Specialist In Losing?

Sean Taylor

September 12, 2015

Jose Mourinho: I’ll never ‘walk away’, I will not quit Chelsea under ‘any circumstance’. Strong words, but who expects less from The Special One. After the drubbing at Everton on Saturday, the alarm bells are certainly ringing out loud at Stamford Bridge; especially to Abramovich’s ears.

Jose Mourinho insists he is happy that he is not happy right now. Nonetheless, he promised Chelsea fans he won’t run away from their problems and the club. The champions’ stuttering start to the season has left them already trailing leaders Manchester City by eight points, and put Mourinho in a bad mood. But he said: “I’m not happy — and I’m happy that I’m not happy. The moment I’m happy losing matches, then I’ve changed a lot. “And I don’t want to change. I’m not happy but I work harder than ever. I’m optimistic, I trust the players. The players trust me, I know. We are going to leave this situation [behind], for sure.” That will cheer Chelsea fans, along with the Special One dismissing the idea that history is about to repeat itself.
Mourinho’s first spell in charge of the Londoners came to an end in September 2007 after an indifferent start to a season. His exit also came following a breakdown in his relationship with owner Roman Abramovich that included a dispute over a lack of transfer funds in the January window earlier in the year. See Also: Man Utd v Liverpool Lineup The decision to appoint Avram Grant as director of football and sign £30m Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack against his wishes also caused friction between the pair.

This time, all seems well between Mourinho and Abramovich, who was at the Blues’ Surrey training ground on Friday. But this season Mourinho has still had his transfer market troubles, being unable to land top targets, Everton’s John Stones and Juventus star Paul Pogba, and another internal dispute with club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn. Asked if there are similarities to 2007, defiant Mourinho insisted: “We have one problem. We are not getting the results we always expect to get. That is the problem.

Coincidentally, on the day Mourinho suffered a heavy loss former employer, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has said his club owes former coach Jose Mourinho a debt of gratitude.

Perez, speaking to Spanish radio station Cadena Cope, praised the Portuguese, who was in charge at Real from 2010 until 2013 and led them to their most recent league title three years ago.

When asked whether he would hire Mourinho again, Perez said: “We don’t contemplate that, but he gave us a very important leap in quality to occupy the place we deserved in the world.”

Real reached the semifinals of the Champions League for three consecutive years under Mourinho and were runners-up to Atletico Madrid in the 2013 Copa del Rey.

“Mourinho, like any other coach, has his good and bad things,” Perez said. “He started well and raised the level. He gave us that push that we needed to progress past the last 16 stages in competitions.

“With Mourinho we reached three semifinals besides winning a league title — a league that we won with 100 points.”