azing
through
panes of glass
at the stage
he once
commanded, Jose
Mourinho’s new life as a
Sky Sports pundit casts
him in the role of a
lifetime: football’s
irreverent outsider.
Just like all those years
ago when studying sports
science at a Lisbon
university or working as
a translator for Sir Bobby
Robson, top-level football
is something for
Mourinho to observe
from afar while adulation
and respect is lavished
upon lesser mortals.
Boy does it sting, as a
recent social media video
of a lachrymose
Mourinho reflecting on
his summer with no
periodised training to
plan and no tempestuous
press conferences to
orchestrate showed.
“I miss my football,Self-made
Mourinho
always the
outsider
looking in
Portuguese finds
himself cast in
a new but still
familiar role as
a pundit for Sky,
says Daniel Zeqiri
outside looking in is the
psychological dynamic
that has fuelled
Mourinho’s coaching
career.
The script is a well-
worn one across many
spheres of life: the
self-made man who
proves there is room at
the top, usurping the
silver spoon-fed
members of the upper
crust with his
intelligence, knowledge
and charm.
Think Michael Caine’s
Harry Palmer in The
Ipcress File but with
laminated set-piece
routines.
Breaking into football’s
aristocracy while sticking
two fingers up at them
has brought Mourinho
two Champions Leagues
and first division titles in
four major leagues. He is,
friend or foe, one of the
greatest managers of the
modern era.
His status as an
insubordinate gate-
crasher might just be the
source of some of his
neurosis, however. For
while Mourinho had the
medals, it always seemed
to grate that a commodity
money cannot buy
escaped him: class.
Footballing class that is,
or, to borrow a phrasefrom the man himself,
“football heritage”.
The deference afforded
Arsene Wenger, an
adopted English
gentleman in all but
name, used to infuriate.
He was never granted
omnipotence at a single
club like Sir Alex
Ferguson. Unlike Pep
Guardiola or Johan
Cruyff, there was noinstant gravitas thanks to
a glittering and artistic
playing career.
Mourinho never had
the athletic attributes to
make it as a player, and
that too has informed his
identity as a coach.
Generational difference
may be at play, but since
the second half of his
spell at Real Madrid, his
relationship with
footballers has become
increasingly fractious.
The former Chelsea
and Porto manager’s
experimentation withconfrontational
leadership, pushing his
charges to the limit in
search of a reaction, has
had diminishing returns.
Many Chelsea and
Inter Milan players will
speak about Mourinho
with something
approaching love, so the
attritional aspects of his
character can be
overstated. So much of
Mourinho’s behaviour
though makes sense
when you think of him as
a frustrated footballer – a
man who never had his
time under bright lights
and was keen to make up
for lost time.
Running down the
touchline in celebration
at Old Trafford; shaking
hands with his Chelsea
staff before full-time at
Highbury; taking his seat
in the dugout before the
players emerge to ensure
maximum on-camera
time. All of these are
forms of showboating,
like the stepovers
Mourinho missed out on.
An irony then, that he
should spend his time in
exile surrounded by
former professionals in a
television studio – an
all-too-chummy milieu
where medals are
currency and thighs are
slapped.
What of Mourinho the
pundit? We have not seen
him since he dissected
Chelsea and Manchester
United, but the signs
were promising. The
technical knowledge is
without question, and he
adds impressive detail on
the challenges of facing
the best around today
rather than rose-tinted
war stories about
rivalries long gone. His
discussion with Jamie
Carragher and Gary
Neville about the
difference between
changing systems and
unchanging principles
was a corker.
It is not where
Mourinho belongs, but
then marching out of step
is nothing new for
football’s outsider.Old Trafford return: Jose Mourinho (left) with Graeme Souness (centre) and David Jones
G
He never had
the attributes
to make it as
a player and
that informed
him as a coach
In tomorrow’s Sport section
Moe Sbihi column
Losers may train
harder, but I have
every intention of
being a winner
I have the fire,” Mourinho
told Sky Sports as he was
unveiled as their splashy
new signing and spoke of
his desire to return to
management. On thePAFinal whistle
28 *** Monday 26 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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