The Special One
It's been on everyone's mind for some time now, but the news late last night that Jose Mourinho is in fact leaving Chelsea still came as something of a shock for the football world. Mourinho has been remarkably successful at the helm of the Blues, two consecutive Premiership titles since taking over in June of 2004, and yet constant friction with management and the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, evidently made his departure inevitable. Mourinho leaves with three years left on his contract, and now becomes the most sought-after unemployed coach in world football, with the man himself on record as saying that he covets the head coaching gig for his native Portugal's national team. He is replaced at Stamford Bridge by former Israel coach Avram Grant.
Apparently, Abramovich's insistence on interfering with his coach's personnel decisions, particularly in regard to the expensive, and largely ineffective, Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko, was the final straw for Mourinho. The whole situation reminds me of the Jimmy Johnson/Jerry Jones smackdown that led to Jimmy leaving the Cowboys in '93 after winning his second straight Super Bowl. Think about it - a much-beloved franchise with a huge national profile, a phenomenally successful coach with preternaturally perfect hair coming off two straight championships, and a meddling, ego-maniacal owner who wants to call the shots and doesn't know when to leave well enough alone. I suppose the Blues' supporters can take comfort in this analogy by knowing that the Cowboys managed another championship under their next coach (rootin-tootin Barry Switzer) although of course he did it with Johnson's team and vision largely intact. As for Mourinho, somehow I imagine him having more success in his next venture than ole Jimmy did in Miami, although it does sound like he wants, as Jimmy did, to go home again, which is always a fraught enterprise. Maybe, however, he'll just return to Portugal and take up a second career... as, say, a talk-show host, or a sommelier...
13 Comments:
And so begin again the dark days of Chelsea. Ken Bates must be loving this. They won't win any hardware with Grant (Abramovich handpuppet) at the helm. Running a top flight club isn't like managing your Russian Oil monopoly, where money and money alone solves problems.
Competing against two of the more shrewd minds in the Premiership (Wenger and Benitez) along with the new and improved purchasing power of Man Utd, Chelsea will soon assume the role Spurs long held... perennially close, but not close enough.
Mourinho prepared for each match with pages and pages of precise notes and gameplans. He is a phenominal manager when left to his own devices. Now they're talking about Deschamps taking over eventually. Prepare for expensive suckage akin to the Baltimore Orioles.
this whole thing sickens me. i loved mourinho as a manager.
the only solace will be if he coaches the u.s. national team. i know he wants portugal, but he'd be such a fantastic choice for the u.s.
Nice write-up, but comparing Chelsea to the Cowboys doesn't work. The Cowboys have been successful and had a large following throughout their history. Chelsea, on the other hand, have been mid-table with average support throughout their history.
Cowboys were completely in the shitter when Jimmy came in though. He completely made that team over.
And let me just add one more word - completely.
Well, things are going from bad to worse with Chelsea. Now Drogba (and his 33 goals last season) says he wants out. I wonder if Essien will be far behind. I am finding myself rooting for Chelsea to lose even more now, not sure why.
This is the biggest mistake they've made yet. And these are the people that put Frank Arnesen in charge of their recruiting. That incompetent man wanted the Top Spot since Mourinho came on. Peter Kenyon is also a bitch. This team will be done at the end of the season. If they bring in Deschamps they'll be able to compete but Avram Grant has as much charisma as John Kerry. This is not good.
Yep. Wouldn't it be something if Sven and Man City keep their form and sneak into the top 4 ahead of Chelsea? That's what i'm rooting for. Roman did this because he wants to win the European Cup, but wouldn't it be something if they didn't qualify next year? Oh, I'm just drooling. And I'm a lowly Norwich City Canaries supporter.
We here at The Rooster Consulting would like Mourinho to come over the Arsenal. Thank you very much and we will be sending that to the Arsenal board of directors. Nuff said.
We would also like Rickey Henderson to be on the sideline with Mourinho.
WHAAATTTT?
Are you kidding?
You would replace Wenger with Mourinho?
That would be the dumbest move ever. Wenger makes sure that a relatively poor club like Arsenal gets the best young players before theyt become internatinal superstars. Who would have thought that Fabregas would become FABREGAS three years ago. The guy bought Kolo Touré in Cote d'Ivoire 6 years ago for 150000 pounds.
Arsene still knows.
I think I'd also rather have Wenger. Especially if you watch the games. Arsenal plays the most attractive brand of football in the Premier League. It's a pleasure to watch. It didn't really work out for them last year, league-wise, but its nice to see them back top (albeit only after 5 games).
Hiring Mourinho to coach Arsenal would be a huge mistake, just like hiring Arsene to coach Chelsea would be a huge mistake. Two very different teams, two very different managers, and each one was the right one for their situation.
I'm wondering how long it's going to take for the Chelsea fans to call for Abramovich's head. I'm guessing... by Christmas, and then it heats up even more when Chelsea don't qualify for the Champions League.
Oh, by the way, Benitez is even more of a douchebag now. Fergie and Arsene honor Mourinho with kind words but Rafa refuses to comment. He's always been jealous of Mourinho, and he's a jerk.
Yes he's a jerk but what else is new. They hated each other and Benitez has always been jealous of Mourinho's recognition. He went to the final of the Champions league twice in three years and Mourinho said something like "I feel the premiership is harder to win than the CL". Mourinho was cocky but not an asshole. Benitez plays the humility card but is a douchebag.
As for Arsenal, they just destroyed Derby County 5-0.
Post a Comment
<< Home