Opinion | The Special One or the Failed One - Which is the Real Mourinho?
Special, genius, legend, winner, arrogant. Many names and words are associated with Jose Mourinho but failure is certainly not one of them. Or rather, it wasn t until the manager left Real Madrid and dubbed his own final season at the club as such. So as Mourinho marks his second coming on English soil, is he returning as the 'Special One' or the 'Failed One'?
Throughout Mourinho's managerial career there's been a common theme - moving on at the peak of his power, leaving the players and fans wanting more. He did exactly this at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan. As Mourinho bid farewell to Los Blancos, there were no such feelings. His three seasons at Real Madrid will be remembered more for their shortcomings than the three trophies they produced.
We all remember the first time he stepped into the Chelsea press room as the Blue's manager and the infamous press conference that followed - in fact there were many memorable press conferences during his first spell in England. The same can be said for his time with Inter Milan, but his relationship with the Italian press had more of a sting to it despite leaving the club after a treble winning season.
Mourinho went down in Inter history, leaving the club to a que of sobbing players. So loved was Mourinho that Marco Materazzi had pictures of himself and the manager hanging inside his locker - pictures that were ripped down by Rafa Benitez.
Fast forward to his controversial spell at Real Madrid and the Mourinho love affair have the same effect. Casillas, Ozil, Ramos, Ronaldo - all superstars of Madrid that didn't see eye-to-eye with their Portuguese boss. The only way we could imagine Casillas having Mourinho's picture taped to his locker is if it was used as a dart board.
Mourinho entered the Bernabeau hot seat with his stock at an all-time high. During his time at Los Blancos, Mourinho was tasked with certain goals - firstly to end the dominance of Barcelona. Despite a rather rocky start which involved a 5-0 thumping by Guardiola's Barca side, Mourinho managed to rattle the Catalan's strangle-hold on European football, winning the league in the 2011/12 season.
He was also tasked with leading Real Madrid to their holy grail - La Decima. Despite reaching three consecutive Champions League semi-finals, Mourinho always fell short. Failure? Well given their previous embarrassments - duly pointed out by Jose - of failing to qualify from the group stages, they moved forward quite significantly. But when you consider the only 'big' team he beat in six knockout ties were Manchester United - and he needed Nani's sending off for that - then Mourinho's argument falls rather flat.
One of the things we all know Mourinho thrives on is the 'us against the world' mentality which he cultivated so well at his former clubs. Yet at Real Madrid this proved to be one of his biggest challenges and something which ultimately lead to his downfall.
The friendship between his skipper Iker Casillas and Spanish team mate Xavi Hernandez was disconcerting to him and despite his best attempts, he couldn't break it down. The result was a major fall out with both Casillas and Sergio Ramos which all together ended with Mourinho dropping his skipper for 'football reasons'.
The complete breakdown in relationships with not only half his squad but also the Spanish media as well was in no small part responsible for Real Madrid's inconsistent form throughout the 2012/13 campaign. During the winter break the situation was at the point of no return, leaving Madrid president Florentino Perez with two choices: keep Mourinho or keep Casillas.
Perez seemingly chose neither, denying that any meeting had taken place between either party despite text messages being leaked to Spanish sports publication Marca (who incidentally Casillas' girlfriend writes for). The whole incident was a huge embarrassment to both the club and all involved. From this moment Mourinho's fate was sealed.
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Even so, Mourinho still had ardent support from the likes of Xabi Alonso Alvaro Arbeloa, Michael Essien and unsurprisingly, Digeo Lopez. Mourinho's relationship with star man Cristiano Ronaldo has always been on the edge, dating way back to Ronaldo's United days when Mourinho labelled the Portuguese striker as 'uneducated'.
No one, not even Mourinho himself, would tell you he did everything perfectly during his three years in Spain. He made mistakes and paid for them with his reputation and ultimately his job. However the fact remains, Mourinho won the Spanish League, the Copa del Rey and the Super Copa while also derailing - albeit rather unfashionably - the best team on the planet.
Mourinho is of course tactically brilliant - you don't win what he has without being so - yet his main skills have been his man management and media manipulation. Neither of these worked in Spain but now Mourinho has returned to where they work best - the Premier League and Chelsea.
Both Chelsea and Mourinho have run out of options and it's no shock to hear Mourinho talking about a dynasty at Chelsea - he's won the league everywhere he wishes yet the criticism still levelled at him is his inability or lack of desire to build a legacy. Cue his second marriage with Roman Abramovich and Chelsea.
Mourinho is a wounded animal at the minute and has come out fighting. After the self dubbed worst season in his career, the 'Special One' will be looking to sweep the board trophy wise and leave all defeated in his stead. What better way to get it started than with a match against old adversary Pep Guardiola? Let the mind games begin.
What are your thoughts on Mourinho's tenure at Real Madrid and his return to Chelsea? Let us know. Join the conversation online, on Twitter on Facebook.
