Sunday 27 December 2015

MOURINHO & van GAAL - BIRDS OF A FEATHER.

A couple of weeks ago, the self-appointed 'Special One' was sacked by Chelsea. Jose Mourinho, a man whose opinion of himself knows no bounds, proved pathetically unable to cope with a few defeats and re-energise a team which had been hugely successful only a few short months ago. While his team of overpaid prima donnas failed to live up to their earlier standards, Mourinho thrashed around, blaming everyone except himself - the team doctor, the referees, the media and the players. Nowhere was there the slightest indication that Mourinho, himself, may have shouldered at least some of the responsibility for his team's decline.

In the end, it was all more that Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, could take and he wielded the axe. In truth, no one should have been particularly surprised at Mourinho's failure as his managerial career has not been quite the success he has made it out to be. In 15 years, he's had 7 jobs, his longest spell in charge at any one club being little more than 3 years. Since leaving Porto in 2004, he has relied on the effective patronage of wealthy clubs - Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid - and it may well be argued that his successes have been due as much to the willingness of such clubs to bring in expensive 'superstars' as to any innate ability of Mourinho as a manger. Quite clearly, he has now shown that he is incapable of managing in a more testing environment and was quite unable to galvanise his Chelsea players.

Astonishingly, Mourinho's blatant short-comings may well be ignored by the management of another major club, Manchester United. Eighteen months ago, the 'Red Devils' appointed another arrogant and highly opinionated foreigner as their new manager. Louis van Gaal arrived at Old Trafford lauded as a great manager and just the man to restore United's fortunes. Eighteen months on, van Gaal is also on the point of exiting from his job, another expensive mistake. Whatever tactical ability he may possess, van Gaal has, just like Mourinho, proved incapable of motivating his players and now seems to have lost their confidence altogether; like Mourinho, van Gaal has entered into 'spats' with the media though he's been less willing to criticise his players than was the 'Special One'.

Now, with van Gaal's job hanging by a thread and Mourinho 'available', the talk is that the Portuguese is in the frame to take over from the Dutchman at Old Trafford. Why would any one wish to replace one failed 'man manager' with another ? In common with most modern football managers, at least in the upper echelons of the game, both Mourinho and van Gaal have moved jobs frequently, ensuring that they never became associated with persistent failure and always left successful clubs before the inevitable decline set in. Neither has been called upon to manage a club with problems for any length of time.

Neither of these arrogant men has really demonstrated any great managerial ability, other than Mourinho's success, years ago, at Porto, and van Gaal's at Ajax, in the 1990s; since these episodes, both men have lived on their reputations and the wealth of super-rich clubs. Real managers are those who build teams without vast resources and extract the maximum, and more, from 'ordinary' players. Claudio Ranieri at Leicester, Quique Sanchez Flores at Watford; Tony Pulis wherever he goes, Mark Hughes - these are fine managers. Give me any one of them ahead of any number of Mourinhos and van Gaals.