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Chelsea balls: Jose Mourinho engineers his lucrative sacking, continues obssession with Arsenal and Wenger
The backpages are dominated by the rumours that Jose Mourinho is on the brink of leaving Chelsea. Having abused Jon Moss, the referee, after defeat at West Ham, Mourinho is reported to have referenced Arsenal boos Arsène Wenger by saying “Wenger was right — you are f***ing soft”. It’s alleged that the Portuguese refused to leave the match officials’ room during half-time.
The Daily Mirror starts the countdown:
ESPN says it would cost Chelsea £30m to sack Mourinho.
The Independent says Jose is off to PSG or Inter Milan.
The Sun says Chelsea will move for Pep Guardiola. The Times says Pep will remain at Bayern. Adding:
One persistent whisper in football circles is that Ancelotti, out of work since his departure from Real Madrid, is the obvious go-to man should Abramovich find himself looking for another interim manager (or even a permanent one). Those close to Ancelotti insist otherwise; the Italian does not look back on his second and final season at Chelsea, which culminated with an unedifying dismissal in a stairwell at Goodison Park, with the slightest fondness.
Who follows Jose? Not easy. Chelsea should stick with him.
Transfer Balls: Chelsea want Guardiola who agrees to join Manchester City unless sharks eat Mourinho
Transfer balls: as the Press pile in on Jose Mourinho, the Telegraph says Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, 44, is Chelsea’s first-choice replacement for the argumentative Portuguese.
He is? Says who?
Matt Law reports:
Intermediaries, working independently and not at the request of Abramovich or Chelsea, are already attempting to gauge whether Guardiola would be interested in taking over at Stamford Bridge when his Bayern Munich contract expires at the end of the season. They want to be in a position to hand Guardiola to the Blues owner if Mourinho is sacked.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 26th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Manchester City, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea balls: Liverpool pray Klopp gets Mourinho sacked
The papers are lining up to bury Jose Mourinho.
The Times says “José Mourinho could be dismissed if his Chelsea side suffer another acrimonious defeat when they host Liverpool on Saturday.”
What sweet joy for Liverpool fans that would be to see newboy Jurgen Klopp send the Chelsea irritant packing.
Gary Jacob writes:
The Portuguese was given a stay of execution at the start of the month but there is increasing concern among the club’s board at further ill discipline during the 2-1 defeat away to West Ham United on Saturday… Roman Abramovich, who values strong discipline, is believed to have watched the game from Turkey, where the Chelsea owner was celebrating his 49th birthday on Saturday, and there are no plans for him to speak to Mourinho this week. C
Mourinho responded with the anticipated derision when he was asked in a press conference last month about the theory that he suffers from a “third-season syndrome”. He characterised his third season at Chelsea (first time round, in 2006-07) as one in which they won the FA Cup and League Cup, rather than one in which they suffered an eight-point drop in Premier League performance, he clashed repeatedly with the club’s hierarchy and saw his bond with his players become strained. He characterised his third season at Real Madrid (2012-13) as one in which they won the Spanish Super Cup (a two-legged match in August) and reached the Champions League semi-final rather than one in which they won 15 fewer points in La Liga than the previous term and in which relations with players and officials at the club (and the media and the Spanish football authorities) bordered on toxic.
As for how the third season of Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea will be remembered, it is in grave danger of being a case of history repeating — but worse.
The Mail says Mourinho should stay. He’s a “Fan favourite”:
The supporters have not turned on their manager and nor are they likely to. No boss in the Premier League has more goodwill on the terraces than Mourinho and getting rid risks upsetting the club’s following. Fans are the first to voice their displeasure with a manager and, while he retains their backing, it would perhaps be foolish to make a change.
Alan Shearer gets into full hype and utter balls mode in the Sun:
I WOULD love to know what went on at Chelsea in the summer — because something drastic must have happened. When you watch them now and think about how good they were last season, it’s hard to believe it’s the same team, under the same manager.
But what is happening at the moment is crisis after crisis — and Jose Mourinho has not helped the situation at all. You watch Chelsea now and there are no real signs whatsoever of it getting any better. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong for them.
Really? They beat Arsenal, albeit thanks to dire refereeing in their favour.
The Guardian looks at Chelsea:
…the old togetherness is only visible in short bursts these days and the second Mourinho era is in danger of ending in bitter acrimony after Chelsea lurched deeper into crisis with a performance that reeked of indiscipline on and off the pitch at Upton Park.
The Indy wonders who follows Jose?
Jose Mourinho: Who could replace Mourinho and become the next Chelsea manager?
Chelsea fans prepare to look away. Liverpool get ready to laugh:
Better the devil you know. At least Jose’s a winner.
Posted: 26th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer balls: Pogba joins Barcelona for more and less than Man City bid and Chelsea bid
Transfer balls: Is Paul Pogba leaving Juventus to join a Premier League club? Let’s see what the newspapers have been telling us:
June 30 2015: The Daily Express says Pogba has agreed to join Barcelona.
But is £64m too much or not enough? The tabloids were wondering:
On October 24, 2015 the ever trusty Daily Express had an update on that Barcelona agreement:
The agent told us:
“Those who want him should sit with Juventus and then we’ll see. This summer, there were three or four clubs interested, but he chose to stay at Juventus.”
But the Star told us Pogba wanted to play for Chelsea:
Pogba named his price, said the Daily Mirror:
And why stop at Chelsea? The Manchester Evening News reported in August 2015 that Pogba was wanted by Man City:
Juventus chief Giuseppe Marotta says the Italian club are powerless to stop Manchester City target Paul Pogba leaving if he decides to. City last month cooled their interest in in the French midfield ace after Juve demanded a whopping £71m fee.
But the Daily Express told us Chelsea had bid £80m for Pogba:
Such are the facts…
Posted: 26th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: PSG swoop for Hazard who only dreams of Chelsea
Transfer Balls: The Sun on Sunday says Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, 24, could be on his way to Paris Saint-Germain. Below the rather icky headline “Hazard snatch”, the Sun reports:
French giants PSG are preparing a massive January bid to test the playmaker’s relationship with Jose Mourinho… PSG are willing to offer an improvement on the Belgian’s £200,000-a-week wages and a return to France.
The Daily Star on Sunday then adds that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and Manchester United “could” all bid for Hazard.
The Premier League is little sad, no? For all the hype and hoopla, any foreign player worth their salt wants to play in Spain. And the British Press know it.
The Sun has previously reported:
CHRISTIAN BENTEKE has revealed his pal Eden Hazard dreams of playing for Real Madrid.
Thee years ago, Benteke said:
“I am not surprised at Eden’s success with Chelsea — and he can do even better. He has the qualities needed to become an even greater player. His dream is to join Real Madrid — so I don’t see why he can’t join them in a year or two.”
In 2015, the Star added:
But in 2014, Hazard said:
“Paris [Saint-Germain] have huge players, but Chelsea have more experience and more players in certain positions. And we also have a better experience in the Champions League. I never said that if I left Chelsea it will only be for Real Madrid. The only club that makes me dream is Chelsea.”
Hazard’s a terrific player. He’s one of the best players in the Premier League. The continuing tabloid tales linking him to Spain and PSG only serve to undermine the fable that the Premier League is the ultimate place to watch football. It isn’t. It’s bloated and greedy. If the actual play matched the hype just imagine how fantastic the games would be.
Posted: 25th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea Balls: Jose Mourinho creates a weak version of Don Revie’s Leeds United
Having picked fights with Dr Eva Carneiro, referees and Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho picked on the enemy that he can never beat: the media.
At a press conference he told the pack:
“I’m not talking about football. In football I’m ready to be criticised, even the stupid ones [sic]. Private life, stupid things you bring to light, I don’t like it. So we go to a different level of professional relations.”
The media used to like Jose. If he won’t supply them with catty remarks and self-aggrandizing bon mots will they forgive him? Rod Liddle reacts in the Sunday Times:
His latest discombobulation came when he was accused of “jostling” a couple of teenage fans who had followed him for 20 minutes in a manner Mourinho described as “intrusive”. We might sympathise with him on this particular issue, especially if the teenagers, wrapped up in wounded self-righteousness, wish to pursue the matter. But the other stuff is more serious.
His fatuous carping about referees deserved opprobrium from the FA and a big fine. His apparent estrangement from some of his players and his readiness to criticise them publicly suggests a man who is approaching the end of his tether. The estrangement reputedly dates back to pre-season and has been evident in every game Chelsea have played since then.
They appear disjointed in defence and ineffectual in attack, their most mercurial players — such as Oscar — benched to make way for a grim thuggishness which is losing Chelsea the sympathy of even those few neutrals who don’t hate them just for being Chelsea.
Mourinho is right that a lot of people are pleased his side have struggled this season, me included. But there’s a reason for that and it isn’t simply schadenfreude. Mourinho’s Chelsea remind me a little of Don Revie’s Leeds United – except this season nowhere near as good. And maybe even less loveable.
Oomph! That’s harsh. Leeds fans will make offence at that throwaway ‘maybe’.
Of course, there is always one news organ that will be forever with Jose. The official Chelsea website continues to amuse and entertain with a style of journalism that Joe Stalin might have consider a little monocular.
Highlights are:
The Blues were beaten in cruel circumstances at Upton Park this afternoon having had to play the whole second half with 10 men.
After West Ham had taken an early lead through Mauro Zarate, Kurt Zouma’s header looked to have crossed the line, only for the decision to go the home side’s way…
The goal-line technology said ‘no goal’. The entire ball had not crossed the line.
….before Cesc Fabregas beat Adrian but saw the goal ruled out for offside when he appeared to have been played onside by the retreating West Ham defenders.
He was just offside.
The 10 men rallied impressively however and were the better side in the second half. Gary Cahill equalised 10 minutes after the break with his first goal of the season, but Andy Carroll’s late header, which came against the run of play, won it for the hosts.
The better team lost!
Moments later we turned defence into attack with a brilliant counter, owing much to the intelligence and desire of Matic…
In no other report will you find word of Matic’s intelligence.
The Blues were unable to clear our lines as the delivery was swung in, and as the ball found its way to Zarate at the back post he drilled it low and hard past Begovic.
The ball “found its ways” to Zarate because Costa produced a weak, sliced clearance.
….Cahill produced a magnificent finish…
Magnificent?
Chelsea accrued seven bookings and Mourinho was sent to the stands for confronting the referee a half-time.
Chelsea balls: Shameful Mourinho is ‘getting sacked in the morning’
West Ham United beat Chelsea 2-1, and José Mourinho spent the second half watching from the stand. Why? Because it was claimed that he tried to speak to the referee during the interval, following the dismissal of Chelsea’s midfielder Nemanja Matic.
With such crass behaviour can it be long before Mourinho is given the boot from Stamford Bridge?
“You’re getting sacked in the morning,” sang the West Ham fans at the Portuguese manager, who then put the tin lid on his day out by failing to attend the post-match press conference.
Matthew Syed is not a fan, writing in the Times:
His motivational technique is based upon something very different: me, me, me. It is about the cult of the individual — Mourinho himself. This is predicated, in turn, upon creating a sense of permanent crisis. He sees conspiracies everywhere. The referees, the Premier League, Uefa, the ballboys, the team doctor, Uncle Tom Cobley: whatever it takes to get his players to feel like they are enduring a siege.
In the short term, this technique works. Nobody wants to be in a siege, fighting for one’s life, and so the players respond. But over the long-term, it begins to grate. It is like a narcotic or a sugar rush: you need ever more crises to recruit ever dwindling amounts of emotional response, particularly when the players begin to see through the underlying charade. In the end, it becomes cloying.
Chelsea are the current Premier League champions. Mourinho has talent. But he is so utterly graceless in victory and defeat. Syed adds:
They say that the Real Madrid players eventually became bored of Mourinho, but the truth is that they became ashamed of him. They saw him stab a finger into the eye of Tito Vilanova, his Barcelona rival. They observed him name four referees over whom Barcelona, supposedly, had “special power”. They watched as he was banished from the dugout during a Copa del Rey final and how he stormed out of the stadium without bothering to collect his loser’s medal from the King of Spain. They noted how he insulted the referee again in the car park.
Over three seasons, they saw him traduce, malign and infect — and, in the end, they couldn’t bear it. They were exhausted by the caricature running their club and his juvenile approach to leadership. And with the clarity that comes with time, they saw through it.
If he goes, he won’t be as missed as he think he should be. Well, at least not by fans who don’t support Chelsea. Better than sacking The Special One is to help him with an able sidekick, say, Steve Clarke, Gianfranco Zola or Roberto Di Matteo. Or all three.
Posted: 24th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer balls: Eden Hazard wants to quit Chelsea for Real Madrid AND Barcelona
News is that Eden Hazard wants to leave Chelsea. The Belgian fancies joining Real Madrid says L’Equipe. As is so often the way with these things, Hazard has told friends, family, pals, dogs and parrots that he wants to move. For some reason, they all decide at once to tell the Press. Hazard says nothing in public, preferring to let his football do the talking, which it is – quietly.
The Indy takes up the story:
The report comes in the same week that Hazard seemed to ‘like’ a post on Instagram linking him with a move to Real Madrid.
At at once we see the plan. Hazard is no longer playing his best in order to avoid winning a man-of-the-match bottle of champers and being made to speak in public. He now only communicates through nameless cousins and ‘likes’.
Of course, Hazard’s potential moves have been in the news for some time:
Such are the facts…
Posted: 22nd, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Chelsea balls: Mourinho fights FA ban by blaming his bad English
Is Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho hiding behind his grasp of English?
The Times reports:
In the FA’s written reasons for giving Mourinho a one-match stadium ban, suspended for 12 months, and a fine of £50,000 after he suggested that referees are “afraid to give decisions to Chelsea”, it rejected any notion that the language barrier posed a mitigating circumstance.
Back in September, Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma said he was “sorry” for saying of teammate Diego Costa: “Everyone knows Diego and this guy likes to cheat a lot and put the opponent out of his game.”
Later Zouma, 20, then told the Evening Standard in admirable English:
“I did a mistake because I just wanted to say that Diego likes to put pressure on his opponent. After the game, I was tired and was chosen for doping control so I wanted to go quickly back to my house. I didn’t remember what I said and I didn’t expect it to come out like it did. It was a mistake and I am really sorry for it. It is my second year in England and my English is not perfect. Everybody can do mistakes. This day, I did. l I never thought Diego is a cheat. He is a friend. I like this guy. On the pitch he gives everything for the club and the team. I hope he will continue like this. He should not change. I spoke to him and said, ‘Sorry, mate’ because I didn’t want to say that. English is not my first language, so I did not mean it. He told me: ‘It’s OK, no problem. I know what you wanted to say’.”
Language and footballers, eh.
It was, we firmly believe, the great Paul Merson who coined the term “a torrid” to connote the match-long suffering of a defender (normally a left or right back) at the hands of vividly in-form opponent (normally a winger or “pushed-on” midfielder) — in other words, “a torrid time”, but the adjective becomes a noun and the “time” is silent, hence “he’s given him an absolute torrid”.
It was also Merson, incidentally, who came up with the term “a worldy”, meaning “a world-class save”, and, as we have had cause to note before, that’s two more additions to the dictionary than any Poet Laureate in living memory has managed. If you want proof that the English language is vitally and compellingly alive, look no further than the former Arsenal winger’s desk on any Gillette Soccer Saturday.
Better to do as many footballers do and only talk about yourself, whether in the first or third person. Tim Sherwood of Aston Villa explains:
“We’ve got a manager in the opposite dugout today who’s not had it all his own way at every club he’s been at, but he’s come through and stuck to his beliefs. That’s what Tim Sherwood will be doing.”
Of course what Mourinho should have done is gone to ground, beaten the turf with an open palm (having previously run it over his scalp and checked for blood) and called for medical help.
Manchester United: Mata tells Chelsea manager Mourinho what he’s missing
Juan Mata, of Manchester Untied , has been talking to the Times:
On Jose Mourinho calling him a “luxury”:
“If a luxury player is a player who scores and assists and has good stats, then I’m happy to be a luxury player.”
On the goals:
“I’ve scored as many goals for Manchester United in the Premier League as for Chelsea, but in something like 30 games less. “In terms of scoring and assisting I’m quite happy with the stats, and stats don’t lie. They are facts. I want luxury players in my team. I like creative players, and players who do different things. It’s easy to say certain players are luxuries, especially when you’ve lost a game. When you lose, a certain kind of player — the creative players — always get the blame.”
And back to Jose:
“I’ve not tried to prove anyone wrong. I didn’t speak with Mourinho like he has spoken with you, for example. I never had any explanations and didn’t ask for them.”
Mata was Chelsea’s Players’ Player of the Year when Mourinho sold him.
Arsenal balls: lose to Bayern Munich and the Premier League goes too (just ask Liverpool)
Arsenal are playing badly in the Champions’ League. With the table reading ‘played 2; lost 2’, Arsene Wenger’s team need a win in their home match with Bayern Munich.
Steve Howard has a theory that you can win when you lose. He writes in the Sun:
Should Arsenal suffer back-to-back defeats against Bayern Munich — P11, W11 and 24 goals in their last six games — they could well finish bottom of the group and not even qualify for the Europa League. Arsenal, free of other distractions, will then never have a better chance of winning their first title since the Invincibles in 2003-04. Just call it forward planning. And they never do anything in the Champions League anyway
Can losing matches help to win matches? What about winning being a habit?
In 2014, Liverpool were pushing to the title. With a home match against Chelsea looming the Daily Mirror asked its writes to take a view:
Will Liverpool win the Premier League title? Our reporters have their say…
Martin Lipton:
…the Anfield clash comes slap in the middle of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final games with Atletico Madrid. That surely gives Liverpool an advantage.
Joe Mewis:
While there’s surely a few twists and turns awaiting us, the fact that the Chelsea game comes in the middle of their Champions League semi-final tips the balance in favour of the Reds for me.
Paul Wilson had more in the Guardian:
There can be no doubt, as Liverpool home in on a possible first title in 24 years, that their chances have been enhanced by non-involvement in Europe.
Managers in the know such as José Mourinho and Manuel Pellegrini have been saying all season that it is easier to play once a week, it is clearly less tiring not to have to travel abroad in midweek and you do not run the risk of “hangovers” when disappointing results in Europe affect your confidence in Premier League matches…
The Anfield game falls right between the two legs of Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid. Mourinho’s players will arrive in Liverpool having played in Spain, and have the home leg at Stamford Bridge three days after Anfield. Given that victory over Liverpool will not necessarily confirm Chelsea as English champions – another slip-up by Manchester City will be required for that to happen – it may be the case that European progress is prioritised…
He then adds wryly:
At the very least some seem to feel that if a 24-year gap is closed and Gerrard gets his title wish, an asterisk should accompany the achievement in the record books to denote that Liverpool played fewer games than most of their rivals that season. If Liverpool do win the title and seventh place is established as the ideal launchpad for domestic success, can we expect teams to be fighting to finish outside the European positions from next season onwards? It could be Manchester United have been ahead of the game all along.
Adding:
There is plenty of room for argument about whether a Championship season is actually easier or less taxing than a Premier League one, but missing from my correspondent’s analysis of the Wembley situation was the consideration that Arsenal, of the Champions League, were nine minutes from being humbled by Wigan, of the Championship. A team that though relegated at the end of last season had gone to Manchester City in the previous round and put out a side that at the time were favourites to win the Premier League title. You can produce statistics to support almost any argument in football, but Danny Blanchflower was right about the game being about glory. If you don’t see that, if you can’t even be a little bit excited about teams upsetting the odds, you might be missing the point.
Liverpool never did win the title that year, losing t0-2 to Chelsea in that home match. Chelsea lost 3-1 to Atletico Madrid.
Does defeat in the Champion’s League help a team win the title? No. It just means you lost.
Posted: 16th, October 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea: jealous Mourinho says FA love money even more then Arsenal
Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, has been fined £50,000 and threatened with a stadium ban for criticising referees. Yep, just 50 grand. Jose Mourinho is a profitable business for the FA. They must hope he stays in the job and keeps talking and talking. His offence was to say referees are “afraid” to award penalties to his team, following a 3-1 home defeat by Southampton. The FA’s fine system is pretty opaque, but we can reveal that if Mourinho calls the referee a “scaredy-cat” the FA can order new silk carpets for their Zanzibar beach office.
At a press conference to launch his new book, Mourinho invited the media “to get deep” into the workings of the FA disciplinary department.
“You should get deep.You should go. You should be honest. You shouldn’t be afraid to write, you won’t be punished. Every word I say is a risk. I am happy I don’t have an electronic tag. I think it’s not far from that. I also think that £50,000 in the world where we live today is an absolute disgrace. An absolute disgrace. And I also think that the possibility of getting a stadium ban is also something absolutely astonishing. But more difficult for me to understand is when I compare different people with different behaviours or with similar behaviours, with different words or with similar words.”
He means Arsene Wenger, of course, the Arsenal manger who seems to occupy a place deep below Mourinho’s skin. Wenger called Mike Dean “weak and naive” when the weak and confused referee made a complete hash of this season’s Chelsea v Arsenal match, sending off the wrong player and letting the right player who should have seen red stay on the pitch. No fine for Wenger. “The difference is £50,000 and one-match stadium ban,” says Mourinho.
“The word ‘afraid’ is a punishment, and a hard punishment. But to say the referee was ‘weak and naive’, referring to one of the top referees in this country and in Europe, we can do. Weak and naive, you can use. And in this country, a word [afraid] is more important than aggression. So now we know. We can push people in the technical area, no problem.”
That’s a reference to when Mourinho and Wenger had a tiff at pitch-side.
We can only wonder what would happen should the FA offer its legal services to hairdressers, tabloid columnists or religionists. As Craig Brown notes:
One of the cattiest memoirs of recent years was the preeningly titled Know The Truth by George Carey, the spud-faced former Archbishop of Canterbury…
Carey took sideways digs at no fewer than three of his fellow Bishops, among them the Bishop of Peterborough (‘popular with the media . . . but he worried me by his tendency to pour doubt on all diocesan efforts to raise funds or enthusiasm’), the Bishop of Durham (‘his concerns were not always grounded in real life’) and the Bishop of Sheffield (‘another whose eloquence was often unintentionally destructive’).
Nor did he withdraw his claws from those of other denominations. At one point, he described a meeting between the Queen, to whom Carey is, of course, always unctuous, and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, who had, he noted, a ‘menacing beard’. The Queen, he wrote, ‘patiently endured the Patriarch’s rather lengthy answers’. Miaow!
If the FA ran the Church of England disciplinary committees, a bankrupted Carey would be living off donations.
Posted: 16th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Chelsea balls: Le Saux says Mourinho is bad for football
Former Chelsea defender Graeme Le Saux says Jose Mourinho’s row with Dr Eva Carneiro has been bad for football:
“What concerns me most, given the work I’m doing for the FA, is the impact Mourinho’s behaviour may have throughout the whole game.”
Le Saux has a seat on the FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board.
“We’re trying to deal with some very sensitive issues and to change the culture of the game. Some good people at the FA have taken a kicking after concluding there was insufficient evidence to charge Mourinho, whilst the whole furore may also deter women from becoming involved in football, as well as discouraging clubs from employing them.”
He had us right up to ‘women’, portrayed by Le Saux as being so weak that a few bitchy barbs from Mourinho and they will rule out a role in professional football.
You can read it all here.
Posted: 15th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports | Comments (3)
Manchester United: new adidas retro kit comes with free Chelsea bottoms
Adidas know their market when it comes to flogging footy gear to the new fans. The firm’s new line of retro Manchester United kit includes the ‘1985 track jacket’. For a mere £65 the jacket goes well with the Chelsea sweatpants.
Spotter: Pies
Posted: 13th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Fashion, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Chelsea: it costs £30m and rising to sack Jose Mourinho?
Should Chelsea FC sack their bitchy manager Jose Moutinho, what would that termination of contract cost the club?
Daily Star:
EXCLUSIVE – ROMAN ABRAMOVICH faces a world record £37.5m pay-out if he decides to sack Jose Mourinho. Starsport can reveal the Chelsea manager is on a contract worth over £10m a year at Stamford Bridge’
Daily Mirror:
Jose Mourinho set for £30million payout if Chelsea wield axe on under-pressure boss…Mourinho signed a lucrative new deal worth around £8.5million-a-year two months ago after winning the League in May and the Capital One Cup three months earlier
Incidentally, up until 2012, Chelsea under owner Roman Abramovich had paid £37 million in compensation to seven managers.
Chelsea balls: Mourinho attacked by three out-of-work managers
The Sun says “top bosses” have piled in on Jose Mourinho, whose Chelsea side are not yet flying high.
Who are these “top bosses” placing Jose “under siege“?
Former England boss Fabio Capello, Dutch legend Johan Cruyff and Harry Redknapp have all gone on the attack. Ex-Tottenham chief Redknapp claims the root of the Blues’ Premier League demise could be the players simply do not like Mourinho.
None of the trio are in management just now. But they do have careers as pundits.
First up: Redknapp:
“Maybe some players don’t like him. It’s quite possible. I think everybody loved him the first time he came. Maybe now, some of the new players aren’t happy with the way they’re being treated or don’t like the way he talks to them… He’s never had to cope with that before. It must be very strange for him.”
Yeah, maybe. Or, er, maybe not. And if that’s not attacking Jose, then surely this isn’t either:
“He will come back… It’s up to him to sort it out. It’s his biggest test and I’m sure he’s going to come through this test.”
Now Capello:
“Mourinho is a strategist… He is a great manager but after a year-and-a-half he burns the players… The cycles of the manager of Chelsea last more or less this period. The team lacks rhythm, is missing the ‘nastiness’ and there’s no aggression.”
Cruyff:
“I don’t think he is educating children to play football or educating for life. He should behave better because he will be in the press all over the world.”
What the Sun does not tell its readers it was else Cruff said:
“He’s controversial. What I like about him is he’s always capable of creating good ambience within the players and what I don’t like is that he always puts himself on the first row. He should be on the second row. It’s probably because of his background, where he’s never been cheered by 100,000 people, or whistled at by 100,000 people. Maybe it’s because of that, maybe because of the interest from the press, but I don’t think he is educating children to play football or educating for life. He should behave better because he will be in the press all over the world.”
So says the Barcelona legend about the former manager of Real Madrid.
Mourinho must be distraught.
Watch a Chelsea fan delivers a truly brilliant rant
Chelsea fans sued to be noisy, passionate and reviled. They are now called henry. They bring picnic hampers to the match, as they might to Twickenham. One fan hankers for the old days:
Chelsea: Jose Mourinho resigns with rhetoric
Chelsea lose at home to Southampton and the Press being talk of Jose Mourinho getting the sack. Having seen his team defeated, Mourinho spoke with the Sky Sports, as he must. The Daily Mail says Mourinho spat out a “seven-minute rant”.
Rant? Nothing of it. The man is measured. Here’s what he said in full:
Look, I think you know me and I think I don’t run away from responsibilities. I think, first of all I want to say that because we are in such a bad moment I think you shouldn’t be afraid to be also honest because when we are in the top there is quite a big pleasure in put us down but when we are so down I think it’s time to be a little bit honest and to say clearly that referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea.
Jose loves to establish the siege mentality. It’s Chelsea against the world. A for referees favouring Chelsea, well, they did beat Arsenal thanks to the kind of refereeing support that had Gunners fans looking for a Chelsea tattoo on Mike Dean’s throat.
The result 1-1 is a huge penalty and once more we don’t get and a penalty is a crucial moment in the game with the result at 1-1, and I repeat that if FA wants to punish me they can punish me they don’t punish other managers but they punish me, it’s not a problem for me.
Jose, as ever, tries to put the ME in TEAM. He employs an exemplum – an example that backs up his argument.
But I want to repeat because I think that my players deserve it, Chelsea fans deserve it. I am a Chelsea fan too and I want to say it again. Referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea. Why? Because when they give there’s always a question mark from you, there’s always a question there’s always a critique.
Quibbling. And dash of Metonymy, which takes one aspect of one thing and makes it stand for the entire. Of course, Chelsea have not had every decision go in their favour. No team has. But Mourinho wants us to believe that every error epitomises a wider conspiracy. But decisions don’t win games, goals and fine play does.
So you are always punished, we are punished because Diego Costa is suspended with images, in other matches we see the same thing and it doesn’t happen. Clear penalties are not given and it’s one and one and one and one and even in Champions League in a match you lose 2-1, even in the Champions League which is a game which is not three officials but with five you are not given a penalty in last minute and this penalty in this game today is more than crucial do you know why? Because for my team in this moment the first negative thing that happen, my team collapse.
The team mentally, psychologically, the team is unbelievable down it looks like good players are bad players and the first half was a game where we didn’t show our quality but we were in control, we were more than in control, and one mistake and lack of concentration, one goal and when you are having a good time.
In normal circumstances you come to the second half and you do your game, I told the players at half time no panic we are not losing 4-0 it’s 1-1, no panic, the team comes out with a good spirit we have a penalty and the penalty is a giant penalty and he is afraid to give like everybody is afraid to give so no penalty and after that the team lost even more confidence and you know that their second goal is an individual mistake, their third goal is another individual mistake. The team mentally, they try, they try, they try, they are in such a low moment that they collapse.
What Jose’s doing, of course, is dictating the conversation, or trying to. He tells you what to think. He tells you what to look out for. He is employing a rhetorical strategy. Jose wants us to take him out of the picture. His is disinterested in his own fate. This, he hopes, will encourage the audience to trust his opinions. His is the passive voice framing the terms of the argument. You may have seen no controversy at all in Diego Costa being banned after the match for slapping an Arsenal player in the face or the referee not giving Chelsea a penalty. But he seeks to sow doubt. He wants it to lead to consensus.
I can also know what you are thinking, what you are saying in studio, what people imagine, what is is going to happen, what is not going to happen, I want to let it clear.
One, I not run away. Two, if the club wants to sack me they have to sack me because I’m not running away from my responsibilities from my team and from my convictions.
That, be champions is obviously very difficult because the distance is considerable but I’m more than convinced that we finish top four, and when the season is so bad if you finish top four it is OK.
More rhetoric.
Third even more important than first and second, I think this is a crucial moment in the history of this club. Do you know why? Because if the club sacks me they sack the best manager that this club have, and secondly the message is again the message of bad result, the manager is guilty and this is the message that not just these players but the other ones before they got during a decade.
This looks like enthymeme. The enthymeme makers a claim and then bases it on commonly accepted opinion. Jose argument is filled with emotion but he pulls out his logic pack and flourishes it.
I think this is a moment for everybody to assume responsibility, I assume my responsibility I think the players should assume their responsibility and there are other people in the club that they should also assume their responsibilities and to stick together. And this is what I want.
The players they still have to play until the end of the season with the gold champions thing in their shirt and I want to work always, you know, I consider myself, I have a big self-esteem, a big ego, I consider myself the best, living the worst period of my career and worst results of my career, doing that as a professional hurts me a lot, doing it at Chelsea hurts me twice because it hurts me as a professional and hurts me because I like this club very, very much and was because of that that I come back so I want to carry on, I want to carry on no doubt, no doubt and I assume my responsibilities but I think it’s time for everybody to assume their responsibilities because when you go down to so many individual mistakes and fear to play, they have their responsibilities, they are players that are performing really, really bad individually, I can not come here and say you, and you, and you, and you, it’s not my job but I think it’s clear that we are being punished by too many individual mistakes and as I was saying sadness brings sadness, bad results they attract bad results, that first mistake is just the first because after that comes another one.
Jose is using a paromologia (Greek for “agree with”), conceding a point in order to make a stronger one.
This team needs to win the first-half two or three nil with the fears disappearing coming to play in the second half and play with a free brain, a free spirit. This is what this team needs and unfortunately for them this is not happening and again I repeat so I want to make it clear again, because I not want to be offensive, I don’t want to be none-polite I don’t want to put in cause the dignity of the people, but I repeat that the referees they are afraid to give the decision when you are top you want to see people come down when people is down give us a break and be honest and be loyal with us because the penalty is clear and 2-1 is a completely different story, thank you.
Marvellous stuff.
Posted: 4th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comment (1)
Chelsea v Dr Carneiro: Jon Fearn is Mr Cellophane as Dyke and moralists attack Mourinho’s
Mr Cellophane
Jose Mourinho will not be banned, censured or fined for his criticism of Dr Eva Carneiro, her removal from first-team duties and finally her decision to leave the role of Chelsea doctor. The FA said there was no evidence Mourinho made discriminatory comments towards Carneiro.
End of, then. No. We live in an age where everyone wants to be righteous and to be seen as such. Mourinho is innocent. But Greg Dyke, the FA chairman, is pure. He writes to the FA councillors:
“There have been some well-documented issues of late around equality and inclusion in the game, an issue where it is vital we continue to show clear leadership. I felt the handling of the case of the Chelsea doctor, Eva Carneiro, was a good example of this. We supported Heather Rabbatts’ [an FA board member] strong statement on the matter earlier in the month. Personally I don’t think Mr Mourinho comes well out of the whole saga. He clearly made a mistake in the heat of a game and should have said so and apologised. Instead he has said very little and Miss Carneiro has lost her job. Our regulatory team have investigated this and, whilst Mr Mourinho has breached no rules, it was clearly a failure of his personal judgment and public behaviour. This should be seen as such by the game.”
Dyke ignores the fact that monocular Mourinho meted out the same treatment to Jon Fearn, the Chelsea physio who also dashed onto the pitch to treat an injured Eden Hazard, having been waved on by the referee.
Fearn accepted his demotion and got on with his job. Dr Eva cried foul.
The Women In Football group alleged that Mourinho directed abusive and discriminatory language at Carneiro from the touchline. The FA investigation said Mourinho swore at no-one in particular. Women In Football described the FA’s ruling as “appalling”. Rabbatts says: “A highly respected medic, a woman at the top of her profession in football, has been mistreated, undermined, verbally abused and yet no one part from Dr Carneiro has faced significant consequences.”
No-one? Poor old Jon Fearn, football’s Mr Cellophane…
Posted: 2nd, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Backpages: Arsenal ‘Greeced’ by ‘Oopspina’ and Chelsea lose ‘Capital’ in night of ‘Fawlty Powers’
The newspapers lead with Arsenal and Chelsea’s woes in the Champions’ League. A slapdash Arsenal were beaten 2-3 by Olympiakos. Chelsea’ lost 1-2 in Porto.
Verdict: The Daily Mirror wins the pun wars. ‘Oopspina’ nails Arsenal goalkeeeper David Ospina for his own goal.
Posted: 30th, September 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Chelsea balls: Mourinho wants to be more like Wenger and Arsenal
Jose Mourinho is the subject of a Sun story that hangs from a pun, as obvious as a ball of mucus from a runny nose:
YOU MUST WIN MOUR
The Sun’s story is just that: football manager wants his team to win more matches.
Mourinho will be delighted that he is the both the title and subject for a Chelsea story. It is, after all, all about him. He says:
“In this club, we have 25 champions from last year — but how many serial champions do we have in the squad? There are two sorts of champions. There are champions who win something and there are lots of them around. But there are the others who during their career win one, two, three, four, five, 10 or 20 titles. Mentally, I can say I am a serial champion. This is the problem we have at this moment. We have champions — but not serial champions.”
Has he just noticed that Chelsea are not Real Madrid?
But has the Sun been a tad selective in editing Mourinho’s quotes before Chelsea’s Champions’ League match with Porto? These are the same words in more context:
“There are two sorts of champions. There are those who win something, and there are lots of them. But there are the other champions who, during their career, win one, two, three, four, five, 10 or 20 titles. In this club we have 25 champions from last year, but serial champions in this squad? John Terry, Jon Mikel [Obi] and [Branislav] Ivanovic are serial champions. Almost every season they have something in the pocket. But how many other serial champions do we have?
“Last year we were champions, but the point for me is are we serial champions? Of course it’s very difficult to win every season, but you can be a serial champion in your approach and your attitude. If we fight every minute of every game and in the end someone has two more points, then we don’t go from champions to losers. Not at all. If you lose the Champions League final to Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich you are not a loser. Mentally I can say I am a serial champion. I can be five or 10 years without winning a title, but I will still be a serial champion in my approach and my attitude. This is the problem we have at this moment. We have champions, but not serial champions.
“Nobody understood it but when the Arsenal fans were singing against Chelsea last week and I was tapping my arm, I was saying: ‘Look at the shirts.’ We have the [golden] Premier League badge on our shirts because we’re champions. But one thing is to be champion once and another is the mentality. I don’t demand that they’re champions every season. In England that’s impossible, especially at Chelsea because when we win the title it’s the end of the world and nobody [outside the club] is happy. But you can be a serial champion in your attitude. And for me that’s the point.”
Is Mourinho obsessed by Arsenal, softening his attitude to the Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger, for whom he told us going ten years without winning the title – finishing runners-up to Barcelona in the Champions’ League final – is not a sign of a “winning mentality”, but of being a “specialist in failure”? Is Jose now envious of Wenger?
More Mourinho news in the Mail, which thunders: “Chelsea players must improve or I’ll play the kids, insists Jose Mourinho.” Can it be that having attacked Wenger, referees, the club doctor and The Press, Mourinho has turned on his team?
No. Of course not. What he said was:
“…if the season becomes ‘closed’ and we can’t win trophies, I will go just with the kids instead. It makes no sense to play the older players when you have nothing to win. There can be a moment where I will look to the kids and say: ‘Let’s go, non-stop.’ I am ruthless. But at the moment, everything is open.”
Mourinho is not a manger known for giving the kids a chance. But you know who is…
Posted: 29th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports | Comment (1)
Chelsea: Garth Crooks, Juan Mata’s Manchester United magic, Mourinho’s shame
In the haste to pile in on Chelsea, BBC pundit Garth Crooks salutes Manchester United’s Juan Mata. He’s the Spaniard United bought from Chelsea for a then club record fee of £37.1 million in January 2014. For that much cash, it should not come as too much of a shock to realise that Mata is pretty good at football. And he’s been pretty good for some time – Chelsea signed him from Valencia for £23.5 million in August 2011.
Here’s Crooks:
It is with some irony that I find Chelsea struggling at one end of the table and Manchester United on top.
Irony?
It would be remiss of me not to mention Juan Mata at this point; the man who Mourinho couldn’t wait to get out of the revolving door at Stamford Bridge.
The man they sold for a record fee.
It has been Mata’s consistent performances for the Red Devils under Louis van Gaal that have helped transform their season. Mata was instrumental in United’s victory over Sunderland and should they win the title, his departure could prove to be Mourinho’s final embarrassment.
Er, Garth, mate, Chelsea won the Premier League title last year. Mata’s United finished fourth. the year before, United finished in seventh with Chelsea in third.
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, manchester united | Comment
Chelsea: Diego Costa dreams of being a Welsh rugby player
Compare and contrast the Daily Mirror’s reporting on Chelsea FC’s Diego Costa and his on-field battle with Arsenal to the England v Wales game at the rugby World Cup:
Costa is a “CON MAN”, who got away with argy-bargy because the referee failed to spot the obvious and then sent off Arsenal’s Gabriel for the miniscule. Costa, says the Mirror, is a “cheat”:
A few days later and England take on Wales at the rugby World Cup. The match momentarily boils over. Collars are lifted. Bodies pile in. But this is not cheating. This is passion and desire to win.
Didn’t Diego Costa also just want to win?
Posted: 28th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Chelsea will lose Eden to Real Madrid and Barcelona want Coutinho from Liverpool
The Premier League bloats whilst La Liga gloats. News via the Sunday Times is that Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho are “wanted in Spain”. That pretty much means Real Madrid and Barcelona are eyeing the players.
Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid president, says Hazard is the man to ignite Real. The 24-year-old is the current Professional Footballers’ Association Young Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year. He’s the best the PL has to offer. But the feeling is that should Real come knocking Hazard will want out of Stamford Bridge.
Coutinho, Liverpool’s club’s sole representative in the PFA Team of the Year, is being watched by Barcelona. Surely the Nou Camp holds more attraction than being the brightest light in a Brendan Rodger’s team that seems to make it up as it goes along.
Posted: 27th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Chelsea v Dr Carnerio: Mourinho refused to apologise
As you’re no doubt aware, it was announced yesterday that Dr Eva Carneiro has decided to leave Chelsea some six weeks after being publicly barracked by Jose Mourinho for having the temerity to run onto the pitch to treat an injured (in the most tenuous sense of the word) Eden Hazard.
For her crimes, Dr Carneiro saw her role as club doctor downgraded by Mourinho, as she was told to not attend training sessions, competitive games and/or the Chelsea team hotel in the immediate aftermath.
In the intervening period, Chelsea asked Dr Carniero to return to work but she decided not to while she considered her legal position. Indeed, theGuardian are reporting that she is currently preparing to sue her former employers over her “public humiliation”.
Not that it needed to get to this point. In fact, according to the Evening Standard, Dr Carniero would have been perfectly willing to return to her post had she received a “simple apology” from Mourinho.
The Standard also have word from Anna Kessel, co-founder and chair of the Women in Football, an organisation that has been offering Carniero support and guidance for the past few weeks.
Kessel states that she backed Carniero’s decision to quit and feels that the entire mess surrounding the incident is entirely of Mourinho’s own making.
Doctor Carneiro did nothing wrong. She should have been straight back at work, with an apology from Mourinho and the whole thing would have blown over very quickly.
It’s quite obvious. Doctor Carneiro fulfilled her duties that day. Had she followed Mourinho’s advice and not treated Eden Hazard, she would have been in breach of general medical guidelines. She did the right thing.
She was subsequently demoted by the club and her position became untenable.
How many of us could go back to a lesser job with hugely reduced duties having done nothing wrong and with no apology from the club, no retraction or acknowledgement that a huge error had been made by Mr Mourinho?
Quite so. What a ridiculously unnecessary nonsense this has become, and all due entirely to Mourinho’s unapologetic, nigh-on messianic ego.
Posted: 23rd, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports | Comment
