• José Mourinho still ’sets the standard’ at Stamford Bridge
• Goalkeeper has seen seven managers fail to last the course

Petr Cech has admitted José Mourinho’s tenure as Chelsea manager continues to “set the standard” by which his successors are measured at Stamford Bridge but has expressed his hope that André Villas-Boas will prove successful enough to enjoy rare longevity at the club.

The Czech international goalkeeper has worked under six different managers since joining in the summer of 2004. While that instability in the dugout has drawn criticism from the outside, Cech conceded a logic has emerged to justify Roman Abramovich’s perceived hire-and-fire mentality, with the owner decisive when he senses the team are no longer progressing.

“You change the manager when you see there is no way to continue,” Cech said. “I think that’s the philosophy and I hope there will be a way for André to continue for many years. Seven managers have been working with Chelsea since I joined the club [the goalkeeper actually agreed to move to London while Claudio Ranieri was in charge] and, unfortunately, apart from José who was here for three and a half years, nobody has lasted long. But you will see, if we have a great season then we will build the base for the manager to stay for many years.”

Chelsea’s tour of Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong – where they will play the local team Kitchee on Wednesday as part of the four-team Premier League Asia Cup tournament that also features Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa – has provided the squad with a prolonged opportunity to work with Villas-Boas and his staff. Form on the pitch may still be sluggish in the pre-season heat but early impressions of the manager have been positive, suggesting he could yet emulate the staggering success he inspired at Porto in his only full season as a manager.

Yet the ghost of Mourinho, with whom Villas-Boas worked closely at Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale before seeking to become a manager in his own right, still haunts the club. The backbone of the first team – still to include Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba – is arguably highly reliant on players who flourished under the Portuguese en route to successive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006.

The Porto president, Pinto da Costa, has suggested that Villas-Boas had sought a way out at the Estádio do Dragão fearing he might not be able to emulate the achievements of the “Special One” at the club, comments shrugged off by the 33-year-old as nonsensical given his eagerness to work with Chelsea.

Yet there is an acceptance that each of Chelsea’s permanent managers since Mourinho – Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Carlo Ancelotti – have struggled to match his impact. “Everybody is different,” Cech said. “The manager has got his own ideas how he would like us to play. Managers have their own philosophies and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Of course, José Mourinho set a standard and, of course, the others have to try to do better than him.”

Asked whether he thought the fact Villas-Boas is so closely associated with the Mourinho regime had influenced the club’s decision to appoint him, the goalkeeper said: “Since André was here [before] working with José many things have changed. The club has changed. He has changed – from a person who was on the technical staff to being a manager – and, so far, everything has been working well and I hope that will continue.

“We still have the staff, the quality and the experience. Sometimes you can say it’s a good season and you end up trophyless – but it’s hard to imagine saying that in our club. We will all be disappointed if we don’t win a trophy next season.”

Chelsea continue to wait to make an impact in the transfer market, with their players unperturbed either by the £50m spent by Manchester United or even the evolution at Manchester City. “They need to be better [than us] on the pitch,” Cech said. “They were already very good last season and they spent so much money and were building the team. Now they are spending again, which means they will maybe have to build the team again.”

The challenge to be mustered by Chelsea next season would be more persuasive should Fernando Torres find his form. The £50m record signing managed one goal in 18 appearances last term. He continues to look uncomfortable in these surroundings, though suggestions he is echoing the toils endured by Andriy Shevchenko, a £30m signing from Milan in 2006 who departed on a free transfer three years later, have been rejected.

“No, there are no similarities,” Cech said. “He [Torres] will score goals and will be fine. With Andriy it did not work. It did not work from the start. He was trying but it didn’t work. But you can see with him [Torres] that he is working, working and he is improving all the time. We need to improve as a team in a way to play with him. It’s just a matter of time. He is doing well with the team.”

ChelseaAndré Villas-BoasJosé MourinhoDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

• Chelsea registered José Mourinho as trademark
• Club sought to capitalise on their former manager

José Mourinho lipstick, anyone? Or maybe his range of perfumes would suit? Or perhaps the exclusive brand of José “depilatory products” may appeal? Then again, perhaps that really is a step too far.

But not in the world of Chelsea’s commercial department, which registered the name José Mourinho and his signature as trademarks with the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2005.

The long and varied list of products envisaged by Chelsea is eye-opening as they sought to capitalise on their superstar manager.

Chelsea have only six international trademarks registered with Wipo. Two of them are under “Chelsea Football Club”, one under “CFC” and a fourth under “Chelsea”. The other two relate to the club’s sole title-winning manager of the past 50 years.

Both the Mourinho trademarks remain protected by Chelsea for a 10-year period, meaning that if, say, Manchester City were to secure Mourinho’s signature this summer, the contract would technically be in breach of copyright. And although Chelsea terminated their image-rights agreement with Mourinho when he left the club in September 2007, perhaps their owner, Roman Abramovich, may draw solace from the knowledge that Mourinho could legally be restricted from exploiting his own name in any of the 200-odd products listed.

However, it seems that the cult of Mourinho was indulged and even encouraged by club executives. What else could explain a possible range of José Mourinho smart cards, DVD recorders, briefcases, umbrellas and even nappies?

For it is certainly true that Mourinho knew about the developments since he signed a “letter of consent” sent to Norwegian authorities who had refused Chelsea permission to assert their rights over Mourinho’s name without his prior say-so.

Among the items specifically protected by the trademark, there was only one that was withdrawn from the Wipo list. In February 2006 the UK patent office wrote to the international organisation to inform it that Chelsea had deleted the product from the proposed range. It said this was “as a result of objections raised during ex officio examination”.

That item class was “figurines of precious metal”. So no chance of an Academy-awards style ceremony at Stamford Bridge any time soon, no matter how much the “Josés” might catch on.

José MourinhoChelseaBusinessguardian.co.uk