We'll Chant Jose Mourinho's name againts Sunderland

Highly charismatic and totally driven. Words that describe some very successful football managers, including greats such as Bill Shankly, Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson. They also describe José Mourinho and probably help explain his popularity with Chelsea supporters, their identification with him and the utter dismay felt by many on hearing of his departure. None of these men were necessarily easy to deal with, all had/have large egos and all thrived on siege mentalities but their upside surely more than outweighed their downside. The business world is full of huge egos, as is the world of entertainment. Football is no different. The trick is to deal with that.

Mourinho is a winner. Supporters like to win trophies and so do owners. The team’s performance this season has not been acceptable but it is by no means clear that was down to the manager. Several players (including Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Cesc Fàbregas and Nemanja Matic) have struggled to hit the heights of last season and, arguably, only the excellent Willian has impressed.

Individual errors have been made across the team in a number of games. Stupid goals have been given away and chances missed, possession regularly lost and passes made to a striker who is elsewhere. Mistakes made by highly paid players, not a manager screaming his evident frustration on the touchline.

The technical director, Michael Emenalo, made it clear in his interview that there was “palpable discord” between manager and players. Surely professionals should work for whoever happens to be in charge, whatever walk of life they are from? Whatever happened to professional and personal pride? We all have to work for and with people we don’t like, you just get on with it.

The suspicion remains that some players have been bleating about Mourinho above his head and, rather than address their disloyalty, the club hierarchy has chosen to dispose of the man responsible for bringing three league titles and a host of cups to Chelsea. There have also been a series of stories in the media undermining Mourinho, some seemingly player-sourced. If this is the case, it is inexcusable. Mourinho was responsible for these players winning Premier League medals only seven months ago.
ADVERTISING
Advertisement

Emenalo talking about “the individual”, as opposed to naming Mourinho, seems both strange and disrespectful. The inference of his interview is that club and players are almost completely blameless. This is clearly not the case.

Two pertinent issues spring to mind, both of which were out of Mourinho’s hands. The failed attempts to buy a striker and a centre-back in the summer have impacted on the team. It has been obvious for some time the side lacks leaders apart from John Terry, who is sadly approaching the twilight of his career. The core of the highly successful team of the past decade – Petr Cech, Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba – has virtually gone and not been replaced. Both of these issues are Emenalo’s responsibility.

It is hard not to take the view that the Chelsea hierarchy has taken the easy way out in sacking Mourinho. Roman Abramovich is of course under no obligation to do interviews, and frankly I don’t blame him for letting others do the talking, but if Emenalo is put up for an unchallenging in-house Chelsea TV interview, then it is inevitable supporters’ questions will remain unanswered.

Against Sunderland there will certainly be chants in support of Mourinho, though it is hard to tell if there will be any other concerted reaction. I doubt there will be sustained booing of the team or individual players unless the performance is very poor. Not all supporters are unhappy because with a matchgoing constituency of 40,000 inevitably there will be those happy to see the back of a man seen by some as an ego out of control.

I do, however, believe most matchgoing supporters are genuinely sorry and upset to see him go.

Guus Hiddink seems like an obvious choice as interim manager. He was certainly popular last time, though it is worth pointing out he replaced the fish-out-of-water Luiz Felipe Scolari, as opposed to the trophy-laden Mourinho. I doubt there would be any animosity towards Hiddink although I have concerns over his recent track record.

All in all, it was a very sorry way for a great Chelsea career to come to an end.

Tim Rolls, the chairman of Chelsea Supporters’ Trust, writing in a personal capacity















source : http://www.theguardian.com/

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: