Fallen Mourinho needs to rediscover the spark that made him special
Manager has lost charisma, loyalty and charm that marked his rise
When Jose Mourinho walked tentatively on to the red carpet laid on top of an ice rink in Russia last week, he was not intending to become the unfortunate star of a slapstick video clip, but as a metaphor, it was a powerful one.
To go from guest of honour, invited to drop the puck at the start of a Kontinental Hockey League match, to figure of fun, not much has gone to plan for Mourinho recently.
If you have not seen the clip, it shows Mourinho, in his expensive designer coat, dropping the ceremonial puck, turning around to get off the ice only for his shoes to catch the red carpet, then the ice, and down he goes with a thud, his legs ending up higher than his head as he falls.
Mourinho will have probably laughed about it – he has always had a good sense of humour when the cameras are not rolling – but the harsh truth is, he has not got much to be happy about. Out of work and, for the first time, contemplating the possibility he is also going out of fashion. Mourinho’s best years could already be behind him.
He has plenty of money – a reported £18million severance when he was sacked by Manchester United in December paid him handsomely for failing at Old Trafford – but the credit he built up over his previously successful coaching career is rapidly diminishing.
Mourinho will point out that he won two trophies at United and led them to their highest league finish since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Yet he is the type who has previously argued that second place is just the highest-placed loser. He will then point to the league titles he won at Chelsea and Real Madrid, before he lost his job, and the treble he won at Inter Milan, and so on and so on.
In his own mind, Mourinho is probably enjoying a well-earned break before he returns to management with another big club and wins some more trophies.
Maybe it will be Paris Stgermain, perhaps a return to Real Madrid or Italy. It is certain he will not be out of a job for long.
But the Mourinho who left Manchester was not the Mourinho I have always admired. In the interests of full disclosure, I should confess I have always liked him. Not because of what he achieved in English football as the “Special One” at Chelsea or as a Champions League winner with Porto, but for the fact he adored Sir Bobby Robson. The feeling was mutual.
If you have the time, search for videos on the internet of Mourinho and Robson, not of him falling over on the ice. This is the Mourinho that Robson knew and spoke so kindly about, right up until his death in 2009.
He talked of a hugely competitive, spiky, but unflinchingly loyal assistant who offered Robson girder-like support during his time in club management in Portugal and Spain. He talked of a brilliant tactical mind and skilled man manager, an intelligent, kind person who deserved all the success he was enjoying.
I am not sure that Mourinho still exists. The surly, miserable, it-is-all-about-me man I saw on Manchester United’s summer US tour did not chime with the force of nature that inspired such loyalty and devotion from his players earlier in his career.
The Mourinho who players liked and respected, who they would run through a burning forest barefoot for, had gone. Some critics and rivals have always struggled to like Mourinho, but his players always used to. And if they did not like him as such, they wanted to play for him, anyway.
Since he left United, players have come out of their shells, a dark presence in their lives has been vanquished and they are playing better as a result. With each man-of-the-match display, Paul Pogba hammers another nail into Mourinho’s reputation.
As he gets older, Mourinho becomes grumpier, more bitter, more concerned with protecting his own reputation than enhancing others. He has forgotten what made him successful. He has lost his charm and charisma.
Robson was still inspiring players from a generation he did not understand – on a personal level – in his 70s, because he did not lose his human qualities; his likeability; his motivational skills. Mourinho needs to remember what made his mentor truly special if he is to prolong his own career at the top. He needs a reboot.