Harry Harris - Jose - Farewell to the King

To the Blues in my family (Linda, Ken, Jean, Uncle John), who love Jose Mourinhos winning ways.And to all the Chelsea fans in the family who are still keeping the faith. T o my publisher, John Blake, whose son, Adam, is such a big Chelsea fan no wonder he keeps commissioning me for books on Chelsea!To my various editors at John Blake Publishing, for putting the book together, plus a special mention to my latest editor there, Toby Buchan.Special thanks to the then FA Cup sponsors E.ON and their PR Tim Collins for the invitation to the FA Cup Final at the new Wembley to record Jose Mourinho winning his full house of domestic prizes.A wonderful thank you to Mark Mitchinson when he headed up Chelsea sponsors Samsung.Thanks to Andy Sutherden and Steve Bradley at Hill & Knowlton for their help on the then Carling Cup.However, this book wouldnt be worthwhile without the charismatic Jose Mourinho and his wonderful way with words. This book is a tribute to the Special One.The author and publisher are also very grateful to Chris Davies for all his superb editorial work on the original text to produce this new edition. CONTENTS I received a call on my mobile from LBC as I was leaving a matinee performance of War Horse at the New London Theatre in Covent Garden, asking if I could do an interview on the demise of Jose Mourinho a little later in the evening.I would imagine the vast majority of Chelsea fans will recall instantly exactly where they were the moment they discovered their beloved Jose had been fired for a second and, clearly, last time as Chelsea boss. It is one of those defining moments in football fans lives.Im not a Chelsea fan, I hasten to say, but my wife Linda is and she was by my side when I broke the news to her. It came as quite a shock and she rang her family after the show, as they all hail from Chelsea.My old Daily Mirror colleague Nick Ferrari, who is now breakfast presenter at LBC, always likes to rustle me up when there is a major football story breaking and there has been no bigger one for quite some time than the sacking just before Christmas of Jose Mourinho.More pertinently, I just happen to be Jose Mourinhos biographer, having written a series of books for publishers John Blake on this very intriguing and complex character, who never ceases to amaze, confuse and enlighten in equal measure.Ironically, the latest volume was due to be published in late October/early November but, two months prior to the publication date, on consultation with the publishers, it was decided to put the book on hold pending his sacking from Chelsea. The rationale was that, with the team doing so badly, the celebration of winning the title had already evaporated and a vastly different mood a black mood had descended on the Bridge: not a particularly good time to bring out a book to glory in Mourinhos achievements at Chelsea. But I reasoned that a very good time would be a couple of months later as, inevitably, he would be sacked.I also write a column for a website, Zapsportz.com, of which I share joint ownership with Glenn Hoddle and in which I had been predicting Mourinhos sacking for some time. Then, in aftermath of the defeat at Leicester City, I had confidently predicted that he would get the boot in social-media postings, for a PR project Id been working on for a new football boot: the Serafino 4th Edge boot.All fascinating stuff for LBC to get their teeth into when I arrived back at the Millennium Hotel, Mayfair, where there was a clear line for an uninterrupted five-minute slot to discuss the ins and outs of the Mourinho sacking.Having confidently predicted for several weeks that he would get the bullet, I was not unduly surprised when the final shot was fired and LBC wanted to know why.Jose is either loved or hated in equal measure wherever he goes but the outpouring of emotion from Chelsea fans at the decision to kick him out of the door, despite being the most successful manager in the clubs history, was something quite special, even by the Special Ones standards.When I was interviewed on LBC, I commented, Managers are judged by results; it is a results-based industry and results have been pathetic. So you sack the manager, irrespective of his former glories. He has taken Chelsea from champions to one point above the drop zone. If it was any other manager, you would have very little sympathy for him.Chelsea lost nine of sixteen Premier League matches at the start of what turned out to be a shambolic season and, while the manager was accused of losing the dressing room, this, in my view, is a cop-out.In reality, managers dont even have the dressing room. Its a myth. Players back the manager while hes there and its only when hes gone that one or two come out of the woodwork to let us know how diabolically theyve been treated. The players the manager picks are behind him, their faces fit. Theyre content, they pick up their bonuses, they love the boss. Those he leaves out stick the knife in at every opportunity as soon as hes gone but wouldnt dare voice publicly their discontent while he can still discipline them. Thats the way of the dressing-room world and it doesnt alter, whichever club you manage.Mourinho, though, did overstep the mark when he claimed he had been betrayed by his players, which he voiced before the game with Leicester City, for, by that point, the Chelsea board had had enough of his latest antics.He was referring specifically to a failure by flair players to follow instructions to concentrate on their defensive duties. He was also convinced that somehow Porto had learned of his team line-up before their meeting in the Champions League. His relationship with key players had decayed: Diego Costa tossed his training bib at Mourinho after not being brought on as a substitute at Tottenham, while Eden Hazard declined an attempted hug from Mourinho as he left the pitch in that Porto game.Whether he should have voiced his concerns about the players publicly and not for the first time in this dramatic season is another matter. It was a fatal error of judgement. If designed to whip up his players, the consequence was the final straw to determine his fate in the board room. Perhaps he could already see he was on his way out and wanted to make it clear why. Agents like Jorge Mendes, one of the games most influential middlemen with Mourinho and Ronaldo among his clients, have their ear to the ground and it wouldnt be a surprise if he became aware of the soundings being taken about whether they could bring back Carlo Ancelotti or Guus Hiddink, and with Ancelotti off to replace Pep Guardiola in the summer, it was Hiddink who was more readily available and far more amenable to move straight in as an interim boss, as he had done so successfully before in winning the FA Cup. Pep Guardiola and Diego Simone remained the first choices and Mendes would know the behind-the-scenes secrets better than anyone and would have tipped off Mourinho.The attitude of the players stank and the fans could smell it. In fact, the supporters had already let some of the players know what they thought of them, booing them off at half-time or at the end, a condemnation of them more than the manager,From champions only a few months earlier, their form had been pathetically poor poor in the extreme and Mourinho was right to feel let down.After disastrous below-standard performances, matters reached a head on 3 October 2015, when Chelsea lost 31 to Southampton. Under pressure, Mourinho counter-attacked. On Sky, he shocked the live TV audience with his seven-minute rant, during which he said: I want to make it clear: one, I dont run away. Two, if the club want to sack me, they have to sack me because I am not running away from my responsibilities, from my team and from my conviction. As results faltered further, there was an opportunity for his detractors to put the knife in. Mourinho is a great coach but, after a year and a half, he ruins his players, said the former England manager Fabio Capello.I remarked on the previously mentioned LBC interview that a manager is only as good as his players and the attitude of more or less the same group of players has been appalling. For me, it all stems from the end of last season when, having won the league at a canter, they showed a lackadaisical attitude, which has carried on into this season. Mourinho wanted to purchase certain players in the summer to keep the current players on their toes but that didnt happen and that was Chelseas biggest mistake.But, for me, the problems can be traced back to the tail end of the previous season, when Chelsea clinched the title with a less than convincing 10 win over Crystal Palace. It was endemic of a long period where Chelsea had gone off the boil, not helped by the injury that deprived Diego Costa of his goalscoring touch, which was so prominent in such a blistering, title-defining start to the season.With their rivals inept in mounting a challenge, Mourinhos third title with the club was delivered with a far more pragmatic approach to the second half of the season, in contrast to the effusive football that defined the first half. A week after the win over United in the previous season, Chelsea drew 00 at Arsenal, to which the home fans chanted, Boring, boring Chelsea. Mourinho responded sarcastically: People talk about style and flair but what is that? Sometimes I ask myself about the future and maybe the future of football is a beautiful green-grass carpet without goals, where the team with more ball possession wins the game. The way people analyse style and flair is to take the goals off the pitch.Mourinho was proud of winning the title again and with such a depleted squad but he must have known that delaying pre-season to give players a long rest was a risk. However, not signing top-class players was an even bigger one.Mourinho delivered his wish list of players he wanted for the new season but there was a lack of urgency in recruitment; an over-confident attitude of, as champions, perhaps we dont need a major overhaul of players. In reality, they did. They failed to do so, from a mixture of reluctance to pay over-inflated prices, or of the big clubs like Real Madrid to sell the players Mourinho wanted.As Chelsea suffered the worst opening third to a campaign of any defending champion, it seemed to come as a shock to some of the clubs fans when the axe eventually fell but, as I stressed in my LBC assessment, the writing was clearly on the wall if you looked for the signs. And the signs were pretty clear to me. Not in hindsight, I might add, as I had flagged them up consistently in my writings during the season on my internet columns. The signs had been pretty clear to me, particularly the failure to sign key players such as John Stones, and another out-and-out goalscorer rather than a past-his-sell-by-date Falcao, proved costly.In his post-match press conference, having clinched the title against Crystal Palace, Mourinho had a dig at Pep Guardiola, highlighting his seemingly continued quest to be recognised as the best. For me, Mourinho said, Im not the smartest guy to choose countries and clubs. I could choose another club in another country where to be champion is easier. He didnt name Guardiola but the inference was that Guardiola had gone to Bayern Munich, where the title is virtually guaranteed. Guardiolas titles, Mourinho was suggesting, meant less than the one he had just won. But the antagonism runs much deeper. In his book Goal: The Ball Doesnt Go in by Chance , the then Barcelona CEO Ferran Soriano stated that the decision came down to a straight choice between Mourinho and Guardiola. It was clear that Mourinho was a great coach but we thought Guardiola would be even better, said Soriano. Mourinho is a winner, but in order to win he guarantees a level of tension that becomes a problem.Mourhino emphasised the point during that telling rant after clinching the title. I took a risk. I am so, so happy because I won another Premier League title ten years after [my first] in my second spell at the club. I was champion at every club I coached. I came to Inter [Milan], Real Madrid and Chelsea. Every title is important. To win the title in Spain with a hundred points against the best Barcelona ever was a big achievement that I enjoyed so much. Maybe in the future I have to be smarter and choose another club in another country where everybody is champion. Maybe I will go to a country where a kitman can be coach and win the title. Maybe I need to be smarter but I still enjoy these difficulties. I think Im at the right place. Im here until Abramovich tells me to go.A few weeks later, Mourinho signed a new four-year deal that ended any insecurity issues so he thought which he referenced with until Abramovich tells me to go. He craved security after so many moves and, bizarrely, given his previous form in sacking managers,, so did Abramovich, so a long term deal suited them both.Who would have thought it would be four months, not four years, before they were parting company again?Well, the problems began soon after the signing of the new contract. This was only the third time that Mourinho had reached a third season with any club and, on the previous two occasions at Chelsea the first time round and at Real Madrid he suffered the third-season syndrome. To avoid it, the solution was to bring in a range of new, dynamic stars to freshen up the team and to keep those who might have thought they were fixtures on their toes. But, rather than sign the players he desired a youthful John Stones to phase out an aging John Terry, for example, and a recognised young new goalscorer in case Diego Costa faltered again the club quibbled over the players valuations, while their rivals paid vastly inflated prices to acquire the players they wanted. Worse still, Mourinho was dead against selling Petr Cech to Arsenal and made it plain that the decision was taken out of his hands by Abramovich.Earlier in the season, when still a Sky TV pundit and long before his shock move to manage Seville, Gary Neville slammed Eden Hazard for his poor start to the season, saying he had no sympathy.Hazard was voted PFA Player of the Year in the previous term when the team romped to the title. The Belgium international personified the poor start and, long before the axe fell on the manager, the Manchester United legend claimed that Hazard needed to knuckle down if was to become truly world class. Ive got no sympathy for Hazard. I expect more of him, Neville told Sky Sports. The level he got to last season, you started to see a great player. In the Premier League, how many real top, world-class players could you say we have in the league? Aguero, Silva youd look at. Youd look at Hazard and put him into that level of category. There might be a couple more. Im not saying we havent got more but theyre the three I can think of off the top of my head.Clearly, for those on the outside looking in, it was obvious that the attitude of some key, big-time players was not right. Rather than working even harder to rectify the issues, certain players simply went even deeper into their shells.This season there was a deluge of new, headline-hugging episodes. Mourinhos handshake row with Arsne Wenger and the row with two members of his medical staff for treating Eden Hazard created havoc and backfired spectacularly. Team doctor Eva Carneiro left the club pursuing hugely embarrassing and humiliating legal proceedings against both Chelsea and Mourinho. As the season unfolded, the rows with the referees continued; he was banished to the stands and faced stadium bans. All Mourinho-esque. He could get away with it while he continued winning, which was his trademark, but the combination of Mourinhos controversial antics while on a losing streak was lethal.Chelsea beat Aston Villa but then came a defeat at West Ham in which a Chelsea player was sent off just before half-time. Mourinho approached the referee, Jon Moss, in the tunnel and called him fucking weak, which led to the manager being banned from attending the next Chelsea match.Mourinho must have had some inkling of the hierarchys intentions in the days leading up to his departure; it was pretty obvious the team were underperforming.Filmed not long before Abramovich finally decided to axe him, Mourinho appeared on BT sports The Clare Balding Show , something that looked, from the outside, routine at the time. But it was, effectively, his last ever TV appearance as Chelsea manager. Introduced as the man whos won everything, he looked unusually uncomfortable; another indicator, perhaps, that he did have an inkling. Asked if he liked the fact that everyone here loves you, he managed only a very self-conscious laugh in reply.In the interview, filmed on 2 December but not screened until the 17th, just days before he was axed, Mourinho spoke about the players needing to listen once more to his message: I think they need to like to work with me. I think they need to understand that I am the best manager they can work with, I think that is very, very important. Like me, dont like me, the person, the man, big friends, thats a supplement but I think its fundamental that the manager is somebody the players can look at and know that hes good. I always establish the impossible target and I tell them this is the impossible target but the target is to win every match. They know that is impossible and this season is proving that it is really impossible, but I think its the target, you have to go to every match, it doesnt matter which competition it is, and you want to win and you feel that you can win. I think thats the important thing.I give everything I have, sometimes maybe too much, sometimes maybe too emotional but I do that with every club so for me I did that with everyone but the only one where I wear the shirt twice was Chelsea because I was in the club where I was, I left and I came back so I would say Chelsea. But I have also to confess that Inter [Milan] was really special, and Porto was my beginning and I cant forget that. And a giant like Real Madrid is also an honour to manage.He went on to speak of a wide range of topics, including whether he would one day manage England, a job he once turned down after having said yes, only to change his mind. On the possibility of coaching the England team, Mourinho said: I like to work every day, I like to play three times a week and the national team job is a job where you are on holidays most of the time. Big pressure, big pressure but you dont work specially on the pitch, you dont work every day.When asked whether he sends fellow managers Christmas cards, Mourinho revealed that he categorises his colleagues into three different groups. One group I just sign. Another one, I send a personalised message and the other one I just dont send, Mourinho replied. To Big Sam, the Christmas card is not big enough as I love to send a message to this guy.Clare Balding finished by asking what would bring Christmas cheer to him: What are the things that make you smile and give you peace?At this moment? Win a match! Mourinho responded.When Mourinho was finally sacked, just days later, as expected, Guardiola announced his departure from Bayern to take effect at the end of the season, with Manchester City his likely destination, but Abramovich was ready to make a third and final attempt to lure him to west London. Speculation was rife in the media that Guardiola remained top of Abramovichs wish list, and it was hard to imagine that he wouldnt be.In terms of looking back, Mourinho was recognised for past achievements by Guinness World Records , for five records picked up during his football managerial career. They are:Longest football unbeaten home run by a manager (nine years)Most Champions League titles with different clubs (two)Youngest manager to reach 100 Champions League matches (49 years, 12 days)Most points in a Premier League season (95)Most games unbeaten at home in the Premier League (77)Yet this is what he had to say about the records on Chelseas website: The fact they gave me the awards in a way that I can put them up in my office is nice. Its something fun and as a kid you could never imagine that one day you would be in the Guinness Book of Records . You know me, these awards are for something I did in the past and obviously its nice, but for me whats more important is what I can do in the future. HARRY HARRIS THERES A BIT OF THE YOUNG CLOUGH ABOUT HIM. FOR A START, HES GOOD-LOOKING AND, LIKE ME, HE DOESNT BELIEVE IN THE STAR SYSTEM BRIAN CLOUGH ON JOSE MOURINHO D esigner stubble, expensive grey overcoat and scarf, brooding, explosive, animated, flashy, arrogant, young and glamorous. But Jose Mourinho has proved to be more substance than style.Mourinho was voted the best club coach in the world in 2004 by the International Football Federation of History and Statistics, finishing well ahead of Arsne Wenger and Didier Deschamps of Monaco, and the award came just as he was on the verge of engineering a shift in power within English football away from Highbury and Old Trafford.Its incredible to realise that Mourinho has performed a meteoric rise back in the late 1990s he was a glorified interpreter at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona.Some say Mourinhos defining moment was when his Porto team won the Portuguese League Cup for the second year running, and then overwhelmed Monaco to win the European Champions title in May 2004. Perhaps, though, his seminal moment had come in Lisbon four years earlier when, after just nine matches, he walked out on the famous Benfica club. It wasnt right, says Mourinho. I could have stayed around, but I knew my work could not prosper there. My ideas could not develop.When Roman Abramovich interviewed Mourinho on his yacht in Monte Carlo, the Chelsea owner had had twenty-four hours to read a document sent to him by his prospective coach. It was a stunning appraisal of the situation of the club that had become the richest in the game.English football writers put to Mourinho some theories about the course of English football, with talk of a renaissance at Arsenal and a rally by Manchester United. Mourinho, in response, frowned. Do not tell me about your movie. I am in a movie of my own.The choice of metaphor is not accidental. Mourinho loves films. On away trips he carries his laptop with him and, when he describes meeting Abramovich for the first time, it is like a scene from a James Bond flick: the French Riviera, the speedboat, the monumental yacht. And the pressure Mourinho is under? That brings another screen reference. Worthy of Don Corleone, he says.If Mourinhos life is a movie, its pre-production has been extensive. Hes an overnight sensation who is twenty years in the making, UEFAs technical director Andy Roxburgh once said. Roxburgh has been acquainted with Mourinho all that time. It was through Roxburgh that Mourinho acquired his first coaching badge, when he attended a Scottish Football Association course in Largs, Ayrshire. We used small-sided games on that course and it had a profound effect upon him. I know that players appreciate his training methods and attention to detail. He is also very personable and has good communication skills.For Roxburgh, Mourinho was a willing, enthusiastic and, above all, interested student. His public image ice-cool, dispassionate, detached is misleading, though even his wife, Tami, has said she had to learn to decodify him.Roxburgh says that, far from public perception, Mourinho does not need the limelight. With big-name players you sometimes see that they do, Roxburgh adds, but because of his background thats not the case.Mourinho enjoys the good life, but sees it as merely a reflection of success. I have a good car, but only one at a time. I like good holidays with my family, I like us to live in a nice place [Eaton Square], but as a football man the most important thing is to be working with the right people and with the right approach to things, he says.There is a little secret to his success. He calls it his methodology. Mourinho calls it his ability to smell what to do. I have a new way of thinking the game, the players and the practice, he says. I defend the globalisation of the work, the non-separation of the physical, technical, tactical and psychological. The psychological is fundamental.Mourinhos ideas are stored on his laptop. He used the machine to make his famous Power point presentation to Abramovich in which he analysed Chelseas strengths and weaknesses with forensic detail. Also, on the computer is Mourinhos bible: an extraordinary document that contains his theories about teamwork (its first line is The team is more important than the player), his philosophies, beliefs and even his definition of what the role of club chairman should be. He never shows it to anyone. Its his secret as are the notebooks he keeps hidden in his coat, and his private diary.What strikes all who encounter him is his remarkable belief in himself a belief that allows him, unusually among managers, to sleep easily. Mourinhos favourite hobby is quad-biking, and he enjoys skiing and snowboarding. He also indulges in more genteel pastimes such as reading and going to the theatre. I like to go out for dinner, to go to a show or read a book. My wife suggests books for me to read because she is an insatiable reader. Reading allows me to distract my mind from the rest of my worries.In an interview with UEFAs technical director, Andy Roxburgh, the former Scotland manager, the Chelsea coach reveals his international ambitions and also laughs off suggestions that he is arrogant. Mourinho points to the way he was encouraged to develop when assistant manager at Barcelona, first to Bobby Robson and then Louis van Gaal, as a key period in his career.Louis gave me the responsibility of taking the team in some friendlies or cup games and he monitored the way I handled things, he says. I was prepared to take charge of a team; I had developed my know-how and confidence. Confident? Yes. Arrogant? No. My friends laugh when they read articles which label me as arrogant they know it is not true. When I say I think we will win, I am only saying what most coaches think before a match.After his time at Barcelona, Mourinho returned to Portugal, ready to become a coach in his own right, and he admits it was not all plain sailing at Porto, with whom he would go on to win the UEFA Cup and Champions League. The first six months were difficult because the club and the team were in a very bad situation. I changed players and reorganised the team it was a crucial period of rebuilding. The next season was fantastic because we won the UEFA Cup and the treble in Portugal. It was a great process, but it did not happen by chance. I have been influenced by some people, although I have never been the type to just accept the truth of others.Mourinho is an assiduous note-taker, but only during the first half of games. During the half-time team talk I try to control my emotions and be what the team needs me to be this means I can be cool or I can be emotional because the team needs a certain response. There is always something to tell them at half-time, but after the match not one word, because the players are not ready to be analytical at that moment. Instead, he analyses the second half at home.Mourinho took more pleasure from winning the UEFA Cup, when Porto beat Celtic, than he did from the clubs triumph in the Champions League. The emotion was much greater when winning the UEFA Cup than beating Monaco in the Champions League final because of the game of football. The match against Celtic was dramatic until the last moment. But after the dust has settled, the Champions League title is the greatest prize. The night we won it was difficult because I was full of conflicting emotions, knowing that I would be leaving the team.He displays meticulous attention to detail when discussing what he looks for in a player. I have produced profiles for each position in terms of personality, athletic qualities, technical skills, etc. If a player lacks speed he has no chance at the top level.His newfound fame has come at a price, but he has few complaints. My life has changed. It is part of the job to deal with the demands. However, a principle for me is that I never miss a training session due to other claims on my time. Professional duties always come before external business requests. Football is my job but also my passion.Spirit, motivation, togetherness. It used to be the prerogative of The Invincibles, as Arsne Wengers players indulged in on-the-pitch pre-kick off huddles. For Jose Mourinho, the bonding takes places in the privacy and sanctuary of the dressing room. Just before the players go out, they take it in turns to deliver a brief motivational speech.Frank Lampard explains: Its about bonding and its a way of bringing out peoples character. We stand in the dressing room, put our arms around each other and one of us says a few words and finishes by asking, Who are we? Everyone shouts, We are Chelsea. There are a few lads who are a bit quiet, and its a way of bringing them out of themselves as well as getting everyone motivated.John Terry swears an awful lot when he does it. There was a pre-season game against Celtic and he was effing and blinding and I was thinking, Hang on, John, its only a run-out! Scott Parker did the best one at Newcastle in the Carling Cup. It was the most aggressive speech Ive ever heard, about being ready for battle. We already had a good spirit but the manager has taken it a step further.There is no room for jokes, a raised voice or any other gimmick in Mourinhos team talks. He is simply meticulous, says Lampard. Everything is explained in such detail that the minute he does make a change, we can adjust. Were able to do it because he leaves absolutely nothing to chance; he even tells us how to play if we go a goal up or down. He knows every opponent inside out. Even their subs. He talks to us as a team but also individually. No player likes to be blanked by the manager because even if youre playing well, you still wonder what hes thinking.Abramovich made up his mind he wanted Mourinho when he inspected the AC Milan trophy room and was taken aback by all the silverware. He came to the conclusion that Mourinho had won so much in just two years, compared to Claudio Ranieris record over his entire career, let alone his four trophyless years at the Bridge.Mourinho immediately stamped his personality on Chelsea, as he was not interested in spending fortunes on stars such as Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos or David Beckham. Whereas Ranieri recommended only three new players, Mourinho wanted four or five. Ranieri put forward a short list of new players: a striker, a central midfield player and centre-half. Ranieri suggested Gerrard for the midfield berth; Fernando Morientes of Real Madrid, Didier Drogba from Marseille or Samuel Etoo from Majorca as the new striker; and after his first choice, Walter Samuel, signed for Real, a number of alternatives were suggested for central defence.Mourinho wanted three of his Porto stars Paulo Ferreira, midfielder Costinha and playmaker Deco and wouldnt have said no to Gerrard if he could have been prised from Liverpool. Ranieri did not want to be too hasty in offloading players such as Jesper Gronkjaer, while Mourinho kicked out a dozen of the Italians squad. Mourinho shared Peter Kenyons conviction that Chelsea were vastly over-staffed. Melchiot, Petit, Stanic and Bogarde came to the end of their contracts and they were free to go; Hasselbaink and Desailly, with a year left, could also go on free transfers.Mourinho arrived with his family at Heathrow on 1 June. His contract was worth 6 million euros (4.1 million) a year plus 1.5 million euros (1 million) in bonuses triggered if he repeated the success he enjoyed at Porto in winning the championship and the Champions League. Kenyon negotiated a compensation package for Mourinho and his back-room team of 2.5 million euros (1.75 million).Rui Faria is a key part of Team Mourinho. Born in the central Portuguese town of Barcelos, Faria was, like Mourinho, a graduate in physical education who had never played football of any distinction. He met Mourinho at a seminar day at Barcelonas Nou Camp, where Mourinho was working at the time as Louis van Gaals assistant. Mourinho was impressed and stayed in touch and, when he took the job at Uniao Leiria in April 2001, he appointed Faria fitness coach and video analyst. Uniao Leiria struggled to attract 2,000 fans to their home games. But three years later Mourinho was in charge of a Champions League-winning team. No modern-day coach had achieved it at such a young age, or on such a meagre budget as Portos.In his two full seasons in charge of Porto, the team won all but one of the six serious competitions they entered two Portuguese titles, one UEFA Cup, one European Cup, one Portuguese Cup and lost only two matches of consequence: the Portuguese Cup final and the one-off European Super Cup against Milan.Mourinho enjoys role-reversal games, swapping places with his players and sometimes carrying out their orders while they act as manager. Thats what happened to former Manchester United star Karel Poborsky when he told Mourinho then in charge of Benfica what position he wanted to play. Mourinho, who saw Poborsky as a winger, called him in and said, Right, youre the boss, why do you want to be playmaker? He listened, let Poborsky pick his own place in the next match and took him off after half an hour. Poborsky says, Mourinho then told me, Right, Im the manager again. I gave you the chance to prove you were right and you proved nothing. You will play where I tell you from now on, and if you do not want to, youll play in the reserves. Porto scout Gil Rui Barros says, I have never known a manager prepare his training sessions so thoroughly. Like Zidane with a ball at his feet, Mourinho has this thing that cannot be taught. He is the Zidane of managers.Mourinhos special attributes attracted the attention of English clubs even before FC Portos European Cup victory. He was wooed by Liverpool in the spring but demurred. Sir Bobby Robson asked him to join the staff at Newcastle United with a pledge that within two years he would be head coach. Mourinho declined. Spurs had made inquiries through intermediaries regarding their then vacant managers job. It was in December or January, said Mourinho. There was a contact but not direct. I was not interested at that time; I do not like to leave clubs in the middle of the season, so I thought, at that time, no chance.Mourinho, a deeply religious man, was struck by tragedy when his sister died in a diabetic coma during his spell with Barcelona. The experience reinforced his strong bonds with wife Tami, his nine-year-old daughter, Mathilde, and his son Jose, six. It was to see them that he left the scene of Portos triumph so hurriedly on the way to Chelsea. Before every kick-off, he kisses a photograph of his two children, and a crucifix. LETS HAVE SOME FUN
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