Tudor Rickards

Mourinho Matters Tudor Rickards

Jose Mourinho's life could hardly be bettered if it had been written as a film script. A football crazy youngster from the outskirts of Lisbon dreams of becoming a great footballer and outperforming his father who had been a professional goalkeeper and coach The young Jose showed a rebelliousness against authority, walking out after one day of the business studies course planned for him, in order to study the principles of sports science. He was a lightening quick learner and was also gifted linguistically. He was also smart enough to realize he could go much further as a coach than as a player. His judgement was quickly confirmed as it propelled him into a career that was to bring success for his teams and give him the glamorous life of an international celebrity. He was helped by his charm which he could use to great effect to win allies and mentors. While still making his way as a young manager he drew attention to his exceptional talents by transforming the fortunes of Porto, astonishing the football world by winning the European Champions cup. When asked in a Radio interview what he believed God thought about him, José replied: 'He must really think I'm a great guy because otherwise He would not have given me so much. I have a great family. I work in a place where I've always dreamt of working. He has helped me out so much that He must have a very high opinion of me.' If God has a pretty high opinion of José, why shouldn't José have a pretty high opinion of himself as well? His spectacular mid-career progress continued with successes at Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Mourinho and Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich . But the relationship was to become a complex one as Jose failed to deliver the dearest of Abramovich's dreams for Chelsea, the European Cup Jose which had won for Porto and for Inter-Milan. The author traces out the inter-related themes of the story drawing on a deep knowledge of the nature of charismatic leadership as well as its dark side which emerges in Jose's outbursts against authority. He reveals the signs that led him to anticipate Jose' ultimate fate at Chelsea and to collect information to support his theory on a daily basis. Mourinho Matters is written as a series of forty episodic stories from Jose's early days to the managerial roundabout set in motion at the time of his second departure from Chelsea. The material includes TV and book reviews, and the headline events reported in the media, during his career. Special reference sources and index have been provided for students of sports management and leadership.