Jose Mourinho. A self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ years
ago when he first joined Chelsea. And now in his second stint at Chelsea, he is
both the good and the bad ‘Special One’. He is special in football management.
He won trophies and he is loved by his players. He is in the same league as Sir
Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola, Jupp Heynckes, Brian Clough, Louis
van Gaal, Ottmar Hitzfeld, and many more. Maybe he is well above most of those
names in terms of success. But his bad behavior often let him down. He is
‘special’ in creating controversies and provoking others.
Recently, Mourinho once again created controversy
when he chose to shake opposition manager’s hand before the match had even
finished its 90 minutes. This time it was against Aston Villa. Mourinho was
seen trying to shake the hand of the Aston Villa manager, Paul Lambert and his
assistant, Roy Keane. But both Keane and Lambert rejected his offer and they
have every right to do so. This was more than dozen times where Mourinho chose
to that. He was seen regularly doing the early handshake during his time as the
Real Madrid manager. Roy Keane was right when he said that Mourinho would have
been punched in the face had he does that in England’s lower division. Everyone
would have not like that action by Mourinho. From The Writer’s point of view,
the early handshake ritual shows a serious lack of respect for your counterpart
in the dugout. Whatever the score of the game, managers cannot do that. What is
so important that you need to chase off by leaving the game early? If it is an
emergency, it is an excusable act. If it is not, it is just a disgrace act. It
shows ego and a bunch of them. Even if managers do hate his counterparts, the
most professional thing would have been a handshake at the final whistle.
Football is just a game, not a war field. There are a whole lot of people
watching from TV, especially the kids. The kids need to see good behavior as
they will have the players and the managers as their role model.
Over the years, Mourinho were also involved in
several controversies. Here The Writer offers his memory in some of Mourinho’s
best remembered bad moments.
1)
The Frisk-Rijkaard controversy
After Didier
Drogba was dismissed during Chelsea’s last-16 match against Barcelona in 2005,
Mourinho had some choice of words regarding referee Anders Frisk's performance.
He said, “When I saw Frank Rijkaard (the then Barcelona coach) entering the
referee’s dressing room I couldn’t believe it. When Didier Drogba was sent off
(after half-time) I wasn’t surprised”. Frisk announced his retirement soon
after and the head of UEFA’s referee committee, Volker Rioth, branded Mourinho
“an enemy of football”. Mourinho was handed a two-match touchline ban.
2)
Throwing his medal into the crowd
During his first
season in charge of Chelsea, Mourinho guided the team to the title, the club's
first since 1954-55. They won it again a year later, and second time round
Mourinho elected to give away his winner’s medal by throwing it into the crowd. The
England FA, presumably thinking that he'd done it by accident, gave him another
one - and he promptly throws that one into the crowd as well. He said,
"The medal was for everybody, but I think the person in the crowd who got
the medal is a lucky guy", "Whoever caught them has a great souvenir.
Unless they put it on eBay and make a fortune." He wasn't wrong: one of
the medals was caught by Dean Juckes, who sold it four years later for £16,800.
3)
Shoving with Arsene Wenger
Jose Mourinho's
simmering feud with Arsene Wenger boiled over as the two teams met in October
2014 when the pair was involved in an extraordinary physical confrontation
during Chelsea's 2-0 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. The managers squared
up to each other midway through the first half, exchanging shoves before
getting a ticking off from referee Martin Atkinson - though they were lucky not
to be sent to the stands.
4)
Tapping-up Ashley Cole
On 2 June 2005,
Mourinho was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with the then Arsenal
full-back Ashley Cole in January 2005 in breach of the Premier League rules.
His fine was later reduced to £75,000 after a hearing in August. Later
that year, he labelled Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger "a voyeur" after
being irked at what he saw as the latter's apparent obsession with Chelsea.
Wenger was furious with the remark and considered taking legal action against
Mourinho. However, the animosity died down and the two managers made
peace after Mourinho admitted that he regretted making the comment. Ashley Cole
nonetheless faced the bash from the Arsenal fans when they called him ‘Cashley
Cole’, a nicknamed referred to his intention to join Chelsea because of more
money incentives.
5)
Poking Tito Vilanova
Mourinho’s
rivalry with Barcelona grew even stronger when he was appointed Real Madrid
boss. After a bad tackle sparked a scuffle in the El Clasico in 2011, he took
it on himself to poke Barca assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye, before facing a
suspension for the incident. Such a shame act. Vilanova seemed a harmless
opponent of Mourinho for him to poke Vilanova’s eye in the first place. If it
was Pep Guardiola’s eye, then we will have a real battle.
Whatever it is,
Mourinho needs to learn to control his attitude. He is a public figure and he
needs to show respect to others in order for others to respect him. Take Sir
Alex Ferguson for example. People respect him because of his great football
management and his behaviour. New managers look to Sir Alex in getting advices
on and off the pitch. The Writer doesn’t see this happening to Mourinho. Other
managers will only want war with him. It surely will not end in a peaceful way.
The latest controversy that Mourinho created was last Saturday’s game against
Crystal Palace. Upon winning 2-0 against Crystal Palace, Mourinho declared that
his team would have won the league in other countries by the way they dominated
EPL this early season. That would have not pleased the other 19 managers of EPL
and The Writer hopes he eats his words at the end of this current 2014/2015 season.
He needs to learn his lesson every now and then. Another thing from that
Crystal Palace match, Mourinho referred his Chelsea players as having ‘Big
Balls’ in dominating the game from start to finish. That comment was also an
unwelcomed one, Jose. Behave yourself!
