He's always been a megalomaniac, of course, but now he just sounds like some school bully boasting about how many kids give him their dinner money. I bet he's really pissed off that Klopp is getting so much media attention. (The picture, though, is priceless - ghastly new-fan wanker in an Armani fleece, and Maureen looking like he's about to overturn the table and run out into the street to grab the neck of a horse in a syphillitic-induced Nietzschean rage.)
The launch of a book marking the success of Chelsea’s manager was overshadowed by rather more pressing concerns
A new book celebrates José Mourinho’s past glories but conversation, inevitably, was drawn to present crises; Chelsea down at 16th in the Barclays Premier League table, their manager clashing with the FA yet again, the former team doctor engaging lawyers and one report of a dressing-room mutiny.
Mourinho might have wanted to sift through his back catalogue but circumstances demanded that he address more pressing concerns that add up to one of the most testing periods of the Portuguese’s career.
The latest suggestion was of unrest among his players on top of faltering performances on the pitch. Mourinho had his response prepared, citing the public support of many in his squad.
“My reaction is Begovic said we had the best manager in the world,” Mourinho said. “Zouma the same. JT, ‘we have the manager we want, the one who can help us to revive this situation’. Diego Costa? ‘If you ask every player in the world, they will all answer the same, that they’d like to work with three managers and one of them is this one.’
“Who else? Fàbregas, the same. Ramires, the same. Loftus-Cheek, the same. Cahill, the same. Eden Hazard, very similar.”
Mourinho tried to finish with a joke — “I think the mutiny must be . . . Baba . . . who else? Papy? Falcao? Oscar? So these four don’t play Saturday for sure” — but this is new territory when a serial winner is having to scour the papers for references from his players.
Like his recent instruction to the club hierarchy that it would send out the wrong message to sack “the best manager Chelsea ever had”, Mourinho is having to lead a very public defence of his position.
“I signed a new contract a few months ago,” Mourinho said. “When I signed it was not to run away from responsibilities, but to work and fight and wait for the results of our work.”
He expects to endure through this period of turbulence. Though at the launch of Mourinho, a new picture-book, the Portuguese did speculate on how long he will last at Stamford Bridge.
At 52, he said that he expects to continue working for another 15 years, although not necessarily in west London.
“I did 15 years, I have 15 more to do,” he said. “I’ll finish at 67. Can I stay 15 more years at Chelsea? I don’t think so. I don’t think modern football allows it any more. So normally I will not finish my career at Chelsea. I would like to, but I don’t think it’s possible.”
The question is pressing as Chelsea seek to climb out of the bottom half of the table, already seven points off a Champions League place and ten behind Manchester City.
He also faces questions over the form of senior players, including Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fàbregas, while John Terry has been regularly left out of the team.
Mourinho insisted that, despite recent problems, he had no regrets about coming back to the club where, after all, he did win the Premier League title last season. He claimed that this difficult period could act as the springboard for fresh glories.
There is a photograph in the book of Mourinho holding up eight fingers to represent the number of league titles in his career. “I wrote that I still have two fingers, but I also have feet,” he said. “So I don’t think I’m going to be just ten times a champion in my career. I also have feet.”
It is hard to imagine another title coming next May, with off-field turbulence on top of poor results. Mourinho has been given another punishment by the FA this week while Chelsea could be taken to an employment tribunal by Eva Carneiro, the former team doctor. In The Times, Graeme Le Saux accused Mourinho of setting back the work of women in football. “Mourinho could have reduced the fallout if he had just apologised,” Le Saux, the former defender, wrote. “I comment if I think a person deserves a comment,” Mourinho responded.
He added that he was proud that the book was free of controversy, but noted that it comes out “in a moment when my football results are contradictory to the history I have in this book”. But, he added, “that is just a detail” rather than evidence that he has lost his way.
The launch of a book marking the success of Chelsea’s manager was overshadowed by rather more pressing concerns
A new book celebrates José Mourinho’s past glories but conversation, inevitably, was drawn to present crises; Chelsea down at 16th in the Barclays Premier League table, their manager clashing with the FA yet again, the former team doctor engaging lawyers and one report of a dressing-room mutiny.
Mourinho might have wanted to sift through his back catalogue but circumstances demanded that he address more pressing concerns that add up to one of the most testing periods of the Portuguese’s career.
The latest suggestion was of unrest among his players on top of faltering performances on the pitch. Mourinho had his response prepared, citing the public support of many in his squad.
“My reaction is Begovic said we had the best manager in the world,” Mourinho said. “Zouma the same. JT, ‘we have the manager we want, the one who can help us to revive this situation’. Diego Costa? ‘If you ask every player in the world, they will all answer the same, that they’d like to work with three managers and one of them is this one.’
“Who else? Fàbregas, the same. Ramires, the same. Loftus-Cheek, the same. Cahill, the same. Eden Hazard, very similar.”
Mourinho tried to finish with a joke — “I think the mutiny must be . . . Baba . . . who else? Papy? Falcao? Oscar? So these four don’t play Saturday for sure” — but this is new territory when a serial winner is having to scour the papers for references from his players.
Like his recent instruction to the club hierarchy that it would send out the wrong message to sack “the best manager Chelsea ever had”, Mourinho is having to lead a very public defence of his position.
“I signed a new contract a few months ago,” Mourinho said. “When I signed it was not to run away from responsibilities, but to work and fight and wait for the results of our work.”
He expects to endure through this period of turbulence. Though at the launch of Mourinho, a new picture-book, the Portuguese did speculate on how long he will last at Stamford Bridge.
At 52, he said that he expects to continue working for another 15 years, although not necessarily in west London.
“I did 15 years, I have 15 more to do,” he said. “I’ll finish at 67. Can I stay 15 more years at Chelsea? I don’t think so. I don’t think modern football allows it any more. So normally I will not finish my career at Chelsea. I would like to, but I don’t think it’s possible.”
The question is pressing as Chelsea seek to climb out of the bottom half of the table, already seven points off a Champions League place and ten behind Manchester City.
He also faces questions over the form of senior players, including Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fàbregas, while John Terry has been regularly left out of the team.
Mourinho insisted that, despite recent problems, he had no regrets about coming back to the club where, after all, he did win the Premier League title last season. He claimed that this difficult period could act as the springboard for fresh glories.
There is a photograph in the book of Mourinho holding up eight fingers to represent the number of league titles in his career. “I wrote that I still have two fingers, but I also have feet,” he said. “So I don’t think I’m going to be just ten times a champion in my career. I also have feet.”
It is hard to imagine another title coming next May, with off-field turbulence on top of poor results. Mourinho has been given another punishment by the FA this week while Chelsea could be taken to an employment tribunal by Eva Carneiro, the former team doctor. In The Times, Graeme Le Saux accused Mourinho of setting back the work of women in football. “Mourinho could have reduced the fallout if he had just apologised,” Le Saux, the former defender, wrote. “I comment if I think a person deserves a comment,” Mourinho responded.
He added that he was proud that the book was free of controversy, but noted that it comes out “in a moment when my football results are contradictory to the history I have in this book”. But, he added, “that is just a detail” rather than evidence that he has lost his way.
