And not just because a group he left in 16th now top the Premier League table. Players have been revived, but also remodelled. Job descriptions have changed. Mourinho's team has been both dismantled and reorganised.

The date his second Chelsea side came to a definitive end was Sept. 24, 2016 -- the day new coach Antonio Conte made his mid-match switch to 3-4-2-1 formation in the 3-0 defeat at Arsenal. In itself, that may sound unremarkable. After all, Mourinho had left nine months earlier. Yet it stands in stark contrast with his first departure.

His team, running on autopilot, reached a Champions League final eight months after his sacking in September 2007. His gameplan and his personnel lingered long after he had gone. He seemed to create a dynasty in a reign of little over three years.

Mourinho's legacy arguably included the 2012 Champions League, won by some of his charges, with the bloody-minded defiance he instilled pivotal in Roberto Di Matteo's improbable triumph over Bayern Munich on penalties. His players kept the same duties and retained their prominence. In some cases until he returned six years later.

John Terry was still in the side even after Mourinho departed for a second time, as the left-sided centre-back in September 2016. Frank Lampard was still operating as the left and most attack-minded of a midfield trio in 2011, before a shift into a duo and then onto the bench. Didier Drogba was still leading the line in 2012. Petr Cech and Ashley Cole only lost their places as first-choice goalkeeper and left-back respectively after Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge in 2013. John Obi Mikel arrived in the Mourinho's first spell in charge and could still be found anchoring the midfield in Guus Hiddink's second stint as a caretaker.

It reflects in part on the longevity of a remarkable group of players. They proved resistant to change -- some introduced by other managers -- and decline alike. So the speed with which Conte ripped up Mourinho's Chelsea and rebuilt them with his own blueprint is telling. Seven of the Italian's preferred XI were bequeathed by the Portuguese but, crucially, only two are deployed in the same role: Thibaut Courtois -- and, unless Pep Guardiola is the manager, there is no way of changing a goalkeeper's role -- and Diego Costa, the lone forward.

Then consider the rest. Gary Cahill was the right-sided centre-back who is now on the left of a back three. Cesar Azpilicueta was converted to a left-back by Mourinho and has been reinvented as a right-sided centre-back by Conte. Eden Hazard and Pedro were used primarily as wingers by Mourinho, but Conte has removed his No. 10 -- both from the team and the club with Oscar sold -- shifted both infield, spared them the responsibility of tracking back on either flank and made them, in old-fashioned parlance, inside-forwards.

Antonio Conte has joked that N'Golo Kante has plenty of room for improvement following Chelsea's 2-1 win over West Ham.

Nemanja Matic's tasks in the centre of the pitch may be most similar, but playing with another defensive midfielder, in N'Golo Kante, is a significant change. The angles are altered by Conte's formation. The presence of three centre-backs affords a greater freedom to go forward. Hence why a player who recorded two assists last season has seven already so far.

The same is true, too, when Cesc Fabregas takes the Serb's place. Conte's shape gives him an insurance policy. The Spaniard's goal against Swansea, from a Lampard-esque run, was the sort that he rarely made in a 4-2-3-1 system: he either began deeper or higher up the pitch.

As for David Luiz and Victor Moses, the Brazilian was first omitted and then sold for £50m to PSG by Mourinho; the Nigerian loaned out to three clubs in as many seasons. Now both are mainstays while Terry and Branislav Ivanovic, Mourinho's captain and vice-captain are not in the side or, in the Serb's case, at the club -- he left for Zenit in January.

Moses is a personification of change, an indication that Mourinho's shadow no longer hangs heavy over Stamford Bridge. Some of his earlier successors willingly adopted his gameplan and disciples; others proved unable to move away from them in the six years between his two reigns. Conte did so within six league games.

For the new manager, it is a way of ensuring fewer damning comparisons with Mourinho, which burdened some of his predecessors. It is proof of the power of original thinking and expert coaching: Chelsea appeared wedded to the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 template Mourinho favoured. And it may prove a complete break with the past.

With Courtois and Costa seemingly courted by rival factions in Madrid, Chelsea may begin next season without a single player occupying the same role he did for Mourinho. The renovation would be complete, the revolution total, surprisingly swift and, barring any late mishaps in the title race, remarkably successful.