In this week’s RoM newsletter, I discussed Jose Mourinho’s recent comments about wanting his next job to have “no easy objectives”.
Given that Mourinho’s hugely successful career has been based on him taking charge of good or great teams, and making them better, it’s unusual that he wants his next position to be more difficult. Maybe his intention is to spell out that he wants the Manchester United position, as this obviously wouldn’t be an easy job. But this would certainly be out of his comfort zone.
Porto finished second in the table, one point behind Benfica, the season before he was appointed their manager.
Chelsea had just finished second behind Arsenal before he took charge the first time.
Inter Milan were champions the season before he went there.
Real Madrid had finished second the season before his appointment, three points behind Barcelona.
The toughest situation he found a club in was Chelsea when he took charge in 2013. They had just finished third and within two years they were champions.
United are currently fifth, 16 points behind Leicester, so turning us in to champions is not only a difficult objective, but also an objective Mourinho has no experience of achieving. His success has been built on taking charge of one of the best clubs in the country, if not the best, and then making them even better. United are long way from being the best, so this would be new territory for Mourinho.
What happens after Mourinho leaves a club though? We don’t need to go in to too much detail about the controversy Mourinho courts, from attempting to gouge out opposition manager’s eyes, making employment for female members of staff untenable, or lying about referees which leads to death threats and retirement. Purely looking at the state the team is left in when he leaves.
It’s worth pointing out he can’t be held entirely responsible for what happens afterwards, positive or negative, as the incoming manager obviously has a large say on that. Let’s not forget that David Moyes took Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions to seventh in the table in a matter of months. It is still worth noting that our legendary manager didn’t leave the squad in the best condition possible either.
Mourinho managed Benfica for just nine games, so there’s little use looking at his time there. União de Leiria finished fifth in the table the season before he took charge, and at the end of his only season at the club they were seventh, although he took them as high as third during the season. Given he spent just a few months there, there’s not a lot to be deduced from his time at this club.
Porto won the league by eight points in his final season, and the following year they finished second. Portugal is a essentially two club league though, with either Porto or Benfica winning the league in every season since Mourinho left. Not too much can be read in to the success of Porto since then for this reason.
Chelsea were 5th in the table when Mourinho was sacked by them the first time, although as it was so early on in the season, having won three of the six games they had played, so this arguably isn’t the fairest reflection. After winning the table in 2006 with Mourinho, they had to wait a further four years before they were champions again, despite spending £425 million between 2003-2010, compared with the £235 million United spent.
Inter Milan won the title in Mourinho’s last season in charge, 2009-10, and haven’t won it since.
Real Madrid won the league in Mourinho’s second season, a huge achievement, given how dominant that Barcelona side were. However, that title in 2012 is the last time they have won it.
Chelsea sacked Mourinho seven months after he won the title with them in 2015. They were one point above the relegation zone.
Porto aside, clubs don’t do well in the years after Mourinho’s departure, regardless of how well they were doing before he arrived. His lack of investment in youth may play a part in this, with him working for the here and now, rather than trying to sustain success for the club in the future.
In 15 years of management, at Benfica, Uniao Leiria, Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, he has given 23 academy players at least one appearance in the league. This includes Anthony Grant (1 minute), Steven Watt (2 minutes), John Swift (2 minutes), Jimmy Smith (9 minutes) and Andreas Christensen (14 minutes).
In fact, in total, Mourinho has offered a total of 352 minutes in the Premier League to products of Chelsea’s youth team, less than six hours, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek taking up three of those. When you consider that a fortune has been invested in to Chelsea’s academy, which has seen them win the FA Youth Cup in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015, the UEFA Youth League in 2015, the U-21 league in 2014 and the Reserve League in 2011, it’s strange that Mourinho didn’t try out more players, but shows his stance of developing youth.
Still, even taking all of this in to consideration, Mourinho is surely the best manager available, even if he doesn’t have the experience of leading average teams like ours to title wins.