So, it finally happened—Chelsea fired Jose Mourinho.
For a top club to lose nine Premier League matches before the Christmas schedule even begins is unacceptable, and very few managers would survive such a performance, but it is still one of those “wow” moments when it actually happens. Mourinho is no longer at Chelsea, something so unfathomable yet so predictable all at once.
This was a man who admitted his undying love for Chelsea upon his triumphant return less than three years ago, a man who learned from the past, and although he enjoyed great success in Italy and Spain, he was always destined to return to the club he called home.
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A tremor of fear was felt throughout the Premier League on that day in 2013. “The Special One” was back, and he was set to embark on another dominating period for high spending Chelsea.
In truth, though, the spending was far less flamboyant than during his previous tenure with the Blues. Also, the football his team played was typically pragmatic, something that ownership frowned upon during his first stint in the job, and frankly Mourinho’s Chelsea benefited from a sub-par Premier League where the threats of yesteryear just weren’t up to the challenge.
Had Mourinho mellowed this time around? Not a chance. Previously his enormous ego was balanced and accepted due to his wonderful charisma and charm. This season, however, he seemed angry, paranoid and his God complex verged on megalomania.
After a slow start to the campaign, Mourinho’s incredible blame-game with the team’s medical staff rang warning bells. After that came an absolute verbal war with the referees, and the Premier League in general. His players stopped playing too, and perhaps that was the biggest sign that all was not well behind the scenes.
Traditionally, Mourinho’s players love him, they will bleed for him. But this season, as so often happens in Year 3 of Mourinho reigns, his team either forgot how to play, or decided they didn’t want to play.
In recent weeks Mourinho’s tirades faded, perhaps due to a huge fine levied against him from an earlier indiscretion, and then on Monday, after a loss to Leicester City he essentially waved the white flag. Mourinho threw his team under the bus, and asked the question: was last season simply down to him rather than the players?
He suggested that through his managerial brilliance, he managed to create a championship team out of a group of very average players. That was the death knell; his team was not going to play for their boss now, were they?
Throw in what is happening elsewhere in the managerial ranks across Europe, and ownership had little choice but to make this move. Pep Guardiola is soon to announce he will be the biggest managerial free agent available next season, while Carlo Ancelotti sits and weighs his suddenly increasing options.
Mourinho’s reputation has taken an enormous blow, but he is still one of the top managers in world football, and if he has learned from this experience (which he has not done in the past it should be said) he will again have his pick of jobs, and surely a team such as Manchester United has to take note.
It is a disappointing day. I generally enjoy Jose, as he brings so much to the game. But if I’m honest, this season he was becoming a bore. Still, I will miss him.
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