He is an admirable character in many ways. He has achieved tremendous success in his professional life; he is by all accounts a devoted husband and I have read that he is good company. It therefore rather a shame even for the most one-eyed follower of Chelsea FC that Jose Mourinho is such a petulant jerk. It takes quite a lot to make me sympathise with Alex Ferguson, the long-standing manager of Manchester United, or for that matter, his highly-paid football stars, but I think the Chelsea boss has achieved that feat.
Class continues to be a sore point in English sport (I am not really qualified to know about how this works in Scotland or Wales). Football has traditionally been thought of as a working-class game although these days the cost of buying a season ticket are beyond the reach of all but the fairly affluent. Cricket is a mixture; rugby union is thought of as middle class, tennis is the same, yachting is for the posh, ditto polo, etc. (I am not quite sure if Formula 1 fits a neat mould any more. It used to be quite posh, since only rich people could afford to drive fast cars). But in football, there is still a strong working class aspect. So I really do not understand why, if the Chelsea manager is going to insult someone, he brings up poverty and humble origins as a reason to abuse someone. In fact, if a person comes from humble origins and becomes an international sports star, like George Best, Tom Finney or Bobby Charlton, that usually counts in their favour.
Professional football is entertainment. The Chelsea boss is entertaining. He has the role of Mr Arrogant at the moment and he plays it well. Enjoy or ignore.
And what role did Anders Frisk play?
(By the way, the link is to Samizdata, not to whatever article you had in mind.)
I wish hacks would drop this “socialist to the core” bullshit” when they write about Sir Alex Ferguson.
This man was so wedded to socialist principles that he tried to fight a court battle with two Irish billionaires over the ownership of a racehorse. He claimed he was due a share of its stud fees worth tens of millions, whereas his Irish friends had just gifted him a share of its winnings, worth hundreds of thousands.
So blinded by greed was Ferguson that he pursued this hopeless case even as the Irishmen built up a 29% stake in Manchester United. They then sold that stake to Malcolm Glazer, a pitiless American capitalist of the worst sort, who bought the club using debt, which he then transferred to the club when he owned it.
Ferguson’s greed has meant that a debt free company is now owned by a foreigner with no interest in the game, weighed down by a billion dollar debt, whilst back room staff have been fired to cut costs, and working class fans have been forced out of the stadium due to huge rises in ticket prices.
Ferguson is a driven man, a great coach no doubt, but he is as motivated by money as any city trader, and that fact that he was born in Govan (and left the place as soon as he could) does not make him a “socialist”.
Ferguson gets the best out of his players by furiously chewing gum, getting red-faced, shouting like a windbag and kicking boots at people.
Mourinho doesn’t. He runs interference for his team by making his assorted comments, gesturing at opposition fans or whatever. As well as showing he is eager to muck in with the players (albeit in a less physical manner) it takes some of the attention and pressure off his players, allowing them to get on with trying to play the game as best they can.
I thought everyone knew that’s the way Mourinho works?
That he has resorted to this tactic, again, is more important then what he actually said.
I agree. He is in fact the very emblem of success in a marketplace. The problem is that such folk will not see it.
Given the sheer number of trophies he has won, this approach seems to have been quite successful, Gareth. (In reality, I suspect there is much more to his management skills than that).
His rudeness and sneering at the poor backgrounds of opposition players may £take some attention” off his own players, but I suspect that in the long run, Mourinho’s manner is alienating a lot of people, including the more fair-minded Chelsea fans who worry about the long-term reputation of their club. And remember, if Chelsea fail to end the season with much in the way of silverware, such excuse-making for his behaviour is unlikely to work.
Like I said, it is a shame since I am sure he is decent man.