Mourinho takes to his new victim status
with relish
Jose Mourinho comes out fighting as he wins the Chelsea fans'
sympathy vote. If Roman Abramovich really is trying to push around
the coach who has inspired the most successful period in Chelsea's
history, the one thing he must realise is that Jose Mourinho will
do nothing quietly.
He's a smart one, Mourinho. In the midst of a power struggle
against the one man in football even he cannot begin to master, he
fought his corner with a rousing appeal to the sympathy vote. It
certainly struck a chord with the faithful. His name was chanted
from the Matthew Harding Stand to the Shed End. They all made an
enthusiastic effort to 'stand up for the Special One'. Last out of
the tunnel, he made his entrance, settled into the manager's seat
and rubbed his hands together. Mourinho 1 Abramovich 0?
This is boardroom hardball versus dugout defiance. Even the most
entrenched of Mourinho bashers has to admire his front. Indeed,
they might end up changing their tune sufficiently to do something
they never thought possible: feel sorry for him.
However long he stays at Stamford Bridge, there is a school of
thought that Mourinho's intense methods, which rely on consistently
cranked-up levels of motivation, work best in short doses.
Conventional managerial wisdom says that after a few years either
the boss or the players have to change, before drills and messages
lose impact through repetition. That theme is accelerated where
Mourinho is concerned. He likes to come into a club with a bang,
sustain a high electric charge and leave before anything starts to
fizzle out.
The spell he has cast around the Kings Road has lasted the longest
of his managerial career so far. And now that he has beat his
personal record for longevity at Chelsea, the masterplan is being
severely tested.