RETURN OF THE SPARKLING ONE IS A BLESSING... LET’S JUST ENJOY IT
AH, welcome back Jose, we have missed you.
Missed the sparkle in the eyes and the humorous devil in the words.
Missed the mischief, missed the cleverness, missed the funny, gentle self-obsession – rather than the bitter selfobsession.
Mourinho, in his wonderfully eloquent way, paid a lovely tribute to Diego Maradona the other day.
With a smile that is back to its engaging best rather than its sardonic worst, the Tottenham coach spoke about Maradona giving him the odd phone call.
And there is no doubt it was heartfelt.
“He always rung after a defeat,” said Mourinho. “Don’t forget Mou, you are the best.” Lovely. But whether it was Diego or Jose uttering those final seven words, is anybody’s guess. I know who my money would be on.
“Does the coach deserve appreciation?” Mourinho asked, entirely rhetorically, after Giovanni Lo Celso scored within a minute of being sent on against Manchester City last weekend.
“I don’t think so because he was lucky.”
Translation: it was a masterstroke from myself, thanks for asking. We’ve heard all this sort of stuff before from Mourinho but, in recent years, it has been delivered with a bitterness that has served to undermine his achievements.
Now, it is underscored by a charisma that, at its best, has been unrivalled in the Premier League.
Ahead of today’s game against Chelsea, he has been at it again, painting Spurs as some sort of plucky, cash-strapped underdogs.
It is utter nonsense, of course. Tottenham Hotspur is a huge club with huge expectations and a hefty budget.
But Mourinho is loving this idea of himself and Spurs somehow fighting against the financial might of the other members of the Big Six. For goodness sake, they are forking out a weekly fortune for Gareth Bale to sit on the bench.
We all know about the tried and mistrusted Mourinho timeline. We all know when it starts to go sour.
We all know when he begins throwing players under buses. We all know when he picks a fight with those in deep-carpet land.
We all know when he has one eye on yet another gargantuan pay-off.
That time will very probably arrive at Spurs. After all, it has arrived at some stage everywhere else he has been.
But rather than wait for the acrimonious ending, maybe we should just enjoy this phase.
Enjoy the patronising of Jurgen Klopp when Jose said those who had extensive experience of the Premier League were accustomed to the fixture schedule.
Enjoy the barbs about other players from the Big Six clubs being excused international duty.
Enjoy the brazen psychological jibes at his old club and beloved pupil Frank Lampard.
Enjoy these things – because Mourinho no longer looks and sounds like a sour, out-ofdate, throwback.
Enjoy these things because the sparkling, incredibly bright, and – yes – charming Mourinho is with us once more. Welcome back, Jose, we have missed you.
IT seems Manchester might United
have to pay millions of pounds in otherwise ‘ransom’ money
cyber attackers divulge the secrets will
l scouting of their
system. As secrets go, thattht particularti nott l one iss worthth millions, illi
surely??