Monday, November 28, 2005

Mourinho, the ultimate connoisseur of the Premiership


Deep thinking, exacting, and extremely methodical, for someone who is supposed to be in a pressure job Jose Mourinho is a really cool customer. Look in the dictionary for the phrase "calmness personified", and you will see his face. The intensity of his occupation does not seem to faze him; for he feels he is under "no pressure", and life is beautiful. Joie de vivre, Senor Mourinho.

It is painstakingly obvious that most top managers in England and around the world do not relish the modern media. They are like hounds chasing foxes, a pack of hungry bloodsucking wolves who descend on their prey when they are at their most vulnerable - right after another defeat.

Both Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have endured feisty relationships with the press in recent years. Wenger himself threatened to sue the media because he was furious about his comments being turned into "personal attacks" against the current Chelski boss during their recent "war of words" in which Mourinho labeled Wenger, and rightly so in my opinion, a voyeur.

Ferguson on the other hand has taken a more typical rough and tumble, hands on approach to dealing with cheeky, snotty interviewers during his post match era. We all remember the hilarious incident in the 90's when John Motson (a BBC commentator) asked Fergie if he would do anything about Roy Keane's behavior. After a few choice, x rated words, Ferguson shoved Motty off camera and physically reminded him that being raised in a Shipyard district in Glasgow during the 50's and 60's does not count for nothing... To his credit, Ferguson no longer provides post match reaction to the BBC because the television company did a documentary on his son - only god knows how Ferguson would deal with another cheeky Beeb broadcaster after a shock defeat to the likes of Wigan, or a premature Champions league exit...

Mourinho, though, is calm and methodical when dealing with the pressure of today's media. He strolls into a press conference, with a sublime hint of nonchalance and "je ne sais quoi" and toys with the respective press by making frequent jokes and lightening the mood inside what is usually a pressure cooker atmosphere. For example, recently, when William Gallas was linked with a move abroad Mourinho decided to bet his salary against the salary of every single member of the press inside the room that Gallas would be at Chelsea next season. It turned what was potentially a "no comment" conversation (which would only have increased speculation) to a comical one in which everyone was laughing hysterically at the prospect of the French defender leaving the club. Even Tony Blair, the prime minister, teaches his staff to watch the way the Portuguese man conducts his interviews. He has a brilliant way of combining seriousness with comical ambiguity, he is the iceman in front of the camera, ladies and gentlemen I give you the modern managerial marvel that is Jose Mourinho!

As the season enters its most crucial period (December/Christmas) you can be sure that the wind and rain that greets the British weather in winter time will be "no sweat" to Jose, whereas Fergie and Wenger might want to take a leaf out of his book - for he is "the special one".
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