Mourinho the one for United
What all the central characters share, apart from a clear belief in their own ability, is an elite status which provides a passport to the game’s top jobs.
LONDON: After five days of feverish speculation that Jose Mourinho would take over as manager of Manchester United, the first report that a deal had been confirmed with the Portuguese mentor broke yesterday afternoon.
Sky Sports confirmed the story through their sources, saying Mourinho had met United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward at a London hotel to complete the deal.
The appointment was made official on the 12th anniversary of Mourinho first winning the Champions League title with Porto. In that campaign, Porto eliminated United.
At United, Mourinho will replace Louis van Gaal, who was relieved of his job on Monday, two days after United won the FA Cup under his guidance.
One hitch in the proceedings this week was around image rights, with Mourinho’s former club Chelsea said to still own his name.
United’s coup is proof that for all soccer’s status as a global game, the pool of its top managers is relatively small and the world’s leading clubs often have the feel of a tiny, gossiping village with a managerial merry-go-round on the central green.
Mourinho, a man Chelsea no longer wanted, has frequently clashed with new Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
Manchester’s new double act will also have on their radar Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger – who struggles to hide his disdain for Mourinho – champions Leicester City’s Claudio Ranieri and Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, who was Guardiola’s main adversary in Germany.
Add in new Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, who has been called “the Italian Jose Mourinho”, and the soap opera possibilities in soccer’s village become endless.
What all the central characters share, apart from a clear belief in their own ability, is an elite status which provides a passport to the game’s top jobs.
Only Wenger has chosen to stay put, overseeing Arsenal for almost 20 years and 1 120 games.
England’s League Managers’ Association has revealed that the average tenure of a Premier League manager is now little more than two seasons, with 11 of last year’s 20 starters already kicked out.
Each new manager knows the clock is ticking on his topflight career, an understanding that contributes to the bearpit atmosphere that surrounds many games. Old rivalries are intensified and only the strongest survive. “The same small group of managers are employed because they are the strongest brands in the market,” said Michael Calvin, award-winning author of Living on a Volcano, a book about modern-day English football managers.
“In previous generations it was all player-driven, but modern-day players are pretty vanilla and so managers have the perceived personality.”
“The modern-day manager is actually a middle manager in a global corporation, subject to similar restraints in similar industries.
“The owners are driven by the share price and a pathological desire to avoid brand damage.”
To do that, Guardiola and Mourinho will have to start winning immediately. Klopp believes Guardiola will know what to expect after his stints at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Guardiola certainly brings the pedigree with two Champions League titles among his 12 trophies as a manager.
What will be fascinating is to see how former Real Madrid manager Mourinho reacts to his old foe.
In Spain, their old friendship did not survive an often bruising rivalry. Relations between the Manchester clubs are not as hostile and Mourinho may choose to play things down, rather than stoke them up. After all, there are plenty of other big rivals just across the village. – Sky Sports, Reuters