Down and out - Jose Mourinho has only himself to blame for Chelsea sack

Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Chelsea yet again

“It’s (building a dynasty) something I want at this stage of my career. Titles, I have. Money, I have. I need challenges”.

Well, it wasn’t to be, was it? In a soap opera where the ending was not a question of if, but when, Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Chelsea’s hierarchy. And he won’t be tugging the heartstrings of anybody, this time around.

Gone are the days when his proteges swore by the man. Gone are the days when his arrogance was more swagger and less denial. The Premier League’s very own Colonel Kurtz had been crawling on the razor’s edge for far too long, and now, he’s fallen. This is the end.

Mourinho’s second demise at Chelsea will have few mourners. But for the most one-eyed, fanatical and zealous followers of his, the rest of us had grown tired of his protestations, allegations and accusations.

He rubbed far too many people wrong in his second coming, and that my friends, is a grievous sin when you don’t have points to back it up. He made his counterparts his enemies. He made the pundits his enemies. He made the paparazzi his enemy. He made the referees his enemies. He made his own players his enemies. He made his staff his enemy. Jose Mourinho has made the whole world his enemy.

Siege mentality can only carry you so far. Soundbites can distract detractors only for so long. Malicious accusations can only protect you so much.

Mourinho has never been a nice guy; nor has he ever pretended to be. But he was effective; he was fearsome; he delivered results. The biggest of the big loathed facing him. But now, he’s being owned by the likes of Bournemouth. A Boggart disguised as a Patronus can only survive for so long, after which even the novices see through the ineffectual illusion.

An end that no one saw coming

Last season’s title romp was so convincing, so comprehensive and so misleading, that the self anointed Special One started marinating in his own greatness. Changes weren’t made. Holes weren’t plugged. Problems weren’t solved. The man from Setubal retained his ambition, but not his nous.

And the seeds of the most spectacular unravelling in modern football were sowed on Matchday One, when he viciously made scapegoats out of a few honest professionals. Unceremoniously shown the door by the man who believed he was bigger than the club, things have come a full circle for Mourinho. They always do, Jose. They always do.

Andre Schurrle was ignored. Kevin De Bruyne was shown the cold shoulder. Juan Mata, the darling of the Bridge, was chewed up and spat out. Mohammed Salah wasn’t even acknowledged of his existence. Romelu Lukaku was shown scant respect.

See where they are now, Jose. See where the man you termed a “specialist in failure” is today. See where the man you mocked to be too old is today. See how your arch-nemesis is being begged to stay in Bavaria. Tactical brilliance and mind games can be re-learnt, reworked and bettered upon. And so you will. But decency has to come from within, my friend. And you are the antithesis of everything that word stands for.

Mourinho lost the respect of his own players

In spite of fiasco after fiasco, in spite of all that’s been said and done, in spite of having to witness a hugely talented team run around haplessly like headless chickens, the players fought for you. Tooth and nail. Yet you implicitly berated Asmir Begovic, publicly hailing the return of Thibaut Courtois, without acknowledging his deputy even once.

You played Russian Roulette with your centre backs, with each week seeing a new pairing. You didn’t think much about Abdul Baba Rahman or Papy Djilobodji, and even worse, you didn’t show the tact to not swat them away contemptuously in public.

You oversaw the transition of a sprightly young winger, from being someone who wreaked havoc, to an auxiliary full back, who had become a pale shadow of himself. Known for his notorious dip in form, you didn’t exactly inspire confidence in Cesc Fabregas, not even coming out to defend him during rat-gate? And thankfully, even hilariously, you met your nasty match in Diego Costa, an appropriate reflection of yourself, what with the hike in spite and fall in substance.

Pride goeth before a fall

A poke in the eye of a fellow colleague. Branding his own player a “donkey trying to be a horse”. Sacking his medical staff, well, because they did their job. Seven minute rants over nothing. Mourinho has always been the popular and almost likeable manager, who should never have been liked, but only respected (for footballing reasons alone) in the first place.

Too bad it took a string of ignominious defeats to see the mickey taken out of the man. And, truth be told, Roman Abrahmovich gave him every chance he possibly could, moving ahead with caution and patience, in a rare show of grace.

A grace his erstwhile manager always lacked. From being a polarizing yet charismatic leader, Mourinho turned out to be a divisive presence in the midst of adversity, becoming the Clay Morrow of Chelsea Football Club. It’s not so much about losing as it is about how you lose. Needless to say, The Special One can learn a lot from The Normal One, who departed Borussia Dortmund with a smile on his face and applause from the stands.

Grace is important, Jose. As is humility, dignity and a little bit of altruism in what is becoming an increasingly cut throat business. Yours is an unparalleled track record, with a trophy cabinet only marginally smaller than your all pervading pride.

Pride however, goes before a fall. As has been shown with almost poetic beauty by your firing. For you ticked all the boxes of a model of Narcissism, when you went on record to say that you are losing today because you were impossibly good yesterday. Not your players, you. No Jose. You weren’t. The public dressing down that this sack is, is testament to that fact.

A new dawn

All said and done however, this could be the best thing to have ever happened to Jose Mourinho. The inevitable long, hard look at oneself that follows a debacle so colossal in nature ought to show Mourinho better ways. The tactics can be refreshed. The sounding board can be brushed up. The clubs will line up, salivating at the prospect of the former Porto man being at their helm.

None of this should be of concern to right now, though. Mourinho has been successful all his life. He won’t get a better chance this, however, to do it ‘nicely’, for want of a better word.

You have only yourselves to blame for this fiasco, Jose. It is time to embark on a fresh challenge, relinquishing those nasty habits of old. You have gone from being a quotable smartass to a tired, old laughing stock, and it hasn’t served you much good. Continue in your pompous, obstinate and disliked ways and debacles more diabolical shall follow. Do it at the risk of being a disgrace to the beautiful game, Jose; a legacy you surely do not want. Do not, and I repeat, do not betray football, my friend. Wishing you all the best.

“If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same”.

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