World Soccer Presents - The Prem Era #2 (2022)

(Maropa) #1
THE PREM ERA 17

JOSE MOURINHO


I


n December 2005,Jose
Mourinho wonWorld Soccer’s
World Manager of the Year
award for the second year
running. A presentation was arranged
at Chelsea’s palatial training complex
in Cobham, Surrey. Photographs were
taken, a short interview took place and
a polite request was made by this writer
to respect an embargo ahead of the
magazine’s publication the following
week.
“No chance,” came the reply from
Chelsea’s chief press officer. “He’ll go
back to his office now and he’ll be

straight on the phone to his mates in
Portugal.”
Within hours the story was running
on Portuguese websites. Another tale
to boost Mourinho’s reputation –
and ego – at home and abroad.
Ten years on, and Mourinho
is back at Chelsea and about to
celebrate another Premier League
title. His second-season syndrome
has struck again – since guiding Porto
to the Portuguese championship in
2003, he has won the league title in
his second campaign with every club
he has managed: Chelsea in 2005,
Internazionale in 2009, Real Madrid
in 2012 and, almost certainly, now
Chelsea again in 2015.
Mourinho’s latest success prompted
him to make a proud boast in a rare
one-on-one interview. “I have a problem”
he toldThe Daily Telegraph, “which is I’m
getting better at everything related to
my job since I started.
“There has been evolution in many
different areas – the way I read the
game; the way I prepare the game;
the way I train; the methodology...I feel
better and better. But there is one point
where I cannot change: when I face the
media, I am never a hypocrite.”
So is it a case of an older, more
mature Mourinho? Or has he had
to adapt his dealing with the English
media, so used to being spoon-fed
quotes, who have finally got wise to
his attempts at manipulating the
media to suit his agenda?
“Some of the dynamism seems to
have left him, he looks tired,” says one
veteran London-based European

reporter who has observed both of
Mourinho’s spells at Chelsea. “In his
first stay, there were an awful lot of
one-liners at press conferences. The
second time around, there has been
less ofthat.
“We had talk of the ‘Happy One’ in
his first press conference, but he has
talked some arrogant nonsense this
season, especially the stuff about a
referee conspiracy.”
For all the talk of Mourinho’s
successes down the years, it is easy
to forget that his first spell as a head
coach, at Benfica, was a disaster.

He was the youngest-ever Portuguese
coach of the Lisbon club when, in 2000
at the age at 37, he accepted an offer
from the then-club presidentJoao Vale e
Azevedo. Mourinho had been out of work
since leaving his position as assistant
to Louis van Gaal at Barcelona. His
appointment was a gamble by Vale e
Azevado, who was facing a presidential
election challenger in Manuel Vilarinho,
who was campaigning on a platform of
bringing in former player Toni as coach.
Within a matter of weeks, Mourinho
found himself in an untenable position
when Vilarinho won the election. In
Luis Lourenco’s authorised biography,
Mourinho cites the case of a hotel
booking for an away match at
Guimaraes, as an example of how
strained relations with the board
had become: “One of the [two] hotel
buildings was better than the other,
and there weren’t enough rooms for
everyone.
“The person responsible for the
bookings had sacrificed team unity in
favour of the comfort of the directors
and their partners, and had unbelievably
chosen to separate the players.
“I immediately told the hotel manager
that we would only stay there if we could
all stay together.”
The directors were forced to move
and, although Benfica won the match
4-0 the following day, relations had
deteriorated to breaking point. Matters
came to a head week later following
the Lisbon derby against Sporting,
the champions.

Mourinho’s Benfica won 3-0 but
the coach tried to use the aftermath
of victory to force the issue of his
short-term contract, which was due
to expire at the end of the season.
“I was on the phone to my wife when
Manuel Vilarinho appeared at my door,”
says Mourinho. “The Benfica president
stood in the doorway, waiting for me
to tell him to come in. I ignored him
completely, simply continued speaking to
Tami until he had tired of waiting and left.
“I don’t know what he wanted or what
he had to tell me. I only know that I
regret my reaction, but I can’t go
back to make it right.”
In his biography, Mourinho claims
his wife persuaded him to tone down
his claim for a new two-year deal,
explaining: “I admit that I used blackmail
on Manuel Vilarinho. Telling him that
‘either you give me a year’s contract
or I’ll leave because another club is
interested in me’ is a form of blackmail.
However,truthbe told, the blackmail
wasn’taccepted.”
Mourinho walked away from the club
in December 2000 after just nine games
in charge. He would later dismiss the
squad he had worked with at Benfica,
saying: “The players worked little and
didn’t really care.
“I didn’t feel that Benfica had a squad.
What it had was a ‘bunch’ of players
who’d been signed haphazardly.”
One player, Egyptian midfielder
Abdel Sabry, proved particularly difficult.
He had wanted to play as a number ten
but Mourinho asked him to play a more
disciplined role on the left flank. Sabry
was briefly given a more central
opportunity in a league game against
Belenenses but had lost the ball five
times in16 minutes, allowing
Belenenses to counter-attack.
“A number ten player must display
a high tactical level in order to be a link
between the defence and attack, but not
the defence and attack of the opponent,”
Mourinho observed acerbically.
Although there had not been another
club interested in Mourinho’s services,
there soon would be. Uniao de Leiria
were already punching above their
weight in the Portuguese top flight
and they identified him as the man
to take them to the next level.
Away from the spotlight, Mourinho
had a chance to implement his ideas
on tactics and media management.
Ahead of a game against Benfica,
Mourinho gave an interview to the Leiria
club website, in which he boasted: “With
four players from Uniao de Leiria, I’d
make champions out of Benfica.” The
match ended in a draw, and Mourinho’s
pre-game comments would be cited as

“I have a problem –


I’mgettingbetterateverything


relatedtomyjobsinceIstarted”


Jose Mourinho


THE PREM ERA 17
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