How Jose Mourinho BROKE Football... 7 Times

Jose Mourinho is the special one. He's won every trophy there is to win, putting together some of the greatest teams of all time and doing it against all the odds wherever he went. Since 2002, he's had eight stints as manager, achieving major success in seven of them, leaving behind many iconic moments both on and off the pitch. You either love him or you hate him, but you can't deny that Jose Mourinho is one of the greatest managers of all time. So from the highs of a lows of, well, spurs, this is how Jose Mourinho consistently broke football for over 20 years. To understand why Jose is how he is today, we have to start from the beginning. He was born into a middle-class family in Lisbon, where his father was a professional football player, who then became a coach after retiring. At just nine years old, Jose got his first taste of how brutal football management can be because on Christmas Day, his father was sacked from his coaching position, making for a sour holiday in the Mourinho household. Jose Mourinho played football and did manage to go professional, playing in the lower leagues of Portugal, but unlike most top managers nowadays, he didn't play at the highest level, not even close to it. By 24 years old, Mourinho retired from professional football to focus on coaching because he knew he didn't have what it took to play at the top. But despite the lack of ability in his feet, what he did have was a great brain, meaning he had the potential to coach at the very top. But without a pro career under his belt, he was going to have to work that much harder to prove his worth. He went to study physical education and took any odd coaching job he could until one day he caught a lucky break. In 1992, he was given the opportunity to work as a translator for Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon, and right from the start, Bobby was shocked with Jose's tactical insights as he very quickly proved he could be more than just a translator, becoming a coach also. Robson and Mourinho formed a great team. When Robson was sacked from sporting, Jose went with him to his new club, Porto, and then again followed him two years later to one of the biggest clubs in the world, Barcelona. At this point in his life, Mourinho had a love for Barcelona football club and, interestingly enough, at this time, Pep Guardiola was a player over there, meaning Jose and Pep had a good relationship. These, of course, are two things that would drastically change as his career would progress, but anyway, in 1997, Bobby Robson left Barcelona, but this time, Mourinho did not go with him. He remained as a coach under the new manager, Louis van Gaal. He kept proving his worth until he was given the opportunity to coach the Barcelona B team until September 2000 came around and he finally got his big break. After eight years of proving his worth, one of the biggest clubs in Portugal gave him a shot and Jose Mourinho became the manager of Benfica, but things didn't go too well there. This job only lasted for three months until December when Jose was dismissed after having problems with the something that would become a trend in his career. Six months later, in the summer of 2001, Jose took another job in the Portuguese first division to manage União de Leira, where he took a bang average team as high as third and fourth place in his two seasons there, which was a truly amazing feat, prompting the bigger clubs in Portugal to start looking his way. And then, finally, on the 23rd of January 2002, Porto took the chance on Jose Mourinho, making him manager halfway through the season and this is where the incredible story of Jose Mourinho would truly begin. When Jose arrived at Porto, things were not looking good. They were fifth place in the league, they had already been eliminated from the cup and had finished bottom of their Champions League group, but this was more than just a bad season. They hadn't won a domestic title in three years, which for Porto was considered a crisis. Jose said that this was the worst Porto team in over two generations, but even in just his first half season, he managed to guide them to a third place finish after a 15-game unbeaten run. But more than that, he promised the team that the next season they would be champions. You could already tell that Mourinho had instilled a belief in his players. They would run the extra mile, put their body on the lines, and they would die for him on the pitch. And now heading into his first full season, he had identified who would be the backbone of this team and who had to go, so Jose cleaned house. The base of the team was built around players like Vitor Baia, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Elenichev, and Postiga, and this team went on to have a record-breaking season in Portugal. Not only did Porto win the league as Jose promised they would, but they did it with 27 wins, 5 draws, and only 2 defeats, finishing 11 points clear of second-place Benfica as they broke the Portuguese points record, which wouldn't be broken till 2016. Apart from the league's success, Jose Mourinho guided this team to the Taça de Portugal, beating his own Palmeira in the final, and then, most notably of all, Porto defeated Celtic in the Europa League final as Mourinho's men completed a treble in one of the greatest seasons in their club's history. He turned the worst Porto team in generations into treble winners in under 18 months, and this meant that the bigger European clubs would try to get their hands on some of these talented players. But Jose has a belief that keeping players is just as important as signing new ones, and that's exactly what he did by going into his third season in Porto, because he was able to keep all his stars by making them believe they could win the Champions League. But obviously, this was crazy. Porto to win the Champions League would be like a fairy tale, but this belief Jose instilled was more powerful than anything, and they carried this into the next season. They started off the 03-04 season by winning the Portuguese Super Cup and losing the UEFA Super Cup to AC Milan. In the league this season, Porto had it done and dusted five weeks before the season was even over as they cruised to their second title in two years, finishing the season with a perfect home record. But as great as that was, that isn't how Jose broke football this season, because the real story takes place in the Champions League. They started the group stage very poorly, being bottom after two games, but this is when the season as a whole changed as they went on a 34-game unbeaten streak after this. They finished second in the group, meaning they got the harder side of the draw, and in the round of 16, they faced one of the best teams in the world in Manchester United. Mourinho's men won the first leg at home 2-1, but in the return fixture at Old Trafford, found themselves trailing after the first 30 minutes. As it stood, Porto's European journey was finished, but a year-league drama we would get in a couple of years' time. In the quarterfinals, Porto faced Lyon, who were a French powerhouse, winning the league seven times in a row, but Mourinho's men held strong for a 4-2 win over both legs in the Champions League final. So, on the 26th of May 2004, Porto faced Monaco, and Mourinho put on a tactical masterclass. For 90 minutes, Porto soaked up pressure and allowed Monaco to feel comfortable on the ball until they would unleash deadly counterattacks to catch Monaco out, and this plan worked to perfection as Porto finished the game 3-0, and Jose Mourinho lifted his first Champions League against all the odds. Since that day, no other team outside of Europe's top five leagues has won a Champions League, showing the magnitude of this underdog's success story. Mourinho had now won every single trophy possible with Porto, and it was time for a new challenge. So, only three days after lifting the Champions League, he headed to the blue side of London to begin a new chapter and dominate a new league. We have top players, and I'm sorry, I'm a bit arrogant, we have a top manager. I'm European champion, so I'm not one of the bottle. I think I'm a special one. Jose Mourinho was officially a blue, signing a three-year contract at Chelsea Football Club with a massive job ahead of him. Chelsea hadn't won the league in over 50 years, and they had recently been bought out by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, and he was going to settle for nothing less than success. But the issue was that this was a team of losers, with the only player who ever won something significant being Claude Makalele. The rest? Nothing. As soon as he arrived, he cleaned house, getting rid of nine players. He brought his same backroom staff in from Porto, and he pretty much had an open checkbook, so he started bringing in players. Thiago, Cech, Kezman, Drogba, and Carvalho and Ferreira, who followed him from Porto, along with the likes of Lampert and Terry that were already in the squad, meant Mourinho had put together a team capable of winning the lot. Chelsea had finished fourth in the previous season, with Manchester United and Arsenal being the two clear top dogs in English football. But despite this, Jose had a belief in himself and his players, even going as far as to tell them the exact day they would win the league, that being the 30th of April. By early December, Chelsea were flying. They were top of the Premier League, they were through to the knockout stages of the Champions League, and Jose was already starting a feud with his city rival, Arsene Wenger. At the start, I didn't like Arsenal. Now, I'm in love with them. Every weekend, they lose points. Jose Mourinho was becoming box office in England. He was cocky and arrogant, but this was all back with his results on the pitch. He won the first trophy he could possibly win, beating Liverpool an extra time in the League Cup final, and then he left the pitch shushing the Liverpool fans. By the turn of the year, Chelsea were flying at the top of the league and were through to the Champions League knockout stages, facing off against Barcelona in the round of 16 and knocking them out in controversial fashion. In the first leg, Drogba was handed a red card, which caused Mourinho to speak out against the referees, going as far to say that the Barcelona manager went into the referee's room at halftime to get them to sway the game. This resulted in mayhem for the referee, with Chelsea fans abusing him and going as far as to send death threats, forcing him to retire from refereeing as a whole. After this, Mourinho was labeled an enemy of football by UEFA and was banned from the next round's ties. Despite the ban, Jose still made his way into the stadium as Chelsea faced Bayern in the quarterfinals. Jose snuck into the changing room hours before the match kicked off and then snuck out in a laundry basket to make sure he would still be able to talk to his team, and these tactics worked as Chelsea beat Bayern 6-5 over both legs, progressing to the semifinals of the competition. They faced Liverpool in the semifinal and were eliminated 1-0, but this was with a goal that never actually crossed the line, leaving Jose to feel very hard done by. But despite the Champions League upset, the day finally came, the 30th of April, where Chelsea played against Bolton. Lampard scored two, and Chelsea were crowned champions. They went on to finish the Premier League season with a record-breaking 95 points, but even more impressive than that, they only conceded 15 goals, which is a record that will probably never be broken. Jose had conquered England within just one season, but he still had a lot more in him as he kicked off the 05-06 season, beating his beloved Arsenal to lift the community shield. This season, Mourinho's men lifted a second Premier League in a row, winning it against Man Utd, meaning Ferguson's men had to give the Blues a guard of honour as they were crowned champions. Frank Lampard finished second in the Ballon d'Or this year as Mourinho turned him into one of the best football players on the planet. But yet again, Chelsea fell short in Europe, this time being knocked out in the round of 16 by Barcelona, just more fuel added to the anti-Barcelona fire. As much as the results on the pitch were world class, by his third season in London, there was growing speculation that Jose and Abramovich were having issues amongst themselves. But despite the unrest, Chelsea still won the League Cup against Arsenal and the FA Cup against United, but unfortunately lost the Premier League to Man Utd who were taking back English football with the likes of Ronaldo and Rooney. And they also lost the Champions League again in the semi-finals and again to Liverpool. Jose had now won every trophy possible in England in just three seasons, but now a storm was brewing at Stamford Bridge as the 07-08 season would prove to be Jose's worst one yet. The relationship with Abramovich was already on the rocks, with players like Shevchenko and Balak being signed against Jose's will in the previous year, but as long as results were there, Abramovich couldn't get rid of him. But this season started off worse than usual with losses in the League, draws in the Champions League, and the average match attendance decreasing until the 20th of September when it was announced that Jose Mourinho would be leaving Chelsea by mutual consent. Mourinho ended his time at Chelsea as the club's most successful manager, winning six trophies and having never lost a game at home in his time there. Jose then took the rest of the year off until he was approached by a club he had always wanted to coach, Barcelona. The deal was basically done, the board wanted Mourinho, and Mourinho wanted the club, but at the last minute, Johan Cruyff told the board not to go with Mourinho and to opt for an unproven Pep Guardiola instead. This was the day that the hate began. Barcelona made an enemy out of Jose, and he would be out for revenge. And this rivalry with Guardiola would start to take shape, but for now, he had to find a new club to manage, and on the Jose Mourinho was appointed the coach of Inter Milan, where he was going to put together one of the most impressive teams in football history and break Italian football. The situation at Inter was slightly different to the previous two clubs that Jose managed. Inter Milan were already the best team in Italy, and winning the Serie A was a given as they had won it three seasons in a row, but the issue at Inter was when it came to the European stage, as they had been knocked out three times in a row in the round of 16 whilst their city rivals, AC Milan, had been dominating Europe. This is what Jose was brought in to do, to win the Champions League. Jose started as he always did. He brought in his backroom staff, who had now been with him since Porto. He cleared out the deadwood in the squad, and he started to make signings in Mancini, Muntari, and Quaresma. He started off by winning the Supercopa against Roma and, as expected, he blitzed the Serie A, winning it by 10 points. But despite this, this season was still seen as disappointing from the Inter fans, who demanded European success, as Jose's men were knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United in the round of 16, not to mention the Coppa Italia semi-final loss to Sampdoria. This Inter team was good, with legends like Zanetti and Zlatan, along with the likes of Balotelli, but this team was not yet great, and now after one season at Inter, Jose now had a clear understanding of exactly what this team needed to lift the Champions League. So in the summer transfer window, they got to work. Adriano, Cruz, Crespo, and Figo all made their way out of the club. Zlatan Ibrahimović was swapped for Samuel Eto'o, Thiago Mota, Goran Pandev, Diego Melito, and Lucio were also brought in, and last but not least, the missing piece of the puzzle. Jose signed Wesley Snyder from Real Madrid to replace the in the team. Now the squad was in place, but the magic of Mourinho came in the way that he got all the players on his side, they were ready to die on the pitch. Snyder went as far as to say that he would kill and die for Mourinho, and Dejan Stanković said that he would have thrown himself into a fire for the manager. This mentality that Jose instilled was what always gave them the edge. He also did very well to make them feel like the world was against them, like referees were out to get them, and this created a siege mentality that they carried throughout the entire season. By November, they had scored over 30 goals, including a 4-0 hammering over city rivals AC Milan, and for the fifth time in a row, they lifted the Serie A title, finishing two points above second-place Roma. They also beat out Roma in the Coppa Italia final to lift their second trophy of the season, but these domestic trophies were a given for the club. So let's talk about Europe. They actually scraped through the group, winning only two, drawing three, and losing one, and this meant they got a harder round of 16 draw. But this is where Mourinho made the final tactical tweak to his team as he moved from a more narrow formation to add more width on the pitch, which transformed their season. They faced his old club Chelsea in the round of 16, where they won the first leg 2-1 at home, and then, before the return fixture, Jose said, I have never lost at Stamford Bridge, it will be no different this time. And he was right as a 1-0 victory placed Inter Milan in the quarterfinals. Then, after two 1-0 victories over Moscow, it was time for one of the most iconic two games of Jose Mourinho's career as he faced Barcelona in the semifinals. There are many reasons why this game was so significant. Barcelona were the current champions of Europe with arguably the best team in football history. Their manager, Pep Guardiola, was being talked about as the best manager in the world, the spot Mourinho once held. And of course, Jose was still very bitter from the Barcelona rejection. This was like fire against ice, the attacking Barcelona versus the defensive Inter Milan, the two best managers in the world, and in the end, Jose came out on top. They won the first leg at the San Siro three goals to one with a Milito masterclass as he scored one and assisted two, but it's in the return fixture where all the drama occurred. Within 28 minutes of the match, Diego Mata received a red card, and now with 10 men playing away against the best attacking team in the world, this was looking like it was going to be impossible. But Jose Mourinho simply walked up to Pep and told him, you think this is over? This is far from over. It was now a game of the mind. Inter shut up shop. They stifled Messi, and despite a late goal from Pique, they managed to hold on. As the final whistle blew, Mourinho went sprinting down the touchline, finger in the air, as his team were now one game away from the treble. This Pep versus Mourinho rivalry is something that would be a constant over the next 10 years of football, and we're going to talk a lot more about it soon. But for now, Mourinho had another Champions League final to play, and this time against Bayern Munich. Interestingly, this Inter team was the oldest team ever to play in a final, but they still had a lot of fight left in them. This Bayern team was led by Louis van Gaal, Mourinho's old boss, and both teams were on for the treble, so this was big. But Jose Mourinho made it look so easy, as Milito scored a brace and the game finished 2-0, meaning Inter Milan became the first Italian club to complete a treble. But just days after the final, Jose Mourinho announced he would be leaving the club. He said he was very sad that it would be his last game for Inter, but in his words, if you don't coach Real Madrid, then you will always have a gap in your career. After Mourinho left Inter, it took them 11 years to win their next title and haven't seen European success since, but Jose wasn't looking back because it was time to coach in La Liga. The league Pep Guardiola had been dominating for years, meaning things were about to get very, very exciting. Mourinho's time at Madrid was wild to say the least. He created one of the greatest La Liga teams of all time, but arguably underperformed in Europe. He had players who were ready to die for him, who would eventually turn on him, and he was signed as the most expensive manager of all time to be let go after only three years. But for now, entering the 2010-2011 season, Jose Mourinho had one goal in mind, and Pep Guardiola's Spanish dominance. Before Jose's arrival, this team had been spending big money on big players like Kaká and Ronaldo, but they weren't getting the results to show for it. So that's why Mourinho is back now. Jose made four signings when he arrived in Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil, Ángel Di Maria, and Ricardo Carvalho, and boy did he have some team on his hands. Casillas in net, Pepe and Ramos marshalling the backline, Arbeola and Marcelo as the fullbacks, a midfield trio of Alonso, Khedira, and Ozil, and then a frightening front line where Benzema and Higuain shared the nine position, whilst Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo played out wide. As his first season kicked off, Real Madrid drew nil-nil against Mallorca, and Jose simply said, some poor rival is going to pay for the chances we missed today. They won the following three games 6-1, 4-1, and 6-1 again. When the first El Classico rolled around, Barcelona thumped Jose's men five goals to nothing in what the Real Madrid president described as the worst game in the club's history. Despite this, Jose loved to always get in a dig at Guardiola with comments like, he should be ashamed to win the Champions League like he did in 2009, referring to the poor referee in the semi-finals. But more than just comments to Pep, Jose's time at Real Madrid saw some of his most controversial and polarizing moments, like the Champions League fixture where he told two of his players to get deliberate red cards, or the time he made Mesut Ozil leave his girlfriend because she thought he was a bad influence on him, or even the time he waited in the car park to confront a referee after a match. This was some serious box office stuff. By December, though, he got his team firing on all fronts, thumping Levante 8-0, as the defensive Mourinho got Real Madrid playing some of the best attacking football in the world. On the 20th of April, Jose picked up his first trophy in Spain, as his team defeated Barcelona 1-0 in the Copa del Rey final and winning Real Madrid their first trophy in over two years. But Pep's men would get the last laugh that season, as they defeated Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League, winning the whole tournament and won La Liga, four points clear of Real Madrid. But as has now become tradition with Jose, he takes one season to get the hang of things, and then he dominates in year two. So the 2011-12 season was going to be a different story. They reached the Champions League semi-final for the second year in a row, but unfortunately were knocked out again, this time by Bayern Munich. But in La Liga, they dominated. On the 21st of April, Real Madrid played Barcelona at the Nou Camp in what probably could have been considered as a La Liga final, with only four points between the two teams and four games left to play. A 2-1 victory for Jose's men made it the first league victory over Barcelona in almost four years and put Real comfortably in the driving seat for the title. After this match, Pep Guardiola came out to concede the title to Real Madrid, which Jose definitely enjoyed. Come the final game of the season, Real Madrid defeated Mallorca 4-1 and concluded the season breaking record after record. They finished with 32 wins, the most in a single season, 16 away wins, the most ever in the league, they had the most points of any European league, and most notably, the defensive Mourinho had scored the most goals in the league's history with 121 and finished with the best goal difference with plus 89. Real Madrid finished nine points clear of Barcelona as Mourinho ended Barca's era of dominance, defeated Guardiola and also laid the foundations for the current Real Madrid dominance we see today. After such a great season, Mourinho signed a new four-year contract, but to everyone's surprise, he wouldn't even last half of that. He started the 2012-13 season winning the Supercopa, meaning he had now won every possible trophy in Spain within just two years, and this also meant that so far in his career, Mourinho had won every trophy he could possibly win in football, but this season, Jose would experience something new for the first time. He seemingly lost control of the dressing room. His relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo grew tricky as he felt Ronaldo was unwilling to accept criticism, but even worse than that, he decided to drop Real Madrid captain and legend Iker Casillas. The centre-back duo of Ramos and Pepe took Casillas' side and the dressing room was a mess, but more than just the dressing room, the fan base was now split between the Madridistas and the Mourinhistas, and this was all reflected on the football pitch. They lost the Champions League for the third year in a row in the semi-finals to Dortmund. They finished second in La Liga, 15 points off Barcelona, and they lost the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid, leading Jose to call this season the worst of his entire career. Three days after the Copa del Rey defeat, club president Fiorentino Perez announced that Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid would part ways by so-called mutual agreement despite having three years left on his contract, but Jose wouldn't take long to get back into management with some old friends ringing his phone, prompting a return to the Premier League and another chance for Jose to prove that he is in fact the special one. Jose returned to Chelsea Football Club and he was happy to be reunited with Lampard, Terry and even the owner Abramovich as they had seemingly got back on good terms, but this Chelsea team was different to the one he left all those years ago. They had won the Champions League and the Europa League in the meantime, but were less dominant in the Premier League. But confident as always, Mourinho opened his second stint at Chelsea by saying, then we'll win it in the second season. And as usual, Jose's prediction was spot on. When he arrived, it's interesting to see the talent he had in the squad, with Salah, De Bruyne and Juan Mata all being present but quickly getting moved on as he opted for players like Hazard and Willian instead. Since Chelsea were the reigning Europa League champions, Mourinho started off the season playing the Super Cup against Guardiola's Bayern Munich, where they went down to 10 men and lost the match. But Jose obviously had some words about it. They take the cup and the best team lost. As the season progressed, Mourinho played down Chelsea's title chances, always referring to this season as transitional. And that was how it turned out as they finished four points behind Champions Man City and were also knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-finals, meaning no silverware this season. There was a slightly different tone to Mourinho. It was almost as if he'd mellowed slightly, but not too much as he still produced some memorable moments like when he told his beloved Arsene Wenger that he is a specialist in failure for not winning a trophy for eight years. But as much as Mourinho seemed to have mellowed, his second season would be as good as ever. He signed three key players in Thibaut Courtois, Cesc Fabregas and, most important of all, Diego Costa. An animal up front, as Mourinho believed his team lacked the balls to win. In the 2014-15 season, they were only behind for one single week as Spurs led on goal difference for Week 2. And for the rest of the season, they were on top until the 3rd of May when they defeated Crystal Palace and were crowned Premier League champions with three games to spare. Jose Mourinho was named manager of the season as they only lost three games all year. In the other competitions, Chelsea were knocked out of the FA Cup and the Champions League, but Jose did lead his team to the League Cup, making that a domestic double in his second season back. Now Season 3 was rolling in and Jose Mourinho was going to be there to stay, signing a new four-year contract. But it's here that Mourinho would suffer the worst start to a season in his entire career. They started the season picking up only 11 points in their first 12 games and they were knocked out of the League Cup by Stoke City. Things were not looking good, and they reached a breaking point on the 17th of December as Chelsea sat in 16th place, prompting the Chelsea board to pull the plug and sack the man who gave them so much. But how the hell did this happen? It seemed like the players had simply turned on him, like what happened at Real Madrid. He lost the dressing room, and without them on your side, you're dead as a manager. Not to mention war arguments he was having with the board, and altogether it just spelled disaster. Jose's man-management style was starting to be doubted, players were getting softer and having more power in their hands, but Jose was eager to prove everyone wrong and luckily for him, there was a new job available over in Manchester. Meaning on the 27th of May 2016, Jose Mourinho signed as the new Manchester United manager, but little did he know about the rollercoaster ride it was going to be over there. At this point in time, there were great similarities between United and Jose as both were giants in a rough spot. Jose had his worst season ever with Chelsea, and United had been on a decline ever since Sir Alex left. In the blue side of Manchester, Pep Guardiola took charge, meaning the rivalry would be back in full force once again. Jose made four signings when he arrived in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had just scored 50 goals last season, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who was one of the Buddhist League's best players, Eric Bailly, an up-and-coming defender, and Paul Pogba for a world-record transfer fee as he was one of the best players in the world at the time, but also a player who would eventually become Mourinho's worst nightmare. Unlike everywhere else he went, Jose didn't really clear out the deadwood this season, which was strange and already showed that the board and the manager were simply not on the same page. The United squad that Jose came into was quite simply average. The best players were the goalkeeper David de Gea and an agent Wayne Rooney, so he really did have a mountain to climb. Despite all of this, Jose still managed to turn this team into winners, leading them to the best season they'd had since Ferguson left. They kicked off the season beating Leicester to lift the community shield, but just four games into the season, Pep Guardiola would strike first blood, winning the first derby 2-1. One month later, Mourinho's men faced off against Chelsea and were hammered four goals to nothing, which meant that by just October, they were already six points off the top and they never did manage to really recover this league position, finishing the season in sixth place. But that wasn't relevant this year because they succeeded in the cup competitions, with the first being in January as they lifted the League Cup beating Southampton 3-2 in the final and having knocked out Pep City along the way. Come May of that season, Manchester United found themselves in a Europa League final against a young and promising Ajax team, and although they are a massive club in comparison to Ajax, it seemed like Ajax had the better team on paper. Mourinho had to field a team with the likes of Fellaini, Blight, Darmian and Valencia, which really showed the struggle Jose faced. Despite this, United breezed to a 2-0 victory, with goals from Pogba and Mkhitaryan to finish the season with three trophies. But there was one issue, the football was just not great, boring and often defensive, which meant the team received a lot of criticism, but as long as they were winning trophies, there was merit for the style of play, but this was something that would change very quickly. Entering his second season, Jose had to deliver in the league. He had won the league in the second season of every single club he had been to, so expectations were very high. Mourinho signed three players in Lukaku, Lindelof and Matic, but of these, none were his first choice signing, showing more signs of a disconnect between him and the board. Jose Mourinho calls this second season at Man Utd one of the best of his career, as he guided them to a second-place finish with 81 points. Man City won the league with 100 points, meaning there was a 19-point gap, but Jose's comments were because of the sheer disaster going on behind the scenes. They were knocked out by Sevilla in the Champions League round of 16, which gave birth to his iconic football heritage speech. This season also saw one of the worst transfers of all time happen in January, as United swapped Mkhitaryan out for Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal and handed Sanchez a 500k per week salary. If he kept up his Arsenal form of the previous year, this would have been great, but he was quite simply awful. By January of this year, the relationship between Mourinho and Pogba began to deteriorate and this started to bleed into the dressing room, and lastly, to end the season, Manchester United played the FA Cup final against Chelsea, but were beaten 1-0 thanks to an Eden Hazard penalty. But as the 18-19 season came around, Mourinho's third in Manchester, things would get so much worse. There were two recurring issues, the board and Paul Pogba, and these two things were enough to derail the entire season. Manchester United started the season poorly, and after a 3-0 defeat at home to Spurs, Mourinho entered the press conference and he demanded respect. Now from the start of this season, Pogba and Mourinho were just going back and forth publicly. Pogba began by criticizing Mourinho's tactics. Mourinho would reply saying he's a good player, but not a great player, and he would even go as far to say that Pogba is a virus who has poisoned the dressing room. But in the end, Pogba won the battle because on the 18th of December 2018, after just 7 wins in his first 17 Premier League matches, Jose Mourinho was sacked from Manchester United as he had now reached an all-time career low, but things were only One year after the Manchester United sacking, Jose Mourinho signed for Tottenham Hotspur, the one club where he would fail to win a trophy and instead of breaking football, the club would break him. But I mean, what did we expect? It's Spurs after all. Jose signed a four-year contract with Spurs but would only last 17 months there. The only real highlights this time round was the Amazon documentary which gave us an insight into how Jose operates on a day-to-day basis along with a look into the Dele Alli situation where Jose told him that he's a talented player but if he doesn't work hard, he will live to regret it, and looking back, Jose was proven right here. Mourinho also took Harry Kane to the next level as he was scoring goals and assisting for fun. There were also a few good games like the 6-1 win over Manchester United and the 2-0 victory over Arsenal which meant, for a point, Spurs sat top of the table but obviously, this wouldn't last long. On the 19th of April 2021, Jose guided this Spurs team to the League Cup final and for some reason, the club who were so starved of trophies heading into a final with a manager who won trophies in every single club he had been to decided to sack him four days before the game. To this day, this remains as one of the dumbest decisions in football history but for Jose, people started to doubt him as a manager. He hadn't left a club trophyless since 2002 but he wasn't ready to give up that easily because there was a certain city in Italy in a very similar position to Spurs but this time, Jose would become a hero so on the 4th of May 2021, Jose Mourinho announced he will be the new manager of AES Roma. At first glance, Mourinho to Roma seemed like a recipe for disaster. They were like the Italian Spurs, a massive club who hadn't won a trophy in 13 years but Roma and Spurs were different in the heart of the club as the fans had a more fiery passion to them. Jose started as he always did, eight players removed and started to plug the gaps in the team with signings like Ibanez, Patricio, Vina and Tammy Abraham. Tammy was an interesting signing as Mourinho saw him as a Drogba equivalent and in that first season, he delivered ending with 27 goals in all competitions. Come the end of the season, Roma sat in 6th place in the league but they also sat in a European final as Jose guided them to the first ever Conference League final to face off against Feyenoord. And in classic Mourinho fashion, Feyenoord dominated play but Roma took home the trophy with only one shot on goal which was the decisive goal from Nicolo Zaniolo. This trophy was a massive deal in the city of Rome. These fans had been starved from anything and now they were champions of a European competition. Jose became the first manager to win all three European trophies celebrating it with a beautiful tattoo. But come the second season, things would change. The transfer budget dried up so Jose had to get clever by only signing players on free transfers but still he did some good business bringing in Bellori, Matic, Wijnaldum and most significantly Paulo Dybala who only came because of Mourinho. This season was challenging to say the least. Inconsistent performances and injuries plagued the season but still, Jose guided this team to the Europa League final to face up against Sevilla. This was big, a manager who never lost a European final against a team that had never lost a European final. There was even more weighing on this game because it meant for Champions League qualification as Roma only finished 6th in the league. There were talks that if Jose won this final, they should erect a statue of him in the middle of the Colosseum but unfortunately, this didn't go to plan. The game finished level and headed to penalties where Sevilla got the better of Mourinho's men prompting a press conference from Jose where he told reporters that he wanted to stay but he would need better conditions. He needed more money to spend or this just wouldn't work but come the third season, nothing changed. Jose continued to have disagreements with the board and was given no money to spend in the window having to yet again rely on free transfers. This was all reflected on the pitch and following a string of negative results, Jose Mourinho was sacked on the 9th of January 2024 as Roma sat 9th in the league and the Roman dream was finished. Despite the sacking, Jose is still loved in Rome as he brought belief to a city so passionate about their football. But now, let's jump to the present day where Jose Mourinho has taken charge at Fenerbahce and he's looking to conquer another league and keep his record of winning every single trophy available to him. He's had a career of highs and lows but still he brought success to pretty much every single club he went to and it is very clear to all that he is truly a special one. But Jose isn't the only special one because the video on screen is a special one too so click it!