Peter AndersonThat Spurs sacked Jose Mourinho came as no surprise to Premier League watchers. 

Once dubbed "The Special One" by himself the specialness of Jose had long since evaporated. No-one can deny how good he was at the start of his career but since winning the EPL in his second spell at Chelsea in May 2015 his fall from grace has been spectacular.

He made a name for himself at Porto in his native Portugal where he won 2 leagues, the UEFA cup and the Champions League. This got him his move to Chelsea where he quickly won the hearts of the fans and the attention of everyone else with his confident demeanour which he backed up with back-to-back EPL titles in '05 and '06. No mean feat. But he fell out with Abramovich as the owner wanted him to play his personal pet signing Shevchenko more and Jose refused. Quite rightly too as clearly the East European's legs had gone. So after more turmoil with Avram Grant coming in as Sports Director, Jose was off to Inter Milan.

At Inter Jose became a living legend. He won the first treble in Italian football, taking the CL, Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2010. In the CL they famously knocked out Pep's Barça in the semis and beat Munich in the final. This got him his dream move to Real Madrid, the dream turning sour with constant run ins with The Real directors and the team looking decidedly second best to a rampant Barça. Getting humiliated 5-0 in the Camp Nou was called the worst night in Real's history while his run in with sporting director and club legend Jorge Valdano resulted in an ultimatum by Jose to sack him or he would walk. Reluctantly Valdano left and the knives were well and truly out for Jose. He famously fell out with Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas, Real's 2 biggest galacticos and also gouged Barça manager Tito Vilanova's eye during a touchline brawl in a most sneaky underhand way which brought him more criticism. And so his spell at Real ended with only one La Liga victory.

His second spell at Chelsea looked like it might be as successful as the first when he won the EPL in 2015 but things went downhill surprisingly quickly ending when his team "downed tools" and refused to make any effort following a controversial incident with club doctor Eva Carniero. She was summoned onto the pitch by the ref to deal with an injured player, Jose told her not to go but she refused and went on anyway. Jose seemed to call her a "daughter of a bitch" in Portuguese. He denied it but the damage was done and Jose was soon out.

His time at Man United should have been the perfect place to lead a revival in his fortunes but alas it was not. He fell out with more of his star players and his interviews with media were becoming increasingly tense. To put it bluntly he was a grumpy bastard. His tactics were also becoming increasingly negative and frequently away fans would chant: 

Park the bus 
park the bus 
Man United 
playing football 
the Mourinho way 

Which riled the Old Trafford Faithful. He did win a League Cup and the Europa League but the board had had enough. And so to Spurs where he continued in the same vein, falling out with the star players, giving grumpy interviews and playing negative tactics.

In the new world of the EPL with dynamic managers like Klopp and Pep, Jose is very much yesterday's man. In his first spell at Chelsea his defence of Ferriera, Carvalho, Terry and Cole with Makalele sitting in front is the best defence I have ever seen. His winning of back-to-back EPLs is a truly wonderful achievement. His treble at Inter will go down in history as epic, but he never adapted his game, still believing that he was special. That he was more important than his galacticos in the age of the super-agent is blindly foolish. 

Yet when he appeared as a pundit on Sky he was very engaging and knowledgeable. There was talk of him taking over as manager of Portugal a few years ago. Maybe that is the best next move for him. I can't see him getting another top club job so maybe international football would give him the chance to end his career on a high. 

No-one can deny his success but we can question his attitude and actions. From soaring to stuttering then falling Jose has provided much entertainment to football lovers, whether history remembers more the highs or the lows remains to be seen.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

The Not So Special One

Peter AndersonThat Spurs sacked Jose Mourinho came as no surprise to Premier League watchers. 

Once dubbed "The Special One" by himself the specialness of Jose had long since evaporated. No-one can deny how good he was at the start of his career but since winning the EPL in his second spell at Chelsea in May 2015 his fall from grace has been spectacular.

He made a name for himself at Porto in his native Portugal where he won 2 leagues, the UEFA cup and the Champions League. This got him his move to Chelsea where he quickly won the hearts of the fans and the attention of everyone else with his confident demeanour which he backed up with back-to-back EPL titles in '05 and '06. No mean feat. But he fell out with Abramovich as the owner wanted him to play his personal pet signing Shevchenko more and Jose refused. Quite rightly too as clearly the East European's legs had gone. So after more turmoil with Avram Grant coming in as Sports Director, Jose was off to Inter Milan.

At Inter Jose became a living legend. He won the first treble in Italian football, taking the CL, Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2010. In the CL they famously knocked out Pep's Barça in the semis and beat Munich in the final. This got him his dream move to Real Madrid, the dream turning sour with constant run ins with The Real directors and the team looking decidedly second best to a rampant Barça. Getting humiliated 5-0 in the Camp Nou was called the worst night in Real's history while his run in with sporting director and club legend Jorge Valdano resulted in an ultimatum by Jose to sack him or he would walk. Reluctantly Valdano left and the knives were well and truly out for Jose. He famously fell out with Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas, Real's 2 biggest galacticos and also gouged Barça manager Tito Vilanova's eye during a touchline brawl in a most sneaky underhand way which brought him more criticism. And so his spell at Real ended with only one La Liga victory.

His second spell at Chelsea looked like it might be as successful as the first when he won the EPL in 2015 but things went downhill surprisingly quickly ending when his team "downed tools" and refused to make any effort following a controversial incident with club doctor Eva Carniero. She was summoned onto the pitch by the ref to deal with an injured player, Jose told her not to go but she refused and went on anyway. Jose seemed to call her a "daughter of a bitch" in Portuguese. He denied it but the damage was done and Jose was soon out.

His time at Man United should have been the perfect place to lead a revival in his fortunes but alas it was not. He fell out with more of his star players and his interviews with media were becoming increasingly tense. To put it bluntly he was a grumpy bastard. His tactics were also becoming increasingly negative and frequently away fans would chant: 

Park the bus 
park the bus 
Man United 
playing football 
the Mourinho way 

Which riled the Old Trafford Faithful. He did win a League Cup and the Europa League but the board had had enough. And so to Spurs where he continued in the same vein, falling out with the star players, giving grumpy interviews and playing negative tactics.

In the new world of the EPL with dynamic managers like Klopp and Pep, Jose is very much yesterday's man. In his first spell at Chelsea his defence of Ferriera, Carvalho, Terry and Cole with Makalele sitting in front is the best defence I have ever seen. His winning of back-to-back EPLs is a truly wonderful achievement. His treble at Inter will go down in history as epic, but he never adapted his game, still believing that he was special. That he was more important than his galacticos in the age of the super-agent is blindly foolish. 

Yet when he appeared as a pundit on Sky he was very engaging and knowledgeable. There was talk of him taking over as manager of Portugal a few years ago. Maybe that is the best next move for him. I can't see him getting another top club job so maybe international football would give him the chance to end his career on a high. 

No-one can deny his success but we can question his attitude and actions. From soaring to stuttering then falling Jose has provided much entertainment to football lovers, whether history remembers more the highs or the lows remains to be seen.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

8 comments:

  1. Three big teams in the EPL have now given him the heave-ho and it looks as if his star is very much on the wane. I am surprised he didn't make more of a success at Spurs but if he doesn't have it any more then it is time to go out to graze

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  2. Replies
    1. he might think that beneath his specialness.

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  3. For long enough he'd have seen Spurs as beneath his specialness...

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  4. Both his former sides in action last night - makes for the prospects of an exciting second leg. Chelsea performed much better than Liverpool against them. Timo Werner is simply missing too many sitters. I can't see him hold down his place much longer. His confidence seems to have gone

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  5. He may be a bastard but he was our bastard at Chelsea. But by fuck I am glad the boring football is long gone from the Bridge.

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    Replies
    1. it stops being the beautiful game once it is boring

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  6. Caoimhin
    I was never happy about tgat arrogant waster going to Old Trafford. Many so-called modern United fans thought he would be the answer to their prayers, perhaps they should have listened to us veterans. Mourinho, for me was never "The Special One" his arrogant nature at Chelsea, trying to overrule the clu doctor whe she went onto the pitch to examine a player with a head injury, which was her job, annoyed old Jose because he had not given permission for her to go on. Perhaps Chelsea fans should have sacked their GPs and if feeling unwell go and see Mourinho, because he obviously felt medically qualified to try and overrule the club doctor, arrogant pillock!!!!

    Caoimhin FCUM (MUFC as was)

    ReplyDelete