Jose Mourinho knows the bottom line of football management: results, that is, trophies and nothing less. Chelsea – and the club’s fans, in particular – should let the Special One recalibrate their priorities.
The recency effect does Jose Mourinho no favours. For all the heights he reached with Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter and Chelsea again, because he left those clubs (and Manchester United) amidst division and spats, memories of him are often at odds with his legacy. Most conversations about Mourinho among Chelsea fans include the phrase “Well, let’s not forget,” signalling how his three Premier League titles, FA Cup and three League Cups modify, rather than define, fans’ recollections of his tenures. Perhaps this is why he has taken to reminding audiences – Chelsea fans, Juventus fans – of what he accomplished.
But, truly, when it comes to winning, he is an expert. Domestic titles and cups in four leagues. Champions League title in two leagues, and a Europa League win in another. If anyone wants to learn what it takes to win – and then win something themselves – they should listen to him
That “if” is the problem. Mourinho opened his beIN Sport punditry stint by speaking to an issue that is a suppressed fault line between Premier League clubs and within clubs themselves. Should clubs – and therefore, for Mourinho’s interest – managers be judged by their style or their results? Some managers and fanbases are willing to trade results for style. Mourinho knows this is a road to obscurity.
"It’s very easy to play ‘well’ and not win, it’s very easy to be behind a certain idea of a certain football without results. The people win and the people that win consistently, because you can win isolated and then disappear, have a different idea about that. – The Telegraph"
As with all things Mourinho, this is equal parts arrogance, trolling and passion for the sport. While Mourinho is still well within his prime managerial years should he return to a touchline, he is also at the age where he knows he has more behind him than in front. Those are the years where you start thinking about legacy. Those are they years where people – even Jose Mourinho – thinks about what will remain of that which he loves after he is gone.
As the Special One went on to ask, who will be the next Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho? “Where are they?” he wants to know.
Football will remember those three for what they accomplished. Their place is assured in the sport. Mourinho, like anyone in his position, does not want to be the last. He does not want to be among the last “super coaches” who won everything everywhere. He does not want future generations of football fans to talk about the era of Ancelotti, Guardiola and Mourinho and then not be able to recall anyone at the level from the subsequent 20 years.
This is a warning and a wake-up call for managers and fans. In the current day the process is overwhelming the result. Managers are being hired and judged for everything but results. Style, tactics and entertainment value are important only insofar as they contribute towards success.
For managers like Mourinho and clubs like Chelsea, that can only ever mean trophies. Will anyone other than a few nerds reading the fourth appendix to Inverting the Pyramid (sorry, Travis) remember in 10, 20 or 30 years a stylistically impeccable game, season or era of football? Or will they remember the trophies, the open-top bus parades, the goal and the player who clinched the title at the Hawthorns or That Night in Munich? And outside of the fans of the individual clubs, who will remember managers who won one title or one cup?
Whatever his faults, Jose Mourinho has added at least two trophies to the hall of honour at every club he has worked at. He wants managers to emerge from the next generation to do the same, not to be one-season wonders or football cosmetologists.
This is not a desire for his own aggrandizement, but for those behind him, so they can have the legacy and permanence in the sport’s mind that he has earned for himself. It is also for the fans, who come back to the sport and back to their clubs year after year, decade after decade, hoping for just a few years of someone like him. How lucky we have been.