As Daniel Levy was ushering Mauricio Pochetino out the front door of White Hart Lane, Jose Mourinho was shuffling in through the back door to begin another chapter in his managerial career. After 11 months out of the game, Mourinho has ended up at the only half-decent club who’d have him.
There has been much brouhaha over Jose Mourinho’s appointment at Tottenham Hotspur. Chelsea fans are disowning him because he’s joined a much-hated rival, and Spurs fans are dismayed at, potentially, getting a divisive former-Chelsea-managing-Mourinho. Having spent years hating Mourinho, though, a few victories will soon see him become the pride of North London and those Chelsea years will be forgotten.
That mentality exemplifies the fickle nature of the modern-day football fan. It won’t be long, probably 22 December, before Spurs are taunting Blues supporters and proudly singing Mourinho’s name. When it comes, Chelsea supporters need to ignore the bait. A simple retort of “He’s won more than, he’s won more than you, Jose Mourinho, he’s won more than you” should suffice.
Mourinho will be Chelsea’s most successful manager until somebody beats his record. Managers are never going to be one-club-men. They will move on. Chelsea fans should celebrate his past success, not berate his future. As fans, we may not like it but we have to let go the belief that The Special One belongs to us.
Those past successes don’t equate to future success, though. Historically, Mourinho is for the short-term and Tottenham, as we’ve seen, are incredibly patient with their managers.
Multiple cliche alert: The two are chalk and cheese, and whilst opposites attract, a leopard cannot change his spots.
It’s almost inevitable that Mourinho’s Spurs will end the club’s 11-year wait for a trophy. That’s how he operates. He’s a winner. Tottenham, on the other hand… well, you know.
The victories will be sweet but the football won’t necessarily be beautiful, and there will be collateral damage. Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham have been second only to Liverpool as darlings of the media as they waltzed their way to mediocrity, but Spurs fans can look forward to that reputation dissipating in the coming months.
After Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea, they have remained winners no matter who has been in charge.
Daniel Levy has finally bitten the bullet and is looking to put success ahead of operating the club in a fruitlessly sustainable manner. It would appear that, by employing Mourinho, Spurs have decided that the “Chelsea model” may well be the future. It’s taken them a while, and there’ll be many holier-than-though Spurs supporters who cringe at the thought, but winning is what it’s all about, however it’s achieved.
The question that remains is whether Mourinho is able to mould the players at his disposal as Daniel Levy imposes owner Joe Lewis’s tight budget. Player salary and transfer budgets will be in place, and Mourinho may find his patience tested to the max.
Balancing the financial side with the playing side is a problem for any club, and those at the top of the club may find managing those new expectations difficult as they look to change their direction.
Whilst there may be a short-term uplift for Spurs fans, maintaining it with Jose Mourinho at the helm is certainly not a given. Real Madrid fans know it and so do Manchester United fans.
Tottenham fans are at the beginning of a new dawn. As they gloat over their new boss they may ultimately find that he who laughs last, laughs longest.