Italian "Benny" - a reference to the simpleton character in Crossroads.

Yet over the past nine months, Ancelotti has, slowly, gradually, imperceptibly but unquestionably made himself the focal point of Chelsea's quest for honours.

There have been setbacks. Too many defeats on their travels and a difficulty in righting the set-piece wrongs, the whole fall-out of John Terry's off-field misdemeanours and of course the Champions League exit at the hands of Mourinho's Inter Milan.

But where Mourinho would have reacted with clenched fists to any whisperings, Ancelotti has smiled, backing himself to get it right, believing that his under-stated approach would prove the right one.

Now, repeating the feat that Mourinho alone had managed before - and this time with a minimum summer spend to rebuild the team in his own image - it is hard to deny the Italian has gone about things in the right way.

As Ancelotti conceded, this has been a steep learning curve. "I have learned more than I expected, absolutely," said Ancelotti.

"This is a new experience. I trained new players with different characteristics. Sometimes I changed my shape. I learn a lot of things this year. It was a very good experience."

One that saw Ancelotti forced to be more tactically fluid and flexible than he anticipated.

Having started the season with a midfield diamond, initially with Frank Lampard the round peg in the square hole at the tip, and then Deco, Ancelotti acknowledged when that system began to get found out.

He then switched, first to a system with two holding midfielders, then back to the 4-3-3 which was first utilised by Mourinho and which remains the default pattern for this group of players.

Humour is part of his essential make-up. Unlike Mourinho, who used it as a weapon, with Ancelotti it is a stress release. He likes nothing more than to loosen the tension with a joke that is utterly unfit for public consumption, ribald and appealing to the basest instincts of the dressing room.

But that is football humour, with sex at the heart of most of it.

As Ancelotti explained: "It's impossible to have a team concentrating for an hour and thirty minutes in training.

"There will be a moment when the team will be concentrated, and another when the team can joke.

"And the great teams know when each moment arrives, when to be concentrated and when to stay calm and quiet. Great teams know that very well, the right time."

More important than any of that, however, was the mentality, the willingness to let the players speak their mind, to address issues and problems, before telling them what the solution would be.

That surfaced in what was the real moment of crisis, after the draw at Blackburn on March 21 that left Chelsea down in third place, four points adrift of Manchester United.

Had Ancelotti not been able to respond, to demonstrate leadership and a grip on the situation, the season would have descended into chaos, with the repercussions impossible to predict.

But as Ancelotti recalled: "The pressure is the engine of life. Stress is the engine of life, for me.

"You have to cope with the pressure, the stress.

"To do this job, I have to be clear. I have to show my character in front of the players, the owner and the fans. In front of the journalists, too.

"I want to be clear, clean for this. That's the best way to have a good relationship with everyone."

That he has achieved. And now, in his moment of triumph, Ancelotti has earned the right to do things his way in future, to build his team, bring in his players, recast the club anew.

Ancelotti has done more than any Chelsea manager of recent vintage to make the club popular again.

But he has done that without sacrificing the winning instincts that were honed under Mourinho.

To be a true success, of course, he has to deliver the one prize Mourinho was unable to bring to the Bridge - the Champions League. But the start allows him more time to deliver that Holy Grail as well.

And we know he will go about things the same way from here. No fake conflicts or manufactured warfare. Just the same smile. Carlo, we salute you.