[Archived] Jose Mourinho

[neekoy]

Disgraceful and unrepeatable?

Considering what is said on a football feild it must have involved Poll, Fergie, Rock of Gilbraltar and Peanut Butter.

[Roaming Rover]

Jose could learn a lot from this. Actually the premierleague should make all players and managers watch this

Edited June 15, 2007 by Roaming Rover

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Maureen not happy

It will be interesting to see if Mourinho has a full-scale bust-up in the coming season with Grant - the Jewish Director of Football, hand-picked by Abramovich. It's been reported that Grant will be given quite wide-ranging powers - including involvement in coaching, signing players and their recruitment.

Roman's desire to appoint Grant in January was said to be one of the reasons for the big row between Abramovich and Mouinho last season, who apparently has threatened to walk out on Chelsea in the past if there was any interference with his backroom staff.

A fragile truce between Jose and Abramovich might be shattered before long. It couldn't happen to a nicer club - well maybe apart from Man United. I fear that Fergie will win the Premiership again next season.

[thenodrog]

Events of last season and this coming one indicate to me that Abromovich is determined to get rid of the seemingly fans favourite Mourhino by chipping away to make his position eventually untenable.

I'd wager that he will not see out next season.

Edited July 11, 2007 by thenodrog

[Cocker]

Maureen not happy

It will be interesting to see if Mourinho has a full-scale bust-up in the coming season with Grant - the Jewish Director of Football, hand-picked by Abramovich. It's been reported that Grant will be given quite wide-ranging powers - including involvement in coaching, signing players and their recruitment.

Roman's desire to appoint Grant in January was said to be one of the reasons for the big row between Abramovich and Mouinho last season, who apparently has threatened to walk out on Chelsea in the past if there was any interference with his backroom staff.

I dont like Maureen one little bit however, I have to agree with him here. A manager of a football team should be able to manage it the way he wants and buy the players he wants in his team. Real Madrid showed for a couple of seasons that you can have the best players in the world in your team but that dosnt mean to say they will gel together and win anything and the board tend to hand pick who they want in that team.

I think Jose is a little jealous of Fergie this year - and I like it.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

I'd wager that he will not see out next season.

You were right Gordon....

I wonder how long it will be before 'The Special One' returns to the game ? Under the terms of his Chelsea settlement he can't join another English club until next season at the earliest, but in any case Jose has indicated that England won't be his next destination. There's been plenty of speculation that a major European club (one of the Milan giants perhaps?) has already tapped him up for next season.

The suspicion has to be that Mourinho was using the publicity of a potential England job to prompt an offer from a major European club. I suspect (but I can't prove) that Jose always had doubts about the wisdom of taking the England job, but he enjoyed his name being linked with it nevertheless.

Italian football may well suit Mourinho's football philosophy. He favours a defensively tight unit first and foremost, rather than a fluent open attractive style of play. He often played Drogba as a lone stirker, with five midfielders pressurising play. Last year's FA Cup final between Chelsea and Man United at the New Wembley was a dire spectacle. After all the hype beforehand it turned out to be a dreadful match. But I suppose that Jose would argue that he got the right result and that winning is the only thing that matters to him.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics awarded Mourinho the title of 'World's Best Club Coach' in 2004 with Porto and again in 2005 with Chelsea. But Mourinho is currently reduced at the moment to appearing on Portugese TV as a pundit for that joke of a tournament, the African Nations Cup. How the mighty have fallen - from the 'world's best coach' to discussing the virtues of Zambia against Sudan and Guinea versus Namibia.

I seem to recall that when he was at Chelsea he hated the African Nations Cup, or perhaps more specifically he hated his players like Drogba and Essien going there. But desperate times call for desperate measures and I suppose he feels the need to earn a few extra pennies now by appearing as a TV pundit before another managerial job turns up.

I didn't like Mourinho's arrogance when he was at Chelsea. There were things he did and said which I didn't agree with at all and I was disgusted with Porto's tactics in the 2003 UEFA Cup final against Celtic. It seemed as if Mourinho had given his Porto players instructions to dive at every opportunity. Let's face it, some of the players he had at Chelsea like Drogba and Robben certainly went down too easily as well. But I suspect Mourinho would argue that this is modern football and other teams do it as well.

Despite my dislike of certain aspects of Jose's tactics, I have to grudgingly admire his record as a coach. He was unbeaten at home in the Premiership for three years at Stamford Bridge. Before that, he was unbeaten at home for a long period with Porto, winning the treble of Portugese domestic league and cup and the UEFA Cup in his first full season in charge there, followed by the Portugese league and the Champions League the following season.

So if you can ignore his egotistical arrogance and sometimes questionable tactics, it's difficult to argue against his managerial record in terms of trophies - apart from perhaps suggesting that with all the money Chelsea had, they should have won at least one Champions League title during his time there. (They were beaten twice in semi-finals against Liverpool and once in the last 16 against Barcelona.)

It's extraordinary in a way that Mourinho not only threw a Premiership medal into the crowd that he won with Chelsea, but he also threw his Champions League medal with Porto into the crowd as well. Most people would guard their football medals like precious crown jewels, but it seems as if Mourinho isn't at all sentimental about them. He just wants to win, full stop. Bugger the medal at the end of it.

I think whichever club gets 'The Special One' next can look forward to a strong possibility of winning trophies in the future. It's likely that Jose will make his next team defensively tight, difficult to break down and tough to beat. It might not always be pretty or stylish to watch, but by God it's often effective.

[philipl]

Essien, Drogba, Kallou and Obi are all Chelsea players- the first two arguably the best they have.

If I were like Mourinho and on gardening leave, there would be nowhere else but the ANC I'd be this January/February.

Manucho, the Angolan Man U have signed looks a frightening prospect if you think about him playing alongside the likes of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo.

[Flopsy]

how is it a joke of a tournament? Much more exciting attacking flowing football than the dirge we get at European and World Championships, must be because they're african then

[herbergeehh]

Seems to be a lot of poor defending, but if you do want attacking football and not the dire "play to win" tactics, the ANC certainly isn't a joke. It's also a big deal for a lot of the African countries, so branding the tournament as a joke is actually quite arrogant.

[American]

how is it a joke of a tournament? Much more exciting attacking flowing football than the dirge we get at European and World Championships, must be because they're african then

Because it's full of dark people.

[Rovermatt]

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics awarded Mourinho the title of 'World's Best Club Coach' in 2004 with Porto and again in 2005 with Chelsea. But Mourinho is currently reduced at the moment to appearing on Portugese TV as a pundit for that joke of a tournament, the African Nations Cup. How the mighty have fallen - from the 'world's best coach' to discussing the virtues of Zambia against Sudan and Guinea versus Namibia.

Why is it a joke?

[AggyBlue]

Why is it a joke?

Have you not seen or read about any of the incidents that have happened over there?

[neekoy]

It still doesn't make it a 'joke'.

You get just as much of a fracas at the Copa America yet we don't call that a 'joke'.

[LeChuck]

I'd rather watch this 'joke' of a tournament than Greece 4-5-1-ing their way to way victory.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

I wonder if Jose Mourinho has allowed himself a wry smile at the current goings-on at Chelsea ?

There's trouble at T'Bridge....

A lacklustre performance from Chelsea in the Carling Cup final has left Roman Abramovich less than pleased. Amid rumours of dressing-room unrest, it's reported that the Chelsea hierarchy have held an inquest into their poor performance at Wembley.

Assistant coach Henk Ten Cate has admitted that he had an angry 'F' word bust-up with captain John Terry during a training session in the build-up to the match.

Avram Grant has been warned that he's in danger of missing out on the pro-licence he needs to continue as a Premiership manager after he pulled out of another coaching class in Israel this week. Israel's head of coaching Amnon Raz says: "Avram will have to be careful because if he misses many more classes, it will be the end for him and he won't get his licence."

Meanwhile Michael Ballack, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole are said to be angry after being dropped for the final on Sunday and several senior Chelsea players are rumoured to be unhappy with Avram Grant's tactics.

Taking over from Jose Mourinho hasn't been an easy task for Grant and many Chelsea fans wish that the 'Special One' had never left.

Two links below for you....

Chelsea players "losing confidence" in Grant

"Chelsea players fuming"

Edited February 28, 2008 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[RevidgeBlue]

I thought it was an unbelievably bad move to axe Mourinho at the time and Chelski seem to be going from being a relatively dull outfit who win things to a relatively dull outfit who can't win things.

Oh dear, what a shame, never mind.....................

[1864roverite]

It appears that all the rumours of discontent are gaining momentum..Avram Grant today walked out of his usual pre weekend CTV production and did not return and as of yet it hasnt been produced.

It is not exactly clear why he walked out as Lampard, Terry, Cech and Carvalho All attended and recorded their own inputs. As of yet that particualr production has not been completed !

Could be interesting as he has also yet to finish his coaching qualifications.

[gumboots]

It appears that all the rumours of discontent are gaining momentum..Avram Grant today walked out of his usual pre weekend CTV production and did not return and as of yet it hasnt been produced.

It is not exactly clear why he walked out as Lampard, Terry, Cech and Carvalho All attended and recorded their own inputs. As of yet that particualr production has not been completed !

Could be interesting as he has also yet to finish his coaching qualifications.

Didn't I read too that he'd missed some of the course and so there was some doubt as to whether he could complete his qualifications in time anyway.

[tcj_jones]

If they are looking to bring in a new manager, he will have to be something of a strong character. I could see this situation occuring when Grant was named manager - he doesn't see to have any personality, let alone a strong one.

[joshbrfc]

Grant is boring compared to mourinho.. and he's no were near as good as a manager.

In extra time in the cup final alll grant did was get terry to go and talk to them all, he's a completely different guy to mourinho, mourinho wore his heart on his sleeve. i remember when he was the manager in the cup final they had which also went to extra time, just everything he did was better than Grant no doubt whos the better manager.

[Presty On Tour]

when mourinho left chelsea, there was a clause in his redundancy that he couldn't manage another team in england until next season.

i think he's a character really missed tbh and the fact that he could have gone to say spain or italy to manage there but hasn't shows signs that maybe he could be back in the prem next season.

[Tris]

If they are looking to bring in a new manager, he will have to be something of a strong character. I could see this situation occuring when Grant was named manager - he doesn't see to have any personality, let alone a strong one.

Do you actually know anything about the guy? I'd say to get where he's got to has taken a remarkable personality.

Interesting reading on Avram Grant -

Avram Grant's family haunted by Holocaust

Chelsea Manager Avram Grant's proud father

[LeftWinger]

I'd say to get where he's got to has taken a remarkable personality.

Well I certainly wouldn't get stuck in a conversation with him. He comes across as incredibly dour and miserable.

[1864roverite]

I can now add a little more to the Ag tantrum.

apparently he was going to be asked to comment on stories linking terry, lampard and others to potential transfers as a result of his team selection for the cup final and was none to happy to oblige. Such was his fluster he left forthwith, the production being finished this mornng with focus solely on the weekend game. NO mention of the cup final defeat and no mention of the players !!

[tcj_jones]

Do you actually know anything about the guy? I'd say to get where he's got to has taken a remarkable personality.

Interesting reading on Avram Grant -

Avram Grant's family haunted by Holocaust

Chelsea Manager Avram Grant's proud father

It was a passing presumption, I don't really know anything about the guy, but with a number of players publically voicing their discontent and after the stories in the paper, you could be forgiven for presuming that maybe he doesn't have the full confidence of the dressing room, certainly not in the way that Mourinho did. My last comment was somewhat toungue-in-cheek.