Sinnacle Retro
Ahhh…..what could of been. Mourinho back in the day when he was coach of Benfica for a brief time.
I still have a bounce in my step after seeing Inter advancing in the Champions League. While Retro to most of you as this never appeared on this site, someone wrote an opinion (which he is entitled too) that Mourinho was over rated a couple of weeks ago. This was my reply
He won everything at Porto. Turned cast offs into European players of the year and players Porto would make huge profits on. He has already proven he can win on a shoestring budget.
Look at Frank Rijkaard, do you think he is going to win a Champions League anytime soon at Galatasaray as an example? It takes someone truly special in this era to win a Champions League with a club not playing in an elite league.
The fact he has already done this makes him better than 90% of the managers out there.
The whole let’s discount what he did at Chelsea thing cause of all the money they have behind them is also foolish. How many teams spend major money only to end up failing? Mark Hughes was given all the money in the world and couldn’t hack it. It’s one thing having money, it’s another turning a group of men into a group of winners. Let’s face it, Chelsea were a group of professional losers out there. Yeah they were a good team but you always knew in a big game they would come up short pre-Mourinho. They had no real history. He gave them that swagger and the believe no club is better than them. In his first year in England, in a new league, in a new country he changed the rules of the game and made Arsenal play catch up (which they are still doing) and Manchester United (who too there credit, did.)
You can even make the case Mourinho is partly responsible for the explosion of the EPL. Every good story needs a bad guy and he plays the bad guy role to a tee. Combine that with a certain charisma and it made him the perfect lightning rod during his time in England. His arrival came at a perfect time when some people were starting to get tired of Manchester United and Arsenal flip flopping league titles with Liverpool, well being Liverpool. I’m not here to pour anymore salt on the wound.
At Inter, the team already won successive league titles when he arrived. line is also laughable. One of the successive league titles was given to them on paper thanks to Juventus cheating. The second league title was won with Juventus in Serie B and A.C Milan docked points to start the season. Then the last title Inter almost threw away as they had a double digit lead at x-mas only to win it on the final game of the season with a victory against Parma. Besides Mancini sealed his faith wanting to quit after the Liverpool defeat in the Champions League.
Again, new team, new country. No excuses, no “three year plan, or it’s going to take time.” Mourinho is all about winning now and as a fan you respect it. His team’s will always be tough to beat, another sign of a great coach.
Inter isn’t tired of his act. Massimo Moratti loves his act. Inter were another club who were known as professional losers. Again another example of a club who spent a lot of money at the turn of the last decade with little to show for it. Now Mourinho comes there and turns Inter into the top club in Italy. Again Mourinho sets the bar right now for A.C Milan and Juventus to try an jump over when in year’s past it’s always been the reserve.
Mourinho also likes to mess with people’s heads. Any talk about Liverpool is just to mess with Rafa Benitez since the two are unlikely on each others x-mas card list. Why would Mourinho no matter who owns Liverpool want to go there considering he still has a job to do at Inter, plus if he really wanted to leave he could of sought out the Real Madrid job again last summer. Going to Spain has also been on of Mourinho goals. He throws out the return to England but the English press love hearing it.
I’m not going to say Mourinho is the best coach in the world as these things are subjective but I can say with his resume they is no club in the world who wouldn’t consider themselves lucky to have him if a coaching job were to open up.
Every top club has black marks, no coach is perfect, well unless your name is Pep Guardiola but he doesn’t have to deal with the “oh your a great coach because Barcelona spends a lot.”
You can point out Wenger has never won a European title or S.A.F in close to 25 years at a major club like Manchester United has only won two as examples. Both are still great coaches. I can understand why people don’t like Mourinho, he is easy to dislike but I don’t care if he has devil horns there is no denying he is one of the world’s best coaches.