Will Jose’s plots damage England?
Last thing FA need is a war in Manchester, just like the one that he created in Spain
WHEN Spain dominated international football, an outsider came along and threatened to blow the whole thing apart. His name was Jose Mourinho.
His arrival at Real Madrid after Spain’s World Cup triumph in 2010 sparked an unprecedented nastiness between them and Barcelona when the two clubs made up the majority of Vicente Del Bosque’s champions.
Mourinho systematically created a war with Barcelona that plumbed new depths when he poked Pep Guardiola’s assistant Tito Vilanova in the eye during a Clasico match in August 2011.
Relationships between players at Barca and Real, key to Del Bosque building a unified squad in South Africa, deteriorated as they felt pressured to show loyalty to their clubs. Things got so bad approaching Euro 2012 that the ‘head of the families’ — Real goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Barca captain Xavi — held conciliatory talks. It saved Spain from meltdown and they went on to win the tournament but Mourinho never forgave Casillas for what he saw as treachery.
‘It’s true that in difficult moments for the national team, when the Real-Barca games got a little bit strange, Casillas helped the team move on. He was a key figure in fostering harmony,’ reflected Del Bosque later. ‘This did not go down well [with Mourinho] and perhaps also had a detrimental effect on Iker.’ Casillas lost his first-team place under Mourinho.
The history may alarm England manager Gareth Southgate and the FA. With up to a dozen Manchester United and Manchester City players under consideration for World Cup squad places next summer, the last thing they need is Mourinho creating a war in Manchester.
Worryingly however, there are signs the Machiavellian United boss sees it as his best chance to overhaul Guardiola and City.
After seeing his team outplayed in a 2-1 defeat by City at Old Trafford last weekend, Mourinho, a genius i n media management, shifted the agenda by storming into the away dressing-room and accusing City of being disrespectful by celebrating too much.
The fall- out led to an alleged brawl and the FA asked both clubs for their observations by 6pm last Friday. Although we do not know if any England players were directly involved, the FA will worry about what mischief Mourinho can cause during the rest of the season.
England have worked hard to ensure club rivalries are left at the front door during international gettogethers. Rio Ferdinand recently admitted differences between United, Liverpool and Chelsea players did not help preparations for tournaments.
‘I didn’t want to sit around and have a beer with Steven Gerrard because I didn’t want to hear what Liverpool were doing, I think that’s what held us back [with England],’ he said.
‘I came through at West Ham with Frank [Lampard], we were proper mates. Then I left and went to Leeds then Manchester United, Frank went to Chelsea and around that time our communication just disintegrated. It was down to, from my perspective, the obsession with winning. I didn’t want to see Frank have an edge on me.’
Things have changed. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday last week, City’s Raheem Sterling said the atmosphere has improved in the five years since his debut. ‘When I first went in compared to now it’s amazing. Really friendly,’ he said. ‘I’m in Marcus’s [Rashford] room, playing Call of Duty with him and Jesse [Lingard], then I’m playing FIFA with Dele [Alli] next door. Then I’ll be with John [Stones]. Really, everyone’s friends with everyone, it’s good to see.
‘People would talk to each other before but now you can see that every player is with everyone. There are always little sessions going on — it’s really good.’
Such cosiness between club rivals may make Mourinho’s blood boil when his obsession is taking on and defeating City, not how England fare in Russia.
While there is no rift yet akin to what happened in Spain, whose results dropped off markedly after 2012, former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon insists if Mourinho gets up to his usual divisive tricks, England could suffer.
‘It’s true there was a problem with Spain as Mourinho was blaming Iker Casillas for getting in touch with Xavi after the match when he poked the eye of the Barcelona coach. Casillas told Xavi “we are friends” and Mourinho didn’t like this,’ said Calderon.
‘ It was clear the atmosphere between the players was unpleasant in some way and for Casillas to call Xavi was a special moment. They accepted it was silly to be fighting, knowing they were teammates for the national team.
‘I hope it doesn’t affect England. Many times coaches do things for their own benefit, for the purpose of themselves, and they don’t think about the relationships of the players. I don’t know if something important happened last week to affect that. You never know.’
Calderon, who was in charge of Madrid between 2006 and 2009, is not a fan of Mourinho. ‘I didn’t like how he behaved here,’ he acknowledges. ‘I learned from [Alfredo] Di Stefano, a big team can’t ever blame referees, FIFA, UEFA or bad luck. That is something very interesting and something you have to do in a big club.
‘Mourinho blamed Unicef, FIFA, kick-off times, the calendar, everything all the time.’
Mourinho can point to 25 trophies in a brilliant career, including three Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies, as well as championships in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
I f he f eels t he only way to dethrone City is playing dirty, he will not hold back at trying to throw grenades between now and May. Southgate and England must pray that friendships between players are not blown apart.