José Mourinho: Overrated & Far From Being Great
All this media coverage of Mourinho’s departure from the Russians is just beyond me.
What annoys me the most is how everyone that has been interviewed or questioned has praised what the so called ‘Special One’ has done for football in this country.
Talk about spouting complete bollocks!
The coverage to be quite honest has been completely absurd.
The only reason people have been flattering of Mourinho is because he’s gone! He was not good for football in this country and I just cannot believe how gullible and naive people are.
Seriously.
Everyone just believes all the reports and rubbish they see and hear in the media and most people have forgot about the facts on Mourinho’s reign at Chelsea Football Club.
Let’s break down the Special One’s reign as Chelsea manager shall we?
His Purchases In The Transfer Market
With a bottomless pit of money, obviously you will use it and Mourinho was no exception. Arsenal fans will tell you about Arsene’s ability to buy young talent and mould them into world class players. We have Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Nicolas Anelka, Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas, Bobby Pires, Kolo Toure, Manu Eboue - the list is endless. Don’t get me wrong, Wenger has had his fair share of donkeys in his time. Remember Francis Jeffers? Remember Richard Wright?
Well whatever Arsene’s poor buys have added up to, they surely don’t even come close to the value of Mourinho’s crap purchases.
We have Mateja Kezman (£5.4m), Tiago (£10m), Paulo Ferreira (£13.3m), Michael Ballack (Free), Andriy Shevchenko (£30m) and Asier del Horno (£8m) to name but a few over the years.
Good stuff!
And some of Mourinho’s best players, Lampard, Terry and Joe Cole were already there, and if you think back you will remember that Petr Cech and Arjen Robben were actually Claudio Ranieri signings.
Tapping Up Ashley Cole
Then there is Mourinho’s disregard for even the simplest rules. Because he had a so-called ‘left-back crisis’ he saw fit to meet Cashley Cole behind Arsenal’s back, despite the fact he was under contract to Arsenal Football Club. Yes, Cole is hardly blameless either but for a ‘top manager’ to even do this is completely ridiculous. Would SAF or AW do this?
This would be a damaging matter that would start from late January until late September of 2005, covering most of the season where Arsenal would finish second to Chelsea in the Premier League. Arguably one of Arsenal’s best talents and Arsenal fans would leave for Chelsea just one season later after Arsene Wenger allowed him to leave, and after playing him in one of the biggest games in World Football - the Champions League Final.
Mourinho himself was fined £200,000 for his part in the saga, which was reduced to £75,000 on appeal. Not a bad price for poaching one of the best left backs in English football.
The Anders Frisk Affair
During the 2004/2005 Champions League campaign and during a game against Barcelona and the Camp Nou, Jose Mourinho publicly accused referee Anders Frisk of ‘inviting Frank Rijkaard to his dressing room at half time’ which is against UEFA regulations.
Anders Frisk would receive death threats after Mourinho’s public tongue-lashing and after severe criticism from Chelsea fans, Chelsea players and Chelsea management. Only weeks later, Frisk would cut short his 18 year career as a referee because of death threats towards him and his family.
Mourinho on the other hand would receive a two match touchline ban.
And Volker Roth, the UEFA referee’s chief would later call Jose Mourinho “an enemy of football.”
Quite an accolade, Jose.
A year later again in the Champions League, Barcelona fans would greet Mourinho with abuse and spitting when he arrived in Catalan, and he would experience even more on the way to the team hotel.
Other Feuds & Controversies
One incident Arsenal fans will remember are Mourinho’s comments where he called Arsene Wenger a ‘voyeur’ who was obsessed with Chelsea. Jose would also reveal having a 120 dossier which was full on comments Arsene has made about Chelsea. Mourinho would realise how stupid he was making those comments and would later apologise to Arsene in the form of a greeting card.
In December 2006, Mourinho was in the headlines again - this time labelling Everton’s Andy Johnson a ‘cheat and untrustworthy’. This would prompt Everton to threaten with legal action, and force Mourinho to apologise yet again for his outlandish statements.
He then of course called Double Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo ‘ill-educated, disrespectful and immature‘, for which Mourinho apologised yet again…
And there was the goal Luis Garcia scored in the Champions League against Chelsea, where had another public tantrum about the goal being allowed in the first place. A top motion expert argued said it was actually over the line, and Rafa Benitez pointed out that Baros should of had a penalty for the initial incident anyway if the goal hadn’t of stood. Something which obviously slipped the mind of Jose Mourinho.
The ‘Special One’s’ Love For Chelsea
Before even joining Chelsea, Jose Mourinho would publicly declare how he would much rather join Liverpool, citing several reservations about joining Chelsea.
And if Jose loves Chelsea so much, surely he would just get on with his job?
Instead he managed to get involved in all kinds of backroom politics, seemingly looking for an excuse for an arguement. Well it looks like he got what he wanted, which was a £20 million plus pay off from the club he ‘loves’ so much.
Conclusion
Could anyone actually picture Jose Mourinho staying with Chelsea in the long term?
Neither did I.
The problem is the word ‘great’ is banded around far too much, especially with the excessive media coverage we get in this modern age. 24 hour sports news channels, endless football websites - these need to fill time and space and what better way to go well over the top about Jose Mourinho.
We have ever man and his dogs opinion on how ‘amazing’ Jose was, and it’s amazing people forget someones faults and failings when they are gone.
Yes, he was probably Chelsea’s ‘greatest ever’ manager but that’s not exactly hard with their ‘history’ is it?
I regard managers like Brian Clough, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly as true greats, and Mourinho has a long way off to become anywhere near the stature of those guys.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:51 pm
he was also a cunt
September 21st, 2007 at 3:56 pm
thats a classic Ballbag!
September 21st, 2007 at 3:57 pm
i agree with everything been said here. especially the bit by ballbag!
September 21st, 2007 at 3:58 pm
what about the 6 trophies he won in 3 years (the same 3 years as we won shite all), not to mention the 90 odd games played at home with 1 single defeat. Greatness in football today isn’t measured by how nice you treat people, it’s measured by what you deliver in terms of silverware. So yes, he was great. Irritating and abusive maybe, but still great.
September 21st, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Great article.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
You make some good points but leave out a major one. For all their trophies Chelsea did not entertain. 25000 for the CL game v Rosenborg says it all. When you have unlimited money winning is not enough as Mourinho had plenty of opportunities to create an attractive side but all he was interested inwas winning and protecing his unbeaten home record. Abramovich agrees that you need to have entertainment for that amount of money.
Jose never bulit a team at Chelsea either the way that Wenger and Ferguson did at their clubs.
By the way Ferguson would tap players, just ask Jaap Stam
September 21st, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Don’t forget his complaints about the high price of players recently. Whatever caused that?
Give me £300m to spend and the highest salaries paid in the league and see what I can do.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:06 pm
He’s a good manager, not a great manager. Maybe he’ll prove that elsewhere.
He inherited a £150m squad and spent a further £200m. It doesn’t take a genius to win things with the most expensive team and squad as well as the highest wage bill in world football.
Ultimately, Mourinho bailed when the going got tough.
Man Utd are Champions, Liverpool look like genuine contenders and this young Arsenal squad appear to be making good on its’ potential.
Where’s The Special Needs One to prove himself the best when he can’t blow £50m a summer anymore and when his rivals are all looking like title challengers?
Nowhere.
Cheerio.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I really respect and agree with every word that you said.
Mourinho is far from being great and outside Essien and Drogba he has wasted more money in the history of football on some crappy payers.
He is truely over-rated and loves to find a reason to say some crap. My only regret is that he left when Arsenal are playing so well because I was looking forward to beating his ass this year and winning the Prem.
He is a joke and Im hoping he takes the Spurs job so we can invite him to the Emirates next year….lol
September 21st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
agree with Ho Hum
back to back titles, arsen hasnt even done that.
he knows his football and was a great manager.
total little cunt.
abusive and crass.
but he knows his football
September 21st, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I fear I must say that Ho Hum has something there. We may all agree that he was a cunt of the first order, but he produced a siege and winning mentality in his players. It was his training and desire to make sure all his players played for the team that brought Joe Cole from being a talent to a top class player and he has brought the best out of many players just as Arsene and SAF have done. Admittedly Wenger develops the flair and free thinking elements of players whilst Jose seems to concentrate on solidarity and tactical nous (why I think Cole has failed to flourish there whilst Gael has come on in leaps and bounds) but he did brilliantly. We say that arsenal are great but we never managed to defend the EPL; he did in his first 2 seasons. We may hate him but you would be somewhat blinded by (a righteous) hate if you were to argue that he wasn’t a great manager for chelski.
We must also acknowledge that he never wanted Ballack and Sheva; so to label his transfers as flops because he had them forced upon him is unfair; he also purchased one of the best midfielders in the world in michael essien and has turned him into a world beater.
Please don’t give me abuse for trying to present a balanced point of view and just ask yourself this; if he was truly rubbish would we have hated him? I don’t hate Jol because we’ll always trounce him; I hate SAF because he has what it takes to beat us. And all gooners hate losing to rivals. So let’s just remember him as he was; a prime penis who managed to get the best out of his squad and lead them to the greatest period in their history (if we measure that by trophies [as opposed to class….]) and his departure only makes our run for the title that little bit stronger.
Laters my fellow gooners,
Jonster
September 21st, 2007 at 4:18 pm
He was George Graham with a better squad.Same brand of football,effecient but boring.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:19 pm
thank you kindly galway gooner and j…
conciseness is sometimes lost in modern day english.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:19 pm
“He was George Graham with a better squad.Same brand of football,effecient but boring. ”
You calling Drogba better than Wrighty? Shame on you!
lol - jokes…
September 21st, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Successful,very much so but a serious cunt.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:21 pm
You also forgot that for first two seasons when he arrived he single-handedly lowered standard of the Premier League. Games got more boring, teams became more defensive and in turn there were less goals.
Teams like Bolton, Blackburn and many of the mid-table clubs followed suit, making sure they didn’t lose games instead of winning them.
Only United and Arsenal kept with the ethos of playing attacking football and played for the 3 points!
September 21st, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Cant wait till he runs shittenham.We will piss all over him !!!
September 21st, 2007 at 4:28 pm
The best that can be said of him is that he was a better motivator than Claudio Ranieri. The best Chelscum players were already there, but he made them perform with a bottomless pit of cash to add where appropriate (or inappropriate in the case of Cuntly). The amusing thing about all of this is the Chavs crying into their alchopops over the self proclaimed special one leaving and yet it is their fault he has gone. Abramovich was disgusted with a half empty stadium for the first game in the Champions league. The penny had dropped for him, he owns a pile of shit built on a foundation of money and no culture nor history. He also realised that the boring shite produced each wk was not worth £55 a pop
September 21st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
The legendary teams, the teams remembered are attack minded sides like Brazil,Milan of the eighties,Barcelona managed by Cruyff,Real Madrid of the 60 ties,the Busby Babies,Hungary during the Puskas years,Ajax with Cryuff,Ajax of the mid eighties/start nineties .Noone gives a tosh about sides like Greece winning by defending etc.Effeciency simply isnt enough to be remembered you must entertain along the way.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Fantastic point rosey!
All those sad Chelscum fans who wanted Mourinho to stay could have saved him if they could be bothered to turn up and watch the bloody team!
September 21st, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Its true, there were more of them demonstrating outside the stadium than there were inside it on Tuesday, then they realised that the Rugby was on and went home
September 21st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
then they realised that the Rugby was on and went home
hahahahahhahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
oh and….. lol
September 21st, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Whilst I acknowledge that The Special One is a good talented coach and
manager, I completely agree with both the tone and content of the main
article above.
I didn’t find him a particarly likeable man and have been deeply unimpressed by his tendency to become extremely nasty when big domestic or european games were on the horizon.
Some of the premiership managers have been paying tribute to him…but the one whose comments spoke volumes - even though he said so little - was Rafa Benitez. I suspect that Rafa believes in his heart that some kind of karmic justice has taken place.
By the way, I am getting increasingly irritated by this nonsense about winning back to back titles being the measure of how great a side or how great a manager is.
Arsenal, under Arsene, have come incredibly close to winning back to back titles, particularly during the earlier part of Arsene’s reign. But the fact that we haven’t achieved it is neither here nor there.
What we have achieved under Arsene, which counts alot in my book, is the type of consistency to be realistically challenging for major honours, domestically and abroad, year after year after year.
In addition, as Arsene himself has said within the “Arsenal Opus”, people simply don’t realise yet what going unbeaten for a whole season really means. It’s full significance probably won’t become clear for another 50 to 100 years.
A club can win back to back titles here and there, and a different club can win the european cup every season, but not every club is going to go a whole season unbeaten, playing the type of football that the Gods themselves would have been smiling at!
September 21st, 2007 at 4:46 pm
But winning back to back titles we will.Still,as Arsenal fans should we tell Man United that they arent great because they havnt completed a season undefeated…………..bollocks.
Arsenal under Wenger have achieved Miracles and on a shoestring budget.I would like to see Ferguson,Mourinho or Benitez do the same on the same budget as Arsene…………Could they do it ??? Could they Fuck !!!!!
September 21st, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Wenger is the only manager who have made a profit in the market during the summer the rest have spent an outrageously amount of money on making their squad even stronger and who is in charge of The PL.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:52 pm
The special Cunt can only be regarded as great as a result of what he did at Porto, which was incredible.
Winning the league title with unlimited resources can be achieved by Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn Rovers. Is Dalglish a great manager, ask the Geordies.
Mourinho has simply played reality championship Manager on its easiest level at Chelscum. Now lets hope they disappear into the obscurity from whence they came
September 21st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I agree with what Magneto says - but I’m trying to say that there are many ways of guaging success and the potential for greatness. Undoubtedly Arsene is a great and his 49game unbeaten streak and going a whole season unbeaten ARE great achievements; in fact the only achievement I can think of to rival it in todays game is Fergie’s treble (it hurt to say that - and not I said rival…not necessarily beat
). But the ability to defend the league IS a measure of greatness; not the sole measure but it certainly counts. Perhaps the more accurate thing to say is that Moan-rhino COULD have become a great manager; although at least we all agree that no matter how great a manager he was or can become, he is an even greater cunt.
September 21st, 2007 at 4:57 pm
i needed this article. great, thank u man….i wish everyone into football would read it…to hell with jose!
September 21st, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Dont really agree with this article and I am not a Chelsea chav, I am an Arsenal fan.
I know that some of the things he said were controversial but he rarely lost a game and this has nothing to do with his spending power, look at Real Madrid in the ‘Galacticos’ era, they won nothing!
His team loved him and he had control of the dressing room, he injected a winning mentality into Chelsea and this is something you cant buy, heck, we never managed to beat him!
I respected him as a manager, he didnt like loosing and Wenger doesnt like loosing either, you can easily make a post like you made about why Wenger isnt a great manager too, fighting against Pardew for example all the red cards we’ve had, calling a ref a liar, etc… but we all know Wenger is an amazing manager and we dont ake these things into consideration.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Erik don’t be a cock. How does it have nothing to do with spending power, he has spent over £200m
The reason Mourinho cannot be regarded as a great in English football is because most good managers could’ve achieved what he achieved at Chelscum (hence the Dalglish analogy) You don’t need to be “Great”
What would AW have done with those resources or even SAF (begrudgingly) a Champions league title as a minimum. His antics do not enhance or diminish his ability, just his reputation as a bell end
September 21st, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Erik don’t be a cock. How does it have nothing to do with spending power, he has spent over £200m
As Erik said - look at Real; they didn’t win shit for years with their galactico’s - you need more than JUST money. It’s hard to argue that Mourinho isn’t responsible for his success as he inherited the players and then say he only won because he spent millions….follow the logic people…
September 21st, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Oh and the fact Arsene hasn’t spent the money available is indicative not just of the fact we’ve had a tighter budget but also the fact that his philosophy is different…he could have spent more this season, it just isn’t in his style. And yes, I think that style is much better for football….
September 21st, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Jonster the discussion is whether he is great or not, regardless of Real Madrids performance The Special Cunt spent £200m
He is a good manager (in England) and as I said before his achievment in Porto make him a greatl, but you cannot dismiss the money he has spent because it is the single defining issue relating to his achievements in England, he added players where needed from unlimited funds. The point is which decent manager (which he is) could not have done that?
September 21st, 2007 at 5:30 pm
This is from Myles (ANR):
“I’m not sad to see Mourinho go because he was so spiteful, so paranoid in the way he behaved in Barcelona and Reading, and in the way he tried to intimidate referees and fourth officials. His lack of sportsmanship was nauseating, offensive, way beyond any of the angry tantrums I’ve ever seen in the 40 years I’ve been meeting football managers and writing about them.”
Just about sums up my feelings about him really.
And with Chelsea’s budget, any decent manager could have won what he did, and probably would have done it with more humility and more attractive football.
Wenger, Hiddink, Ferguson, Capello, Rijkaard, Benitez, Ancelotti, Flores, infact any manager of the top teams could have won back to back titles.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:38 pm
It is so refreshing to read an article like this.
There are so many ‘We Love Jose’ articles it makes me sick.
Are people too scared to even question Mourinho and his antics, and simply put it down to ‘charisma’ which is just ridiculous.
His distain for the officials in the game was shocking. Yes, Wenger might have berated referee’s in the past but there is a line you don’t cross yet The Special Cunt crossed it time after time.
September 21st, 2007 at 5:53 pm
The man is complete crap, can you imagine Mr. Wenger talking about his squad in eggs and omelets? then his winter coat that makes him look like detective Columbo in his worst days.
The man is gone, and I don’t hink we should not waste any more time on him…he’s not worth it at all. As I posted in another blog, he is not great…he won the few titles because it was bought for him by Roman and the good eggs he had…when the eggs were broken, he couldn’t make any omelets….it shows he has nothing just like big fat Jol…..they know a lot about food though…
We are Arsenal fans are so lucky to have Wenger….cause Wenger knows.
Love you Gunners
September 21st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I agree he was a good coach but as a man he was disrespectful to his fellow professionals and the rules. The Anders Frisk thing was disgusting but that was Mourinho. An extremely defensive minded coach who at chelsea had about 3 or 4 players for every position mostly defense. He spent nearly 187 million and they never really played exciting football. Done a god job at porto but if that makes him special then why isn’t the manager of the Greece national team that won a euro championship a few years back not considered great, whoever he is he done a Mourinho won a tournament on the back of a defensive ugly footballing team. Crap stadiam too that Stamford Bridge.
September 21st, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Totally, totally agree. Only thing special about him is all the money that he wasted and spent on transfers. With that kind of money, many other wise EPL managers would be able to achieve the same results. Totally disrespectful, dishonest (eg, Ca$$$$$$$hley Cole), hooligan-mentality, arrogant and prideful. thug-tactics, etc… Can’t believe some fan blogs can think that he could thrive at Arsenal FC!
September 21st, 2007 at 6:48 pm
£200 million? Pffftt….
Arsene Wenger could assemble 3 world class teams for that much!
September 21st, 2007 at 6:55 pm
“20m plus pounds pay off”. It’s all about money for him.
September 21st, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Couldn’t have put it better myself!!!!!!!
September 21st, 2007 at 8:20 pm
You can put The Special Cunts reign as Chelsum manager into the following analogy; it’s like playing Poker, and going all in on the first hand. You either come up trumps or lose everything.
It’s the guys like Wenger and Ferguson who aren’t gambling on a couple of games, but playing for the bigger prize, and the long term.
There’s no skill in going all in and then fucking off after only 3 years.
For the first time in 3 seasons things started to get a little shaky and he ran off with his tail between his legs. Great? No chance!