| Revision as of 04:49, 2 June 2005 view sourceJuwe (talk | contribs)Rollbackers3,069 editsm fixed up a mistake in my previous edit← Previous edit | Revision as of 17:21, 3 June 2005 view source 62.255.32.14 (talk) →Chelsea F.C.Next edit → | ||
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| On the 30th of April 2005, Mourinho and his Chelsea side secured the clubs first top flight domestic title in 50 years with a 2-0 victory against ] at the ]. However, Mourinho failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League titles when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition at the semi-final stage by eventual winners ] just three days later. | On the 30th of April 2005, Mourinho and his Chelsea side secured the clubs first top flight domestic title in 50 years with a 2-0 victory against ] at the ]. However, Mourinho failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League titles when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition at the semi-final stage by eventual winners ] just three days later. | ||
| On June 2, 2005, he was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with ] full-back ] in January 2005. | |||
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Revision as of 17:21, 3 June 2005
José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (born January 26, 1963 in Setúbal, Portugal), is a football manager. He is currently the coach of Chelsea F.C., based in South West London. His salary is reported to be increasing to £5 million a year plus bonuses from the 2005/06 season, which will reportedly make him the highest paid football manager in the world .
He is regarded as a genuinely great manager by other bosses (including Alex Ferguson manager of Manchester United, a rival club) and pundits. Many consider Mourinho to be one of the best managers in the Premiership and the undisputed key to Chelsea's blistering form and international growth away from the pitch. However, Mourinho is notorious for his unshakeable self-belief and confidence (sometimes plain arrogance) that has given newspapers and TV stations worldwide endless hours of material, with veteran English pundit Jimmy Hill labelling him a "soap".
Mourinho has become one of the most loved and the most hated managers in the Premiership.
Career
Early years
The son of Portuguese goalkeeper Félix Mourinho, José Mourinho never actually pursued a career as a player (although he did have unsuccessful, minor stints in smaller clubs) but showed an impressive managing and organising ability from an early age by preparing match reports and dossiers for his father's teams. He also gained a degree in sports coaching and worked as a high school coach.
The Translator
After low-key backroom jobs at Estrela da Amadora and his hometown club Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s, Mourinho soon earned the nickname Tradutor (translator), when he worked with Bobby Robson as his translator (technically speaking he was interpreter) at both Sporting Lisbon and then FC Porto.
He then followed Robson to FC Barcelona in 1996 where he even learned Catalan. When Robson left for PSV, he stayed at the Catalan side where he worked with Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal. Mourinho's undoubted confidence and charm helped him get beyond his original role and began actively contributing more and more to coaching sessions and team management meetings.
Benfica and Leiria
In 2000 his chance of coaching his own team finally arrived, when he was picked by Lisbon side Benfica to replace Jupp Heynckes after the fourth week of the Portuguese league.
However, while he was popular, especially after a 3-0 win against Sporting, Benfica's election turned against the president João Vale e Azevedo and the newly-elected Manuel Vilarinho already had another coach waiting on the wings. Mourinho thus quit Benfica after just nine games in charge.
The next season, 2001/02, Mourinho started work with unfashionable mid-tablers União de Leiria, where he climbed as high as fourth (9-7-3 WDL record). He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by FC Porto to replace Octávio Machado as the manager of a badly-motivated and unhappy side which was already out of contention for the league title by week 19 and at risk of not even qualifying for European competition. Mourinho waltzed into FC Porto with big promises of "making Porto champions next year", and soon clinched third place after a decent 15 game run (WDL 11-2-2).
Porto magic
Mourinho quickly identified several key players who he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect FC Porto team: e.g. Maniche, Paulo Ferreira, Nuno Valente, Derlei, Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Jorge Costa, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev, and Postiga.
In 2003, Mourinho won his first SuperLiga with a 27-5-2 WDL record, 11 points clear of the Benfica side that ditched him two years before. He also won the Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the UEFA Cup against Celtic, both in May 2003.
This debut season at FC Porto set a standard that would be hard for anyone to beat, but the following season, while perhaps not playing as impressively, Porto scooped another easy SuperLiga win (their 20th overall) with an eight point advantage, achieved with an unbeaten run that only ended five weeks before the end of the league. While the Portuguese Cup final was lost to Benfica in May 2004, two weeks later Mourinho won the ultimate prize: the Champions League, with an emphatic 3-0 win over Monaco in the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The team's impressive European run saw only one defeat: against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first group phase.
Chelsea F.C.
Whilst still at FC Porto, Mourinho was linked with several top international clubs, including Liverpool and Roman Abramovich's Chelsea. Many people, especially in Portugal, questioned the legality of alleged contact discussions with several clubs, but no wrongdoing was officially proved and no charges have been brought. Mourinho finally moved to Chelsea in June 2004, becoming one of the best-paid managers in the world.
Mourinho went straight to work, recruiting his trustworthy backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout Andre Villas and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. Mourinho followed the gauntlet set down by his predecessor Claudio Ranieri, and spent owner Roman Abramovich's vast fortune on stars such as Tiago Mendes, Didier Drogba, Mateja Kezman and FC Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.
Under Mourinho, Chelsea turned the potential seen in Ranieri's time into results. Chelsea's strengths were summed up by their three key players: Rock-solid defender John Terry, inspirational midfielder Frank Lampard, and surging winger Arjen Robben. By early December they were top of the Premiership table and through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League. On 27 February 2005 he led Chelsea to the League Cup trophy in Cardiff, Wales, dramatically beating Liverpool 3-2 after extra time. The match is perhaps best remembered for Mourinho being sent off and removed from the touchline in the second half for allegedly inciting Liverpool fans.
On March 31, 2005 Mourinho was handed a two match suspension and also a fine for bringing the game into disrepute by UEFA. This was after Mourinho criticised referee Anders Frisk after a Champions League second-round loss to FC Barcelona. Mourinho said a member of his staff saw Frisk chatting to Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard at half-time, alleging that the chat influenced Frisk's performance after the break, when he sent off striker Didier Drogba.
On the 30th of April 2005, Mourinho and his Chelsea side secured the clubs first top flight domestic title in 50 years with a 2-0 victory against Bolton at the Reebok Stadium. However, Mourinho failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League titles when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition at the semi-final stage by eventual winners Liverpool just three days later.
On June 2, 2005, he was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole in January 2005.
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