Jose Mourinho. The Special One. That Portuguese bloke who’s got an excellent track record but has ruffled a few feathers along the way. Before I divulge, I must stress I firmly believe him to be a superb manager who’s definitely, in terms of delivering results, one of the best around. I’m not writing this to bash Jose Mourinho’s exceptional tactical nous, just merely here to question why so many people love his approach with the media and the way he generally conducts himself.
Mourinho has won a hell of a lot, so his demeanour is hardly surprising. He’s a confident man and he plays up to it. We all know that. He’s an entertainer. Watch practically every press conference and you’ll hear laughter surrounding the room he’s conducting it in. The media absolutely love him. He’s like the comedian of football, only I’m finding this comedian slightly tiresome. Think Russell Howard on Mock The Week; interesting and fairly comical to start with but after years of watching the same old drivel and recycled lines, it’s getting a bit dull.
The ‘mind games’ are grating massively. Most recently he’s been hammering home the message that Chelsea are ‘challenging for a top four spot only’ despite the fact his Blues side were leading the table at the time and, currently, are far from out of the title race. Yes, it takes the pressure off his players, but why not take the Wenger/Pellegrini/Rodgers approach and simply say ‘we’re in with a chance of winning the title, but it’ll be tough’? That too takes the pressure off his players, but he loves to make the headlines. He thrives off the limelight and the media are giving it to him.
The fact is, his mind games aren’t working this time round. Chelsea aren’t top of the league and could easily finish in third spot if Liverpool and Manchester City win their remaining fixtures. His approach hasn’t been that successful, and possibly won’t be in Europe either, yet, once again, he’s free of any threat of a bashing. If it happens, you’ll be shocked by it.
I wonder how much better Chelsea would’ve fared this season if they’d have retained the services of Romelu Lukaku? They’ve lacked a centre forward since Drogba’s departure. Lukaku is, as I’m sure you’re well aware, the closest thing around at the moment to Didier Drogba. Jose Mourinho sent him out on-loan though. What a massive error in judgement that was. He did get quizzed about it, but hardly heavily criticised. Nowhere near it in fact. Without a shadow of a doubt, if Rafa Benitez did that at Chelsea last season, or perhaps even someone like Wenger or Guardiola, they’d have been absolutely slaughtered. Chelsea are a striker short of being a truly superb side and that striker could possibly be Romelu Lukaku.
He’s infallible in the eyes of the media. He’s made plenty of errors this season, most recently against Crystal Palace, but he’ll never face harsh criticism despite arguably getting the team selection wrong and rotating a winning team, something plenty of bosses have been slated for in the past. Put bluntly, the media brown nose him and he knows it. If he shat himself, most journalists would give him their pants.
If Chelsea lose, rarely will Mourinho praise the opposition. He might do occasionally, but after a few digs at the referee, the ball boys or perhaps the ‘circumstances’. He’s a sore loser, arguably one of the worst to grace the Premier League. Once again though, not many pick up on it. This, and other behaviour, is usually just met with a ‘oh, it’s just Jose being Jose’.
The fact is, Jose Mourinho is probably a very tricky character. He’s fallen out with countless owners and players over the years and his evident ego hasn’t endeared him to every set of supporters or various news outlets throughout the world in his time. Yet, in the UK he’s adored. No wonder he returned here, he knows how easy he has it.
Jose Mourinho is The Special One, and deservedly so; he’s backed up that title, but the media arse-kissing is nothing short of repulsive and, frankly, unbearable. He’s doing a good job at Chelsea but I’m sick of the way he’s going about it. I’m possibly in the minority here, I’m well aware of that, but Mourinho needs to cut the crap and focus on the title scrap. We get it Jose, you love the attention. We get it British media, you absolutely love Mr.Mourinho, but he isn’t untouchable and, for lack of a better word, you need to get your heads out of his bum.
I’m not interested in Jose Mourinho, I’m interested in his Chelsea team.
By Brian Moore – Chesterfield fan
You’d love him if he was manager of Chesterfield!
I think the perception of him playing mind games have been exaggerated. He speaks his mind and whenever he speaks, everyone says he’s playing mind games. lol. what a joke.
When he keeps quiet, he’s playing mind games. When he make a big fuss out of something, he’s playing mind games again.
Bloody hell, the bar’s really low to get on newsnow these days isn’t it?
First, if you’re going to write a blog about how dull someone is, best not make it really dull.
Then get your facts right. This legion of owners and players he’s fallen out with: name them.
You can’t because he hasn’t. (and four or five isn’t a legion because most managers have at least that many)
He had a falling out with Abramovich first time round, didn’t he? Apparently at Real Madrid the heirarchy were sick of him too. He’s not someone everyone warms to, believe it or not. He’s successful and deserves the credit he gets but he can be destructive.
Bit of a rant but an enjoyable rant. He annoys me also but it’s hard to slate him as he always delivers. This year though there’s a strong chance he won’t at Chelsea. Should that be the case it’d be interesting the see the reaction from the media.
There’s nothing more unbearable or unappealing than an arrogant man. That’s Mourinho.
No surprise Sir Alex didn’t pick Jose as his successor. One can win with defensinve tactics and boring stlye of play combined with throwing tantrums at so many referees to the point of getting them to quite the game like Mou or be more of a gentleman like Pep and win in style and have so many of your Manager peers compliment you, like Sir Alex and many other legends. As a Man Utd fan, if I had a choice between Guardiola and Mou, I’d pick Guardiola any day.
He’s an arse!!!