IT’S been a hell of a journey to get here.
Wednesday morning Jose Mourinho sensationally took over at Tottenham Hotspur on £15m-per-year, after Spurs chairman Daniel Levy decided to wield the axe on Mauricio Pochettino’s reign – just months after he led the North London club to a Champions League final.
Jose Mourinho was today unveiled as the new Tottenham Hotspur managerCredit: Getty – Contributor
The Special One has enjoyed an incredible success in the game – winning 25 trophies at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Manchester United.
In 1992 he was a loyal assistant and translator to Sir Bobby Robson in 1992 at Sporting Lisbon.
Mourinho, 56, then followed the legendary England manager to Porto and Barcelona, before branching out on his own.
But few will remember his first manager job… a nine game stint at Benfica.
THE EARLY YEARS
Aware of his shortcomings as a player, Mourinho took on studying for his coaching badges in his early 20s.
He attended classes curated by the English and Scottish football associations, where he impressed former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh, who took note of the Portuguese’s determination and attention to detail.
Mourinho was a PE teacher in Lisbon before he took his first job in football – a youth team coach position at Vitória de Setúbal in the early 90s.
His fledgling career then took him to the now extinct Estrela da Amadora – a lower league Portuguese outfit who helped mould his methods and ideas.
It was a slow start that was about to speed up with the influence of an Englishman.
In his early days Mourinho wasn’t much of a player and took coaching courses in his 20sCredit: Rex Features
A LOYAL STOOGE
In 1992, after successfully leading PSV to back-to-back Eredivisie titles, Sir Bobby Robson was hired as Sporting Lisbon boss.
However, there was one problem. Robson was unable to speak a word of Portuguese and needed a right-hand man to help convey his tactics to his players.
Mourinho, fluent in English even then, was the perfect man for the role.
But Robson was wowed by Mourinho’s footballing ideals too. Often, the pair would stay behind on the training pitch and discuss tactics, and his sidekick also took it upon himself provide reports on the upcoming opposition.
“He’d come back and hand me a dossier that was absolutely first class,” Robson said.
“[They were] As good as anything I’d received. Here he was, in his early-30s, never been a player or a coach to speak of, giving me reports as good as anything I ever got.”
Robson was fired by Lisbon after an embarrassing Uefa Cup defeat to Casino Salzburg, but didn’t have to wait long for another job.
A month later he was hired by their rivals Porto, and he took Mourinho with him as assistant.
The pair enjoyed a remarkable success – reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in the 1993-94 season, only to be toppled by Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona.
Mourinho began his relationship with Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon before enjoying success at PortoCredit: PA:Press Association
Robson initially used Mourinho as a translator before realising he should utilise his football brain as an assistantCredit: Reuters
Mourinho has spoken fondly of the late Robson insisting he owes him his careerCredit: Rex Features
They won consecutive Portuguese titles in 1995 and 1996, and when the Dutch legend walked away from the Camp Nou that year – Robson was the man they hired.
Mourinho rounded up his family and moved to Spain when Robson invited him to continue his football journey.
“I owe him for so much,” Mourinho once said of Robson.
“I was nobody in football when he came to Portugal. He helped me to work in two clubs here and took me to one of the biggest clubs in the world. We are very different but I got from him the idea of what it is to be a top coach.”
A NEW MENTOR
When Louis Van Gaal replaced Robson at Barcelona after just one season, Mourinho was promised the same freedom he had under his former mentor.
The Dutchman, an authoritarian in management must’ve seen a little bit of his own style in his assistant.
“[He was] An arrogant young man, who didn’t respect authority that much, but I did like that of him,” Van Gaal revealed.
“He was not submissive – he used to contradict me when I was in the wrong. Finally, I wanted to hear what he had to say and ended up listening to him more than the rest of the assistants.”
In 2000, it was Van Gaal who encouraged him to take on the leading role as coach for the first time.
Louis Van Gaal kept Mourinho as his assistant at the Camp Nou and liked his arrogance from the off-set
“When I spoke with Van Gaal about going back to Portugal to be an assistant at Benfica,’ Mourinho remembered, “he said: ‘No, don’t go. Tell Benfica if they want a first-team coach you will go; if they want an assistant you will stay’.”
FAILURE TO LAUNCH
It’s often forgotten that Mourinho’s first job as head coach was at Benfica.
In 2000, he took over from German manager Jupp Heynckes full of ideas. But it proved to be a short-lived experience.
A clash with Benfica’s hierarchy over who his assistant manager should be – they wanted to appoint Jesualdo Ferreira, but Jose had other ideas and installed former Benfica defender Carlos Mozer in the position – was one issue.
Another problem arose when Manuel Vilarinho was elected new Benfica president, and promised to bring ex-Benfica player Toni as his new coach.
Although Vilarinho had no intention of firing Mourinho, the ex Blues boss felt threatened and he decided to test the president’s resolve by asking for a contract extension.
Vilarinho refused and Mourinho resigned after just nine games in charge.
Mourinhos first stint in management at Benfica lasted just nine gamesCredit: PA:Empics Sport
“[Put me] back then [and] I would do exactly the opposite: I would extend his contract,” Vilarinho said after his error.
“Only later I realised that one’s personality and pride cannot be put before the interest of the institution we serve.”
BUT SUCCESS FOLLOWED
After successfully steering lowly União de Leiria into the top four from 2001-2002, Mourinho was hand-picked by Porto mid-season to bring back their glory days.
He guided the team to third-placed in his first term, and insisted on his mantra of “making Porto champions next year”.
It was a bold prediction that Mourinho made right. He won consecutive Portuguese league titles, a Uefa Cup and more incredibly the Champions League in just two and a half seasons.
He then moved to Chelsea and brought two league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups between 2004-2007.
At Inter Milan he won consecutive Serie A championships, a Coppa Italia and the Champions League again in 2010.
He was delivering trophies at a whirlwind speed.
Mourinho won the Champions League with PortoCredit: PA:Empics Sport
Chelsea also benefitted from Mourinho’s expertiseCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Mourinho won his second Champions League title with Inter MilanCredit: AFP
From 2010-2013 Mourinho managed Real Madrid, winning one La Liga title and a Copa Del ReyCredit: Jamie McPhilimey – The Sun
That’s why Real Madrid wanted a piece. But from 2010-2013 he failed to deliver a cherished Champions League, and tussled with supremacy in La Liga with Pep Guardiola’s brilliant Barcelona side.
One La Liga title and a Copa Del Rey weren’t enough to keep Mourinho at the Santiago Bernabeu, and he left the club by mutual consent slightly battered by his experience.
A WOBBLE
With his reputation dented after his time in Spain, Mourinho returned to Chelsea.
He began with a transitional season in which the Blues finished third, four points behind Manchester City.
But in 2014-2015, Mourinho turned the West Londoners into Premier League winners once more. Any apparent blip in Mourinho’s management style seemed forgotten.
And Roman Abramovich trusted his manager so much he gifted him a four-year deal.
All was rosy again… or was it? Inexplicably, a reported fallout with Eden Hazard and club physio Eva Carneiro coupled with a run of nine defeats from his first 16 Premier League games the subsequent season forced Chelsea to part company with their messiah.
“The club wishes to make clear Jose leaves us on good terms and will always remain a much-loved, respected and significant figure at Chelsea,” the West London giants said at the time.
Mourinho had a reported fallout with Eden Hazard before the end of his second Chelsea spellCredit: AFP
Suddenly, Mourinho had to pick himself up from the floor after Chelsea cut ties with the PortugueseCredit: AFP
OLD TRAFFORD BLUES
Mourinho arrived with much fanfare at Manchester United in 2016 – as the man that could finally replace Sir Alex Ferguson and help the club rediscover their glory days.
He won his first trophy within five months – thanks to a 3-2 win over Southampton in the EFL Cup, becoming the first Red Devils boss to win a trophy in his debut year.
Then in May, Manchester United won the Europa League beating Ajax 2-0 as Mourinho maintained his record of winning every major European Cup final as a manager.
However, turmoil was only around the corner, and a diminishing relationship with Paul Pogba was on the horizon. Despite finishing second in the Premier League, 19 points behind noisy neighbours Manchester City in his following season, fans were already getting disgruntled.
The style of play just wasn’t Manchester United, and a negative cloud began to form over Mourinho’s head.
A poor start to the 2018–19 season, which saw Manchester United lose two of their opening three league games for the first time in 26 years, including a 3-0 home thumping by Tottenham, led to Mourinho feeling the strain.
In an animated press conference, he blew his top asking for “respect” from journalists.
“I won more Premier Leagues alone than the other 19 managers [in the league] together,” he added.
A fallout with Chelsea fans, where he flashed three fingers towards the stands at Stamford Bridge to remind them of the three titles he won there, also showed he was feeling the pressure.
It was thought that Mourinho would bring back the glory days to Old TraffordCredit: PA:Press Association
In his first season Mourinho delivered the Europa League and League CupCredit: EPA
However, a diminishing relationship with Paul Pogba ended in Mourinho getting firedCredit: Getty – Contributor
After just seven wins from his first 17 games, Mourinho was sacked by the club on 18 December 2018.
A NEW BEGINNING
Sensationally, Mourinho is back in the Premier League – despite his incredible record – with a lot to prove.
In the summer he spoke of his desire to return to management, sounding like a man with a fresh perspective.
“I have some time to think, to rethink, to analyse and what I feel is exactly that ‘Ze’ (Mourinho’s nickname as a boy) is full of fire,” he told Sky Sports.
“My friends tell me ‘enjoy your time, enjoy your July, enjoy your August, enjoy what you never had’. Honestly, I can’t enjoy. I am not happy enough to enjoy.
“I miss my football, I have the fire.
“The most difficult thing for me is to say ‘no’ to the possibilities I had to work.
“I have to be patient and wait for the right one and the right one is one at the dimension of what I am as a manager.”
Mourinho is now in the Tottenham hot seat replacing Mauricio PochettinoCredit: Reuters
Time will tell if Mourinho is the right man to take Spurs forwardCredit: AFP or licensors
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
