Why Mourinho Polarizes Opinion

From his teething coaching days in Benfica, Jose Mourinho already had the makings of pure box office. The notoriety became pronounced after he lifted the Champions League trophy with FC Porto, against all odds. His arrival in English football at the summer of 2004 fully entrenched him into footballing lexicon; and coaching narrative was going to be redefined forever.

Today, one can clearly say that Jose has come of age in coaching terms. He has been around for the better part of two decades, and irrespective of the disdain anyone holds for him, he is an undisputed serial winner. Since 2002, Mourinho has won eight league titles across Portugal, England, Italy and Spain. He has bagged the Champions League twice, won the Europa League twice and added thirteen other domestic cups along the way. Yet, each time Jose Mourinho’s name is in the narrative, there is still a contention, a polarization of opinion and a twinge of vitriolic spewing around in the verbiage. The kind that is not present when a certain Pep Guardiola or Sir Alex Ferguson are being discussed.

To my mind, there are two issues here. Jose Mourinho’s brand of football has always had pragmatism at the center. In his early days, this was perfectly acceptable as perhaps only Barcelona had the prerogative of being tagged ‘tiki-taka.’ But football has evolved since 2004, and sadly Jose has not done enough to evolve with it. From Manchester City to Liverpool, to Napoli to Bayer Munich, there is now more to winning than the score line. Most of the aforementioned clubs have showed that it is possible to win and win well. Jose’s plight has also been made complicated by the fact that he is not winning as much these days. A lot can be overlooked by a good run of results, but the diverse scrutiny is unleashed when this is not a given. But this is not all of Jose’s sins. He has also earned a reputation as the master of the dark acts in coaching. From storming off the pitch before full time, to poking the eyes of then Barcelona assistant manager, Tito Vilanova, he hasn’t covered himself in glory. Football is a game of passion and emotions, and it is acceptable in speaking terms that a manager or player will lose his head every now and then but there is something gross about Jose’s history in this regard. An evidence of that can be seen in his treatment by Chelsea fans at the last visit of Manchester United to the Bridge. There is a place for footballing rivalry but to be so grossly scorned by a set of fans you helped put their football club on the map probably says a lot about you as a person. One cannot purge the Chelsea fans of all blames though and it is perhaps true that Jose Mourinho will be truly revered when he eventually calls it quit on the touchline.

Jose Mourinho will remain a legend and his coaching exploits will forever be extant. But when he does a genuine inquest he will see that much of the inimical narrative that accompanies him, he brought upon himself. Fans like the rest of the world move on eventually but character, grace and reputation are hallmarks of a man that will always be remembered in the final analysis.