José Mourinho was born on January 26th, 1963, in Portugal. His father was a professional footballer and his mother a primary school teacher. Inspired both from the Portuguese culture and his father, Mourinho dived into the football world. He was a football player, only until he was 24 years old, and his career revealed nothing special. Particularly compared to his future.

Afterwards, Mourinho had his goal set in becoming a professional football coach. He took a sports science course in Portugal. He also went to England, and Scotland for his coaching courses.

A great opportunity came when Sir Bobby Robson was appointed for Sporting Clube de Portugal. He needed an interpreter who both spoke English and had a coaching background. Mourinho fitted the description and grabbed the job.

He followed Sir Bobby Robson for a handful of years. They went to FC Porto in 1994 and to FC Barcelona in 1996. As time went by, José developed his role to become more of an assistant coach. He was especially good at analysing the opponent teams and his meticulous style suited perfectly with Sir Bobby Robson’s.

As the English coach left, FC Barcelona wanted to keep Mourinho as an assistant coach. He stayed and worked alongside Louis Van Gaal. After 8 years of learning from great managers, he went back to his home country to SL Benfica. He had a small spell as head coach; he resigned because the president would not back him.

In July 2001, José took a job at União de Leiria, a small club in Portugal. Half a year was enough to stand out as a coach. FC Porto saw enough to hire him in early 2002. In his introduction, he said: “I am sure next season we will be champions. ”

For the first full season with FC Porto, José Mourinho thrived. Mid-season he had an impressive moment in the press conference — a presage to what was coming in his career. “In normal conditions, we are much stronger and we are going to be champions. In abnormal conditions… we are also going to be champions”. He slapped the table and left the room.

Mourinho went on to win the Portuguese League, beating the points record. Besides, he won the Portuguese Cup. As for the European competitions, he took FC Porto through the UEFA Cup (now called Europa League). In a rather dramatic way, Porto beat Celtic FC in extra-time by 3-2. It was the first trophy of that kind in FC Porto’s history.

Expectations were certainly high for 2003/2004. José started well, winning the Portuguese “Supertaça”. He did not fail to achieve what was expected of him, in fact, he surpassed the predictions. Besides winning the league once again, FC Porto went on to win the Champions League. On their way to the final, they beat Manchester United with an unforgettable 2nd leg at Old Trafford. That was the first of many Mourinho vs. Ferguson contests.

Chelsea FC took notice of José’s superb performances in Europe. Thus, they signed him quickly after he won the Champions League. As he arrived, in his first press conference, Mourinho said famous words, which to this day are associated with him. “Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.”

His words were interpreted as being arrogant. Sir Alex Ferguson also thought that. Yet, he recognised this provided his players much-needed confidence to win. According to SAF, his personality is much more laid back privately.

He backed his words with a remarkable first season in England. Chelsea FC won the Premier League for the first time in 50 years. Furthermore, they set the record of most points (95 back then) and fewest goals conceded (15) in a season. They also won the League Cup.

A second season in the club from London would see Mourinho repeat the feat in the Premier League. The following season would bring the FA Cup and the League Cup to Chelsea’s museum. At Chelsea, José Mourinho was not as successful as he was in Porto in European football. He still reached the semifinals of the Champions League twice.

By September 2007, he left Chelsea, unexpectedly. Came June 2008 and he took another big challenge: Inter Milan. Another top league, with a unique football style which is very tactical. In his first season, Mourinho won the Italian “Supercoppa” to begin with and then won the league.

2009/2010 would probably be the best season of his career. On the verge of conquering Serie A and already qualified for the Italian Cup final, Inter Milan faced a big mountain to surpass in the Champions League. They would face Barcelona, who won it in 2009, in the semifinals.

After a comeback to win 3-1 in Milan in the first leg, the second leg did not start very well. Thiago Motta was sent off at the 28th minute. Inter suffered, struggled and fought to hold on to their advantage. And so they did. Barcelona won the match 1-0, but Inter went through. It was “the most beautiful defeat” of Mourinho’s career as he described it.

When the Italian side was celebrating, Barcelona turned on the sprinklers of Camp Nou. Asked about it, Mourinho said “[it was] to clean our blood. My players left blood on the pitch.” Inter Milan grabbed the Serie A, the Italian Cup and the Champions League. They became the first and only (so far) Italian club to win the “treble”.

Following his pattern of success and moving to another club, José changed to Real Madrid in 2010. His quest was to put an end to Barcelona’s dominance in Spanish football. Although his tenure was not as successful as at his past clubs, he still completed his mission. At this time, expectations were always high for his performance.

His highlight at Real Madrid was winning the league in 2011/2012. They beat a host of records regarding goals, goal difference, wins, away wins and points. José became the first coach to win in the three major leagues of Europe (England, Italy and Spain). In Europe, even though he did not achieve a trophy, he always reached the semifinals of the Champions League. One of those Real Madrid lost in the penalties.

José went back to a club where he was loved — Chelsea. He arrived in 2013. After a season of constructing a good team, he won his third Premier League in 2015. Seven months later he would leave the club. Anyway, Chelsea FC board is not very keen on keeping managers for the long term, especially since Abramovich took over.

Half a year after parting ways with the Blues, Mourinho joined the Red Devils. He seemed the right coach to bring Manchester United back up. In his first full season, he won the Europa League, the Community Shield and the League Cup. He already had won more trophies than any coach who came after Sir Alex Ferguson.

By 2017/2018, Manchester United finished 2nd place in the league. In the four seasons before that, their best finish was 4th. Besides, United’s team was good enough to fight for a top 4 place, from an optimistic perspective. Mourinho’s tactical mastery was crucial to that result.

During the summer of 2018, there were conflicts inside Manchester United. Ed Woodward disagreed with Mourinho on transfer policy and Pogba’s personality was clashing with the coach’s. It was predictable that it would turn sour. Near Christmas, José was fired.

Since a football club always struggles after a long-term manager leaves, we should take that into consideration. He still is the best Manchester United manager after Sir Alex Ferguson. This is true, at least considering trophies won and winning percentage. However, he was still deeply criticised during that period.

Mourinho spent some time doing punditry in his months off the field. In November 2019, he and the club shocked the world by announcing José Mourinho in charge of Tottenham Hotspur.

This appointment had many reasons both to fail and to succeed. Daniel Levy, chairman of Tottenham also has a famous strong personality. Thus, there may be a concern regarding personality conflict. Then, Tottenham had a very different style of play compared to Mourinho’s recent tactics. These may be the concerns of this partnership.

On the other hand, José is rightfully famous for achieving trophies in his first full seasons at clubs. Tottenham is missing exactly that. The Spurs have been playing at a great level, compared to their history. They are just missing the trophies. If it is a question of mindset, tactics, players, it does not matter. If there is a coach who knows how to quickly bring trophies to football clubs, it is José Mourinho.

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Mourinho changed the history and value of FC Porto, Portuguese football and Portuguese coaches. He brought change and challenge to the top established coaches in the Premier League. Besides, he took over three of the major European leagues.

Some may consider him arrogant. The fact is, he is very confident and proud. His competitive personality creates friction with the media and gives us entertaining moments. In all clubs he went through, he provided us with historical press conferences. Sometimes, what is misinterpreted as arrogance may just be Mourinho shifting the attention from his players to himself. He did that to take the pressure off his players.

“We all want to be liked. But show me a man who is liked by everyone and I’ll show you a man who is wrong.” — Brian Clough, one of the greatest coaches ever. This quote is very applicable to Mourinho’s case. He is a fearless, daring and confident coach. José is prepared to do practically whatever it takes for winning.

Furthermore, his bond with his players is unheard of. It is such an emotional connection that is very rare to see with other managers. They are ready to die for him. A very good example of this was his time at Inter Milan.

The social idea created around his defensive style is not all correct. He proved to have prolific teams although he strongly believes in defensive solidity as a backbone of the best teams. As Sir Alex Ferguson puts it: “Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles.” It is strange how people never associated Ferguson with parking the bus.

All in all, José Mourinho is one of the greatest football coaches ever. Even if we consider the worst-case scenario from now on, Mourinho will just be considered a legend of the game.

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