The return of ‘The Special One’, though perhaps judging on the elder, greyer and not as slim Jose Mourinho of the 2012/2013 season, that should perhaps be ‘The Grouchy One’. Plenty has been and will be written about Jose’s return to Chelsea and it certainly comes at a time when his qualities are probably at their most scrutinized following his turbulent spell at Madrid. Yet he still remains one of the top managers in world football. Since Chelsea he won the Champions League with a decent but hardly exceptional Inter Milan team (see what happened after he left) and for all of the drama of his La Liga stay, to say his spell had been a failure would be harsh – one domestic cup, winning La Liga while scoring over 100 goals despite the mighty Barcelona still being at their Guardiola-led peak and three semi-finals compared to the preceding dozen or so last-16s…hardly bad.
Yet his inimitable aura as supremo Chelsea manager in the mid-00s has been tarnished by six years of constant press-scrutiny in Italy and Spain. Moving back to Chelsea and England makes definite sense for the Portuguese manager who still has unfinished business at Chelsea – how desperate he will be to win that third personal Champions League. That is undoubtedly the goal – along with restoring Chelsea to the peak in England ahead of the recent Manchester dominance – and should he achieve it his position among the European managerial greats will be more greatly entrenched – no man has ever won the trophy with three clubs while a third trophy would also put him ahead of other greats like the now retired Sir Alex and (depending on when and if he wins it) ahead of managerial rival Pep Guardiola.
For the Premier League, Jose’s return is exactly what the doctor ordered. With Sir Alex retiring, the league was left shorn of its highest-profile figure and one of its greatest characters so Jose’s return is a timely and ideal medicine. Indeed, the league needs its big characters and with Moyes taking over at Man Utd and the likable but frustratingly unflappable Pellegrini at City in place of the constantly flappable Mancini, if it were not for Mourinho’s return, the coming season’s managerial roster would have an overall beige feel.
As it is, Mourinho’s return should spice up what should be an utterly intriguing season with Man Utd moving into the uncertainty of a new manager and the likes of City, Arsenal and Chelsea all likely to significantly improve over the summer. As a double Champions League winning coach with the most affable of press relations (in England that is), he is unquestionably the new heavyweight in the manager in the league. Arsene Wenger moves into the position of being the longest-serving manager (for how much longer no one knows) but let’s say that his profile as a top manager has been slightly diluted by the last 8 years, however you look at his achievements in that time.
Though Wenger will undoubtedly play the role of myopic adversary to Mourinho well, in terms of the pantomime of the league, Mourinho does have some decent adversaries lower down the standings. Newly promoted Crystal Palace’s Ian Holloway will return some of his enjoyable western wisdom to the league while Sunderland’s Paolo di Canio will certainly inject a bit of madness into mid-table mediocrity. Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers, while beginning to impress at Liverpool, will supply some amusingly invigorating press conference muses, Michael Laudrup will continue to be rather ‘shexay’ at Swansea, Villas Boas will continue to be croaky while there’s the question on everyone’s lips as to whether Southampton’s Pochettino will be able to speak English by the start of the new season.
But in terms of heavyweight entertainment, the league needed the return of Jose. We may have lost Sir Alex, but let’s be thankful for the timing for the return of the special one.
(Notice no mention of Tony Pulis).
By William Barns-Graham
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