Chelsea owner Abramovich calls board meeting to decide Mouriho's future

Roman Abramovich will reportedly head an emergency meeting on Wednesday to determine whether or not manager Jose Mourinho will be relieved of his duties.

According to Neil Ashton and Matt Barlow of the Daily Mail, Abramovich and his management team—which contains Bruce Buck, Marina Granovskaia, Eugene Tenenbaum and Michael Emenalo—will converge to decide the Portuguese's fate following the Blues’ horrendous beginning to the 2015-16 season.

In the piece it's suggested that even though it'd cost around £40 million to sack the Chelsea manager after he agreed a new deal with the club last summer, the outcome of the meeting is likely to be 'a close call.'

Despite running away with the Premier League title last season, the Blues currently find themselves in an awful predicament. Not only are they 20 points behind surprise league leaders Leicester City after their 2-1 defeat to the Foxes on Monday evening, they're just one point clear of the relegation zone too.

As we can see here courtesy of Squawka Football, it's been a staggering fall from grace for the reigning champions:

Mourinho seems to turn on his players in the wake of the contest too, insisting he felt as though his work had been 'betrayed' and last season he 'brought the players to a level that is not their level,' per BBC Sport. According to out-of-form midfielder Cesc Fabregas, the squad does need to shoulder some of the responsibility, per Sky Sports:

We will all have to take responsibility. If you are a big player and paid like a big player, you must play like a big player and behave like a big player.

I am not saying you can’t have a bad season and bad games. We all have big players and small players, but the attitude must be spot on. We must always be at the top of our games, even when it’s not and not the behaviour that we are seeing right now from every Chelsea player.

Nevertheless, the antics of Mourinho after the Leicester match, and the disinterested showings from his players on the field, do indicate ructions in the group.

Indeed, calling out the squad, as the Chelsea boss did, reeked of one final act of desperation from a manager who is at the end of his tether when it comes to this team.Bleacher Report's Chelsea reporter Garry Hayes agrees those on the pitch are responsible for the Blues' lowly league position:

It means Mourinho is likely to be ushered out of Stamford Bridge with a handsome sum in his back pocket for a second time or the Blues will most likely undergo some seismic shifts in playing staff at the end of the season.

As noted by David Amoyal of ESPN FC, it seems clear who the supporters are behind at the moment:

fans adore a manager who is the finest in the club's history, Mourinho must shoulder plenty of the blame for this disastrous start. With his outbursts, touchline antics, peculiar tactical decisions and apparent ease at throwing certain players under the bus, he's been a frenzied figurehead during a time in which assured guidance is needed.

While that kind of behaviour may whip up a sense of unification during the early stages of a tenure, it's easy to see how it'd grow tiresome after a while. That much is evident on the field at the moment and although his contractual circumstances are likely to save Mourinho for the time being, he faces the toughest challenge of his managerial career to date should he remain at the helm.