Whether you like to admit it or not, there's a part of you that likes Jose Mourinho. The man has won Championships in Portugal, Italy and England and the Champions League twice. But this isn't why you like him.You like his arrogance and the fact that he is a flamboyant exhibitionist. This aspect of Mourinho is a breath of fresh air in a coaching field dominated by stoic men such England's Fabio Capello and USA's ultra boring Bob Bradley.
There is, however, an ugly side to Jose Mourinho. He's a poor loser, his tactics can be extremely negative and he makes caustic statements designed to offend.
In March, 2005, Chelsea lost 2-1 to Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final, Mourinho refused to allow any of his staff to talk to the media after the game and accused the Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard of going into the Swedish referee Anders Frisk room at half-time. Fisk had sent-off Didier Drogba in the match, which led to death threats by Chelsea fans that eventually forced the Swedish official to retire from refereeing early.
In the return leg at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho behaved like a zealot as Chelsea won 4-2.
In October, 2005, Mourinho called Arsene Wenger a "voyeur" after being annoyed by comments from the Frenchman in relation to Chelsea.
In 2007, Mourinho claimed that referees favored Manchester United, which was rejected by Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo. Mourinho then claimed that a lack of education and a difficult childhood were to blame for Ronaldo rejecting his claims. He also suggested that Liverpool's players were going to hunt down Didier Drogba before Chelsea's semi-final Champions League clash with them.
Mourinho didn't take defeat well, when Liverpool won the second leg at Anfield in 2005. He claimed Luis Garcia's controversial goal hadn't crossed the line, even though TV replays proved otherwise. Regardless, Chelsea would have conceded a penalty and their goalkeeper would have been sent-off.
When Mourinho's Inter Milan team beat Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge last March, they did so by deploying two strikers - Pandev and Eto'o out wide. This tactic limited the overlapping opportunities of the Chelsea full-backs Ivanovic and Zhirkov. Inter's task would have been more difficult had Ashley Cole or Michael Essien been playing but then every successful manager or team gets luck.
Chelsea should have had a penalty when Walter Samuel hauled down Didier Drogba. Inter were also slightly fortunate against Dynamo Kyiev in the quarter final but you cannot argue that their passage to being Champions of Europe wasn't easy. After all they played Barcelona four times, Chelsea twice and Bayern Munich once.
The President of Real Madrid now has his first Galatico coach. There's no doubt that Mouriho is a remarkable manager, who like Arsene Wenger came from nowhere.
Both coaches are on England's hit list in case Capello fails. Wenger has no interest in the job. For Mourinho, however, the England job is on his "to do list". So is the Manchester United job but the thought of winning the World Cup for England for the first time since World War Two suits Mourinho's ego more.
Mourinho understands that he needs new challenges to stop himself from going stale.
He was forced out of Chelsea because Abramovich insisted on the 30 million pound signing of Andriy Shevchenko, against Mourinho's wishes.
That's something that the President of Real Madrid has to understand. Mourinho, like Wenger, is his own man. But unlike Mourinho, Wenger isn't outspoken or a flamboyant exhibitionist - a trait that they English FA like.
Keep it Arsenal
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