I’ve been and still would like to be an admirer of Jose Mourinho. I want to see that charismatic manager who once upon a time occupied so much attention for the right reasons.
The Mourinho who creates noise only out of controversy rather than achievements, I don’t enjoy.
It’s a sad reflection on a once-stellar operator morphing from an enigmatic, unique individual to an acerbic critic of everything and everyone.
His latest targets this week have been VAR official Atilla Karaoglan and the whole of Turkish football, which both apparently ‘smell bad’ according to the 61-year-old Fenerbahce manager.
It’s similar to last year when English referee Anthony Taylor and his family were harrassed at Budapest airport after Mourinho confronted and swore at him following Roma’s Europa League final defeat.
Jose Mourinho has rarely been a dull presence on the touchline during his storied career
But the Fenerbahce manager has a predilection for making referees the target of his fury
At the 2023 Europa League final there were ugly scenes between then-Roma boss Mourinho and Anthony Taylor
Even for someone who likes their managers to have a bit of bite and capable of putting people in their place, as Mourinho does, you can’t excuse such poor behaviour. And, sadly, while I have this desire to see the old Jose re-emerge, I don’t think we will.
I’m not an expert on the standards of Turkish officialdom but given Mourinho’s past pedigree, perhaps the real frustration he feels is the deterioration of his own career. You don’t land at Fenerbahce, with all due respect to them, because you’re a winning, elite manager.
This is a man who won big trophies for Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Manchester United. He is not in the ascendancy now. The attention he gets is because of what he has achieved in the past. His deeds in the present are few.
I was always a supporter and advocate of his. He is, or was, a breath of fresh air. He’s always had a narcissistic, dark and destructive streak but it’s more prevalent now, with no solutions provided.
His tantrum about the ‘system’ after beating Trabzonspor 3-2 – he was angry that they were awarded two penalties – is ultimately disrespectful to the people he works for and the country he manages in.
Referees shouldn’t be beyond reproach but there is a way of expressing yourself. They are easy targets. Imagine Jose’s reaction if they had responded and called him a child of a manager; uncouth, unpalatable and trying to bully people into his way of thinking.
I’ll say this again: Jose’s presence in football over the last 20 years has fundamentally been enhancing and illuminating. But there comes a point when you have to turn around and say this is a declining force. An empty vessel beginning to make a lot of noise. Or a lot of noise beginning to become an empty vessel.
During the earlier years of his time in the dugout Mourinho was more ebullient than mean-spirited (pictured during his second stint as Chelsea manager)
But as his prospects have declined his darker side has emerged with more frequency
The economics of football give its major participants freedom of expression without fear of the consequences. Yet Jose isn’t a club owner or in a position of influence or authority over anybody except the players. So when he steps outside of that remit to take aim at the structure that he works within, I don’t know what it says.
To make the observation that the only person in London watching Turkish football is his son, what does that say about him going to Istanbul to manage? Maybe he feels he has to make this sort of noise to make himself relevant in a relative backwater of domestic football.
Once upon a time, you brought in Jose Mourinho, you won things. Fener have finished league runners-up six times since they were last Turkish champions in 2014. Where are they currently? Third, five points behind leaders Galatasaray.
I am sure he’d love to come back to England – and maybe this ‘outrage’ is part of an escape plan – but it is difficult to make a case for it.
If you are a top-six club, you are not taking Jose Mourinho any more. If you are a middle tier club, you are inviting trouble because he is a ‘give him what he wants, when he wants it’ manager, which financially you are unable. And if you are bottom tier, Mourinho is not going there. He now sits in his own personal Bermuda Triangle!
Mourinho came to Turkey on a wave of positivity but has since hinted at a potential Premier League return
Everton is an interesting idea given the potential of the club with a new stadium and new owners could make them a real force again. But while I know football is a strange business, why would the likely new buyer Daniel Friedkin re-employ Jose at Everton having relieved him of his services at Roma?
Sometimes you don’t want complete harmony at a club because you need people to be at it but most of the time you also require some form of stability and I am not sure Jose is getting any better. In fact he is getting worse. He was at Roma for two and a half years until he was sacked in January. It was a job beset with challenges but even taking that into account, Mourinho caused division and confrontation in equal measure.
If you are going to bring in an impact manager, which is what Mourinho tends to be, you have to evaluate what that impact will be.
To paraphrase his latest soundbite, today’s Mourinho seems to be more about noise than achievement – and leaving a bad smell.
I’m impressed by straight-speaking Postecoglou
We usually see Ange Postecoglou looking down at the floor during television interviews but on his behalf I felt like shouting ‘up yours!’ to those who questioned the Tottenham manager’s decision to hook captain Son Heung-min during Sunday’s 4-1 win over Aston Villa.
One pundit asked ‘what is he thinking?’ when the change was made at 1-1 and they’d have been all over the Spurs manager like a bad suit if it hadn’t worked out.
It turns out Ange’s thinking was to go out and smash Villa, and he was proven more than right for a brave decision even if Son’s reaction to being withdrawn wasn’t helpful.
I’ve always liked Antipodeans. They are straight speakers. Postecoglou – I won’t call him Big Ange because he’s hardly Steve Evans – doesn’t look for cover.
He puts himself at risk of a backlash by making bold statements, like having no glass ceiling or always winning trophies in his second season.
Ange Postecoglou’s decisive call during Tottenham’s thrashing of Tottenham was more evidence of his can-do Aussie mentality
He doesn’t seem to worry about the consequences. It is likely a by-product of his different journey into the higher echelons of the game. He hasn’t been shoehorned into top jobs, he has had to earn it.
Spurs have a realistic chance of winning something for the first time since 2008. Into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, they are also favourites for the Europa League.
Ange has a strange style, not engaging with the camera and seeming to resent being asked certain questions. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a communication asset but he has a can-do Aussie mentality.
Win, lose or draw, Ange’s team will go for it. Maybe when he lifts his first cup, he’ll break into a ear-splitting grin and wave two fingers at his critics, as a victory salute of course!
