José Mourinho
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (born January 26, 1963 in Setúbal, Portugal), is a football manager. He is currently the coach of Chelsea Football Club, based in South West London. His salary is reported to be increasing to £5 million a year plus bonuses from the 2005/06 season, which will reportedly make him the highest paid football manager in the world [1]. He is regarded as one of the best managers in the Premiership and in Europe and the key to Chelsea's blistering form that saw them lift their first league trophy for over 50 years in 2005, his first season in charge. He is best described as a meticulous, extroverted and assertive football manager.
However, Mourinho is notorious for his unshakeable self-belief and confidence (sometimes bordering on arrogance) in face of reporters, that has given newspapers and TV stations worldwide endless hours of material, with veteran English pundit Jimmy Hill labelling him a "soap".
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Career
Early years
The son of Portuguese goalkeeper Félix Mourinho, José never actually pursued a career as a player, although he did have unsuccessful stints at smaller clubs, but his aptitude was his impressive managing and organisational ability and from an early age he prepared match reports and dossiers for his father's teams. He also has a degree in Physical Education, specialising in sports methodology and worked as a high school coach.
After low-key backroom jobs at Estrela da Amadora and his hometown club Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s, Mourinho soon earned the nickname Tradutor (translator), when he worked with Sir Bobby Robson as his translator (technically speaking he was an interpreter) at both Sporting Lisbon and then FC Porto.
He then followed Robson to FC Barcelona in 1996 where he even learned Catalan. When Robson left for PSV, he stayed at the Catalan side where he worked with Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal. Mourinho's undoubted confidence and personality helped him get beyond his original role and he began actively contributing more to coaching sessions and team management meetings.
Benfica and Leiria
In 2000 his chance of becoming a coach finally arrived when he was picked by Lisbon side Benfica to replace Jupp Heynckes after the fourth week of the Portuguese league.
However, while he was popular, especially after a 3-0 win against Sporting, Benfica's election turned against club president João Vale e Azevedo and the newly-elected Manuel Vilarinho already had another coach waiting on the wings. Mourinho thus quit Benfica after just nine games in charge.
| Preceded by: Graeme Souness |
SL Benfica Manager 2000 |
Succeeded by: António Oliveira (Toni) |
The next season, 2001/02, Mourinho started work with unfashionable mid-tablers União de Leiria, where he climbed as high as fourth (9-7-3 WDL record). He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by FC Porto to replace Octávio Machado as the manager of a badly-motivated and unhappy side which was already out of contention for the league title by week 19 and at risk of not even qualifying for any European competition. Mourinho waltzed into FC Porto with a promise of "making Porto champions next year", and soon clinched third place after a decent 15 game run (WDL 11-2-2).
| Preceded by: ... |
UD Leiria Manager 2001-2002 |
Succeeded by: ... |
Porto magic
Mourinho quickly identified several key players who he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect FC Porto team: Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Postiga from Porto, recalling captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic (after a dispute with Octávio Machado), bringing Nuno Valente and Derlei from Leiria, promising right defender Paulo Ferreira from Vitória Setúbal, Pedro Emanuel from Boavista FC, and finally Edgaras Jankauskas and Maniche who were out of contract at Benfica, the latter after a season in the reserves' side.
During the pre season, Mourinho gave throughly detailed reports about the physical preparation of the team on the official website, always using a formal vocabulary (a 20km jog was an extended aerobic exercise, for instance) which at the same time attracted both praise for the innovation and scientifical approach to the old-fashioned training methods in Portugal and scorn for the pretentiousness. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era Porto was the pressurising play, which started right of the offensive line, dubbed "high pressure" (pt: pressão alta). The physical and combative abilities of players such as Derlei, Maniche and Deco allowed Porto to pressure from the offensive lines forcing teams either to concede the ball or try longer passes.
In 2003, Mourinho won his first SuperLiga with a 27-5-2 WDL record, 11 points clear of the Benfica side that ditched him two years before. He also won the Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the UEFA Cup against Celtic, both in May 2003.
This debut season at FC Porto set a standard that would be hard for anyone to beat, but the following season, while perhaps not playing as impressively, Porto scooped another easy SuperLiga win (their 20th overall) with an eight point advantage, achieved with an unbeaten run that only ended five weeks before the end of the league. While the Portuguese Cup final was lost to Benfica in May 2004, two weeks later Mourinho won the ultimate prize: the Champions League, with an emphatic 3-0 win over Monaco in the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The team's impressive European run saw only one defeat: against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first group phase.
| Preceded by: Octávio Machado |
FC Porto Manager 2002-2004 |
Succeeded by: Luigi Del Neri |
Chelsea F.C.
Whilst still at FC Porto, Mourinho was linked with several top European clubs, including Liverpool and Roman Abramovich's Chelsea. Many people, especially in Portugal, questioned the legality of alleged contract discussions with several clubs, but no wrongdoing was officially proved and no charges have been brought. Mourinho finally moved to Chelsea in June 2004. During his initial press conference on joining Chelsea Mourinho claimed to be "the special one", a prime example of his unreserved arrogance and self-belief. He became one of the best paid managers in the world, although it was never officially confirmed, the press at that time reported Mourinho's salary had gone from 15,000 euro/month at Benfica to 7,500 at Leiria and 25,000 at Porto, later raised to 50,000 euro per month. The salary for signing with Chelsea was reported to be in the 300,000 range and was later raised to an undisclosed ammount.
Mourinho went straight to work, recruiting his trustworthy backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout Andre Villas and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. Mourinho followed the gauntlet set down by his predecessor Claudio Ranieri, and spent owner Roman Abramovich's vast fortune on stars such as Tiago Mendes, Didier Drogba and FC Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira. It is worth noting that although Mourinho's competence as a manager is not disputed, the players he brought to Chelsea performed dubiously in their first season. Rather, it was players already at the club, mostly bought by Ranieri, that would prove the foundation of Chelsea's success.
Under Mourinho, Chelsea turned the potential seen during Ranieri's time into results. Chelsea's strengths were summed up by their two key English players: rock-solid defender John Terry, and inspirational midfielder Frank Lampard. By early December they were top of the Premiership table and through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League. On 27 February 2005 he led Chelsea to the League Cup trophy in Cardiff, Wales, dramatically beating Liverpool 3-2 after extra time. The match is perhaps best remembered for Mourinho being sent off and removed from the touchline in the second half for allegedly inciting Liverpool fans.
On 31 March 2005 Mourinho was handed a two match suspension and also a fine for bringing the game into disrepute by UEFA. This was after Mourinho criticised referee Anders Frisk after a Champions League second-round loss to FC Barcelona. Mourinho said a member of his staff saw Frisk talking with Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard at half-time (which is illegal in the rules of the game) alleging that the chat influenced Frisk's performance after the break, when he sent off striker Didier Drogba. Subsequent threats to Frisk's life prompted the well respected referee to retire.
On the 30 April 2005, Mourinho and his Chelsea side secured the club's first top flight domestic title in 50 years with a 2-0 victory against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium. However, Mourinho failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League titles when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition at the semi-final stage by eventual winners Liverpool, just three days later.
On 2 June 2005, he was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole in January 2005. Mourinho's defence was that Cole was "too small", saying that he would only sign a defender who was at least 5' 11". Mourinho later spent £8 million on Spanish left-back Asier Del Horno, who is 5' 11". In August 2005 his fine was reduced to £75,000 upon appeal.
Mourinho has got off to a good start in the current season (2005/2006), dropping only 2 points in their first 11 games, before finally tasting defeat at the hands of Manchester United at Old Trafford on November 6th.
See also
José and his Amazing Technicolour Overcoat
| Preceded by: Claudio Ranieri |
Chelsea F.C. Manager 2004-Present |
Succeeded by: N/A |
