A few months back, had someone asked any sports analyst how Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho would be remembered, they would have used analogies such as ground-breaking, legendary, first-of-his-kind, the messiah and a dearth of similar terms that would have befitted a manager who likes to be called the Special One.
Indeed, the Portuguese tactician returned to Stamford Bridge a couple of years back and then helped the Blues win their first Premier League title in five years. Chelsea were a juggernaut last season – steam rolling past opponents as if they were Sunday League employees.
How the mighty have fallen since then. This season has been nothing but a spectacular failure for the London giants who have given their fans the worst title defense in the history of the Premier League. Hovering just a point above the relegation zone, Chelsea are unlikely to break into the top let alone compete for the title against the likes of Manchester United, City, Leicester and Arsenal.
Players like Eden Hazard, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, who were beyond amazing last season, have played like a bunch of disorientated amateurs this season. On more than one occasion, Mourinho was critical of his players following some really shameful defeats against relatively weaker opponents.
Stamford Bridge, once a fortress during Mourinho’s first stint, has offered nothing but timid resistance this time around with the likes of Bournemouth and others beating the Blues in a manner that is definitely not befitting of a team that is wearing the crown of English football at the moment.
For the last several weeks, there had been talks about club owner, Roman Abramovich, wielding the axe. And the defeat to Leicester City, managed by former Chelsea manager, Claudio Ranieri, who was asked to leave the club to make way for Mourinho, was perhaps the final nail in the coffin of a manager who has been directing blame for the team’s hapless displays on anyone but himself.
Just like Real Madrid, Mourinho alienated his players, lashed out at referees but never owned up to his shortcomings. Humility is not one can expect of the Portuguese tactician but in times of crisis, even the most arrogant of beings have been known to take a step back and reflect upon themselves.
Mourinho however, is not one of those people who would admit to their mistakes and perhaps that is why his job was never going to be safe. Being critical of your players’ performances is one thing, going to the media and identifying those who have let you down on the field is equivalent to shooting yourself on the foot and that is exactly what the former Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager did when he openly criticized his main players for letting him down.
It grew so dark in the last few days that the Chelsea board had to agree that keeping Mourinho at Stamford Bridge could destroy the club’s image. If the Eva Carneiro incident (the club’s former physiotherapist) was an initial warning, the manager’s recent antics were clearly too much to take for the club as a whole.
And now that the dust has settled in, it is safe to say that Mourinho might not be remembered as a player who put Chelsea on the map but as an eccentric manager who himself orchestrated a sad demise that no one could have predicted.
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