Jose Mourinho is no longer the ‘Special One’

Jose Mourinho, who has just been sacked by the Italian club AS Roma, is a once great manager on his last legs. The football his teams play is terrible, the results so-so, and his increasingly erratic behaviour on the touchline altogether disgraceful. 

Mourinho has gone from fighting for league titles and Champions Leagues to waging war on officials and opposing teams. His sacking had an air of inevitability. Roma’s American owners, the Friedkin Group, thanked Mourinho ‘for his passion and efforts’. Tellingly though, the owners stated that they felt ‘an immediate change’ was ‘in the best interests of the club’. Good riddance, in other words.

Who can blame the owners for judging that Mourinho’s time was up? Roma are languishing a lowly 9th in Serie A. Last week, they were dumped out of the Coppa Italia by their city-rivals Lazio. Last Sunday, they lost 3-1 to AC Milan. Mourinho was forced to watch the match from the stands because he was serving yet another suspension for his latest outburst against match officials.

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In all, Roma have won just eight of their past 20 matches in Serie A this season. Something had to give. It was a bitter end to a relationship between coach and club that has started promisingly enough.

Mourinho took charge of Roma in 2021, and led the club to their first trophy in 14 years by winning the Europa Conference League in 2022. Prime Mourinho would have looked down his nose at this competition but no longer. Even so, he could only hope to survive on such momentary glory for so long. Speculation had been growing recently about his position, with his contract due to expire at the end of this season. He had expressed a desire to stay at the club, and as usual had his own version of events for why the team had struggled this season. He complained that the team had been hit hard by injuries. There is something to this: Roma had nine players missing for Sunday’s cup game in Milan. On the other hand, injuries are an issue for every club and it is fair to say that others have fared better with less.

Mourinho often likes to portray himself as a victim of his own success, suggesting that he often works miracles on limited resources and can only achieve greater things with proper backing in the transfer market. It is a familiar tune but proving less and less persuasive over time. The sad truth is that Mourinho is now more likely to attract headlines for his off-field antics than any triumph on the footballing field. He is repeatedly at the centre of disciplinary problems: he was sent off last week for the second match in a row, and has already collected a remarkable five red cards this season. All that the ‘Special One’ is renowned for nowadays is his tantrums. 

It is sad to witness Mourinho’s slow decline from managerial god to journeyman coach. He will always remain one of the most decorated managers of all time: two Champions Leagues, three Premier Leagues, and 26 honours in all. It is a formidable record but his most recent managerial spells risk tarnishing his standing in the sport. Departures at some point during his third season are a common theme of his managerial career: this was the outcome during his last spell at Chelsea and at Manchester United. But now, Mourinho comes across as a footballing dinosaur, left behind by the tactical developments and acumen of the new breed of coaches and managers. 

He once famously dubbed Arsene Wenger, his fierce rival at Arsenal, a ‘specialist in failure’. Mourinho is in danger of becoming one of the breed himself. Where will he pitch up next, and does anyone care? Newcastle? The Saudi League? Or maybe a national team? The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United manager will be 61 next month; he has to get his next move right. There can’t be many chances left for Mourinho to rescue his once glittering managerial career.