For the second time in his brilliant career, the Portuguese has been sacked by the Premier League champions. While Chelsea fans have taken time to mourn the departure of the man they fondly refer to as ‘the Special One’, rival fans have seized the opportunity to celebrate the end of another Mourinho era.
Such has been the uproar in the cyber-space, that the former Real Madrid manager has been the hottest topic on many blogs, websites, social media and opinion polls since the news of his sack trickled in.
Man United fans are glad to see Chelsea axe the man they would so love to see manage their fumbling Red Devils. Arsenal fans have not stopped poking the former Inter Milan boss who had the guts to label the great Arsene Wenger “a specialist in failure”. Real Madrid fans want him back at the Bernabeu. Barcelona fans will always cheer any negative news about Jose, no matter what.
But were Chelsea right to fire the club’s greatest ever manager?
Jose may be arrogant and unapologetically out-spoken but he is not a bad manager. Of managers to manage 100+ Premier League games, Jose Mourinho has the best win percentage (P212 W140 D44 L28 66%). If anyone could get the champions out of their present poor patch, it’s the Portuguese.
However, with the champions perched on 16th position on the log and a single point above the relegation zone, Chelsea’s fears are well founded. This is the first time since 1978-79 that the Blues have lost at least 9 of their opening 16 top-flight games. That season they were relegated.
But having proclaimed his love for the club both as a manager and a fan, many expected the Stamford Bridge giants to at least stand by the Portuguese during the worst spell of his career.
Mourinho is still one of the greatest. A bad year at the office and an impatient board can never change that. Abrahamovic will get another replacement, quickly too, as the names of Pep Guardiola, Carlos Ancelotti, and Diego Simeone have already been brandished. But would it not have been perfect to have all of them in the same league all at once, pitting their wits against each other every week?
So Mourinho is gone. Again. But as the EPL continues to lose its best talents, how long more can it continue to label itself the ‘best league in the world’. The greatest manager in the world, and arguably in history, has been unceremoniously dismissed yet again to continue the trend that has seen some of the finest players in the world leave England.
The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Luis Suarez, and Gareth Bale were once leading EPL stars that quit the league just before they peaked. Their potentials are now being fulfilled in the Spanish La Liga.
In their places, we now have Martial, Harry Kane, Daniel Sturridge and Erik Lamela, players who are nowhere near being as exciting or as world class yet but who will most likely move to greener pastures once they blossom.
As world-class performers like Jose Mourinho are forced out of the Premier League, only to recycle worn-out performers like Guus Hiddink, the Premier League will be the worst for it in the long term. No true EPL fan should rejoice about that.
