Jose Mourinho > Us

"I have read I have to prove a lot in English football. Sir Alex Ferguson is the only European champion in this country, nobody else, so I have to prove what?"

I love Jose Mourinho for that quote (amongst many others) and I think it's a dreadful shame that his stay in English football could be all too brief. The tragedy, of course, is that it is entirely our loss and absolutely no skin off his nose. Because, of all the players and managers in the Premiership right now, he exemplifies that most beautiful of qualities - truly not giving a fuck.

Never before has anyone "not given a fuck" so demonstrably in English football, and this is one of the innumerable reasons why I love him, and will mourn, mourn, mourn him when he leaves. It isn't that he doesn't give a fuck about his team, his team's football and his job; it's just that he doesn't give a fuck about anything else. All of the extraneous other bullshit that surrounds the game is as nothing to him because, as he and few others realise, he is bigger than it. His managerial career has been short, but littered with triumphs. He guided FC Porto to two Portuguese league titles, a UEFA cup and the Champions League in just two full seasons before stating that he was to depart for an English club - no one needed telling which. In his first year at Chelsea, he all but won the Premiership in February and secured the League cup with the Champion's league an appealingly real prospect. In footballing terms, Mourinho is shit-hot, and, when he leaves Chelsea will be able to name his price, and his destination.

What makes Mourinho stand out from Arsene Wenger is that he refuses to pander to the insidious vanity of English football. He is perfectly aware that by even working in England he operates beneath his means; because, you see, English football isn't very good. Don't mistake me here; when English football is played well, it has a beating heart and soul that creates commitment beyond that which one finds on the continent. This theory is born out by Liverpool's recent triumph over Juventus. Clearly the better side, Juventus just sat back and waited for their natural flair to show itself, and were left stunned when it didn't. By and large though, if the best teams in Portugal, Spain, France or Holland moved to the Premiership, then they'd win it. How many European trophies have English teams taken home in the last few years? The answer is, not enough. Manchester United's Champions League in '99, and Chelsea's Cup Winner's Cup in ‘98 is pretty much it for the last ten years. Not only are English fans unwilling to acknowledge this, they are also unwilling to acknowledge that the deficiencies of their country is, to a certain extent, their own fault. I don't just mean the violence that quarantined our clubs from European competition for five years (we will never recover from this, by the way) but also the crude xenophobia and the retarded lowest-common denominator birds, booze and footy approach to life that has infected everything to do with English football.

So Mourinho is a big fish in a little pond, and is well aware of this fact, which of course sets him at odds with the press, which whilst it is happy to decimate English football whenever it feels the need, can't stand the idea of foreigners doing the same. The press isn't wrong for doing this, but neither is Mourinho, and he is better placed to do it than some jackass or other writing for the Mirror. Recent stories have centred around his need to "adapt to English football", which is a nonsense for several reasons. Firstly, his team have a significant lead atop the Premiership and will probably win it; it is more correct to say that English football needs to adapt to him, if they are to catch him and his team. Secondly, when they say, "adapt to English football", they really mean "play by our rules", and why the fuck should he, if the rules are patently misguided? Mourinho highlights all of the flaws in the English game in a way not seen before. English football has developed a culture of hiring players as managers, which does make sense, but this seems to have proliferated to such an extent, that there is no other way to become a manager.

Mourinho's father was a goalkeeper, and grew up as part of the game, he was a protégé of Bobby Robson's travails in Europe in the early and mid nineties and clearly has a brilliant footballing mind - but such provenance would merely have created suspicion and mistrust amongst English fans had he not achieved success in the way that he has.

Above all other things, Mourinho resounds with confidence, when he took over at Porto mid-season, he said "it is too late to win the league now, but next year we will win it for sure" - and they did. Confidence + success ? Arrogance. From the start of the season, the Chelsea squad have been reflecting this confidence. Their early successes were submerged beneath Arsenal's triumphant beginnings, but, as they faltered, the true brilliance of the side was made manifest. It is plain to see why Mourinho chose to come to Chelsea: they were a club with unlimited money and potential that seemed unable to muster their resources to actually become contenders for the title, and this suited his managerial style perfectly.

The ways in which he has tailored Chelsea for success stand as a simple retort to those who clamour for his 'adaptation'. Arsene Wenger built a continental wingback system around his English defensive line in 1999, in effect changing the most entrenchedly 'British' club to suit him, and it worked well. But Mourinho has done something quite different - he has honed the 4-4-2 formation to within an inch of its life, and thus beating English football at its own game. After their sound dicking of Munich at Stamford Bridge, Owen Hargreaves was heard complaining that they were just "long ball merchants" - which somewhat misses the point. If your side (in this case, Bayern) clearly can't deal with a tall powerful striker like Drogba, then of course you'll lose; simply put, if your defence has no aerial prowess then you will concede goals against the archetypal English centre forward - a role which Drogba is pleasingly growing into.

Hargreaves’ comments smacked of bitterness, especially given that he conveniently overlooks the role of Chelsea's defence - and it is this that has won them the Premiership. Chelsea don't concede goals, whilst Arsenal and Man Utd do. For 1,035 long minutes of Premiership football, Petr Cech's net remained unruffled, which is an astonishing feat of endurance. It is largely to the credit of captain John Terry who, at 24, looks every inch the man to replace David Beckham as England captain for the next world cup.

Let's look at Terry for a moment, and also at Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. In years past they epitomised the 'old' Chelsea. They were part-time players and part-time playboys before the arrival of Mourinho where after they have, as The Times put it succinctly "swapped the Stella for the stellar". Mourinho's influence cannot be underestimated, certainly last years Ranieri-led model were a team revitalised, but they were nowhere near this good. The one thing that has changed? The manager.

He exudes such a steely air of confidence that even when he's not at the match, you can imagine his sullen face scolding every player for a loose ball or defensive fumble. His persona has imprinted itself so firmly upon the field at Stamford Bridge that, should he leave after a long and fruitful career, a statue will be entirely unnecessary - the grass will, like as not, spell out his name in flame.

I hope he stays, I really do, for one because the Arsenal/Manchester duopoly was becoming even more tiresome than the monopoly that preceded it. An era dominated by Chelsea one can imagine being infinitely for interesting - filled no doubt by continued, overblown 'scandal' of the type we've seen all season. Bring it on.

By J.L. Cranfield