Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho appears to be struggling to maintain his calm in the fact of Chelsea’s poor form so far this season and has told a BBC reporter his question was ‘stupid’ in his press conference before the defending Premier League champion’s Champion’s League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Mourinho has never managed more than three seasons at any club in his career as a top flight boss. He can be excused for leaving Porto after two seasons when Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea came calling and he left the Blues when he disagreed with the Russian oligarch over the use of Andrey Schevchenko and the appointment of Avram Grant as manager.
He led Inter Milan to the Serie A title in his first year there and then continued into a second season despite making non-too subtle overtures to Manchester United about taking over from Alex Ferguson. Inter successfully defended their Serie A title and also won the Champion’s League, leading Real Madrid to take the plunge and offer him the position of manager at the club. Again, Mourinho could be excused for swapping Inter Milan for one of the biggest clubs in the world.
He lasted three seasons at Real Madrid before leaving, despite signing a new contract in between years two and three, to return to Chelsea. An average win ratio of 76.30% dropped to 63.20% in his third year at Chelsea the first time around and it went from 76.30% in year one of Real Madrid to 86.20% in year two before dropping to 68.40% in year three. So far in his third season of his second spell at Chelsea he’s won just one game in the first five fixtures, leading many to believe that he suffers from a third season syndrome.
When asked by the BBC’s Ben Smith if he felt he still has the qualities of a great manager and whether his struggles in his third seasons were problematic the Portuguese manager replied, “Look, my third season – in Porto, I didn’t have a third season. My third season in Inter, I didn’t have a third season. My third season at Chelsea the first time, I won the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, and I played the Champions League semi-finals. My third season in Real Madrid, I won the Super Cup, I lost the cup [Copa del Rey] final, and I went to the Champions League semi-finals. These are my third seasons… So click Google, instead of making stupid questions, click Google and try to find… you spoke about the third season, and I am telling you that the question is stupid, because the third season is what I told you… I know the point, the point is that the question is stupid. I am sorry…”
Given Chelsea’s poor start to the season many will feel the question is far from stupid and that Mourinho will need to see a dramatic improvement in his side’s results if he is to persuade Roman Abramovich to have a bit more patience with him. It will alarm many Chelsea fans that Mourinho’s relationship with the press has seemingly taken a turn for the worse considering it was that that seemed to force him out of the Bernabau towards the end of his time at Real Madrid. Mourinho reportedly said to a journalist from Marca, Real Madrid’s mouthpiece, “In the world of soccer, my people and I are top and in the world of journalism you’re a sh*t”.