Jose Mourinho won two Premiership titles during his three-year stint at Chelsea. (Sang Tan/Associated Press)
Soccer: John F. Molinaro
Deification of Jose Mourinho is premature
Last Updated Friday, September 28, 2007
by John F. Molinaro
Unlike his entrance, Jose Mourinho's exit from the English Premiership was notable for its silence.
When the Portuguese manager arrived at Chelsea in 2004, fresh off leading FC Porto to a Champions League title, he triumphantly told English reporters, "I'm a European champion and I think I'm a special one."
When Mourinho quit as Chelsea manager last week, he quietly left the country and returned to his native Portugal without saying a word. An official news release from the London-based club citing "irretrievable" differences was the only explanation that English soccer fans and the media were given for the split.
Mourinho's time in the Premiership was brief (just over three years), but he made a lasting impression after guiding Chelsea to two English league titles (including the team's first since 1955), an FA Cup and two League Cups, thus living up to his self-anointed title as the "special one."
The Daily Telegraph's Henry Winter was among the leading British journalists who feted Mourinho following his decision to walk away from Chelsea, calling him a "maverick of the managerial world [who] was driven by the pursuit of trophies."
"Any irritation over occasional spoilt-brat tantrums was offset by Mourinho's immense charm in private, his humour and undoubted brilliance as a [soccer] coach," Winter wrote.
All the major British dailies followed suit, dedicating inches and inches of column space to Mourinho, proclaiming him to be at the very top of his field.
Mourinho is an excellent manager, but is he really the best in the world? I'm sure Marcello Lippi, winner of five Italian league titles, a Champions League crown and a World Cup would have something to say about that, as would Fabio Capello, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and Guus Hiddink.
What's more, Mourinho had the benefit of working for billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich, who lavished the Portuguese with the best players from around the world.
Money, they say, does not guarantee success (you need only look at the recent example of Real Madrid for proof of that), but it doesn't exactly hurt your chances, either. And in Chelsea's case, it was instrumental.
Can anyone seriously doubt that Chelsea, after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on star players in the past three years, have been in a much better position to dominate the Premiership than, say, Fulham or Blackburn, two teams with operating budgets a mere fraction of the Blues'?
Mourinho, to be sure, will go down in history as the greatest manager in Chelsea history, but the Blues' incredible success over the past three seasons had more to do with the financial largesse of Abramovich than Mourinho's coaching acumen.
That's not to say the Portuguese is not an accomplished tactician — he is — but it has to be said that any competent manager, provided with the financial resources of a billionaire sugar daddy, would have been hard-pressed not to produce similar results.
The truth is that while his time at Chelsea won him fame and fortune, his three-year tenure at FC Porto was far more impressive, as he led the modest club of modest financial means to two Portuguese league titles, the UEFA Cup and the Champions League.
However, to hear the British press tell it, Mourinho's success at Chelsea has already earned him a place in English soccer's coaching pantheon.
That's hardly the case, though.
After only three seasons in England, he hasn't even come close to earning the right to be mentioned alongside the likes of Herbert Chapman, who modernized the role of the soccer manager during his time in charge of Arsenal from 1925-34.
Or Sir Alex Ferguson, who took over an underachieving Manchester United in 1986 and turned the club into a global juggernaut, and who has won more trophies than any other manager in the history of English soccer.
Or Brian Clough, who amazingly led a modest Nottingham Forest team to an English league title in 1978, just a year after winning promotion from the second division, and a pair of European Cups.
Or Sir Matt Busby, who rebuilt a Manchester United team decimated by the 1958 Munich air disaster (eight players died in the plane crash, two others were forced to retire) and led the Red Devils to the European Cup in 1968.
Or Bill Shankly, who transformed Liverpool from a team mired in mediocrity into one of the best clubs in England from 1959-74.
Or Bob Paisley, who built on Shankly's legacy and made Liverpool one of the best teams in Europe from 1974-83.
Mourinho may join these legends one day. But for now, the "special one" is not in their class.
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