Words: Vincent Lim
He struts into the packed press conference room, suit and shirt collar open, left hand casually sitting in his trouser pocket. This is a man that’s sure of himself, his position and his (apparently) prodigious ability. He walks the fine line between confidence and arrogance, calling himself a ‘top manager’ and outlining his successes with Porto, having defeated Real Madrid, Manchester United and Marseille on his way to winning the Champions League trophy.
Then comes the moment, a phrase etched in time, and forever imprinted in the memory of any football fan worth his pint. ‘I am not one from the bottle,’ he drawls, ‘I think I am a special one.’ But after his recent 3-0 loss to Werder Bremen, it’s starting to become apparent that beneath his smooth veneer of Iberian charm, his ‘bottle’ is more à la Barefoot than Château Lafleur.
Arrogance is not a desirable trait
There’s a reason why this is his most 0ft-cited flaw and it’s often argued that someone as successful as him is perfectly entitled to claim to be the best football manager of all time. In that sense, it might be excusable; but we’re talking about being ‘The Special One’, claiming to be the saviour of football and paragon of tactical leadership.
Yet, there are other special ones and heroes that don’t have the same air of entitlement and go about their work with a humility that don’t feel the need to claim to be a ‘special one’. His hubris is a black mark on his successes and whilst he may be one of the special ones, he’s not the special one.
His football pales in comparison to his personality
Mourinho is undoubtedly an exciting personality; his football, however, leaves much to be desired. Chelsea, and Mourinho, are infamous for ‘parking the bus,’ a term coined, rather ironically, by Mourinho himself on describing a 0-0 draw with Tottenham. If Roman Abramovich’s superyacht is anything to go by, that’s a seriously big bus.
You simply can’t be considered ‘the Special One’ in the world of football, a multibillion pound industry fuelled by supporters and television licensing, without being entertaining.
Bankrolled to success
The amount of financial trust placed in him by the owners of his respective clubs has been of extraordinary help to Mourinho in reaching his heady heights. His initial outlay of £56.9 million on arriving at Stamford Bridge pales in comparison with his £93 million spend the following season. His spending in the early days was, in fact, so gargantuan that it makes the £46.6 million paid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001, seem like small change.
This certainly isn’t a trend confined to the early part of his managerial career either, he spent a total of £136.2 million during his brief at Inter, £155.8 million in his three years at Real Madrid and £108 million in the last season alone. Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you success.
He leaves no legacy
The trouble with Mourinho is that he never stays at a big club for more than three seasons: he spent three at Chelsea, two at Inter, three at Real Madrid and he’s only just coming into his second year back in London. So does he jump ship and let the crew sink?
Well, Inter collapsed after he left and he left Chelsea and Real Madrid under serious clouds that followed the teams the following season. Recentely, he’s also made some strange moves, selling one of his most promising young players, Romelu Lukaku to Everton. He might deliver short term success but only the greats leave lasting legacies and that is something he’s yet to achieve.
An abrasive character
Mourinho’s relationship with players, managers and referees has often been strained as a result of his desire and ability to rub each other up the wrong way. At Real Madrid, his relationship with the team swiftly deteriorated after his decision to keep Iker Casillas, one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, out of the team, and his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo, undoubtedly the team’s star player, was also strained.
It’s his interactions with other managers, however, where Mourinho has showcased his legendary petulance. He launched a verbal war of attrition with Arsène Wenger, calling him a ‘specialist in failure’, and then there’s the infamous eye-poking incident with the late Tito Vilanova. Special one? He might think so, but I certainly don’t.
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