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Be quiet Jose, gain some perspective and come visit the A-League

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29th August, 2018
8

Watching Jose Mourinho march out of his post-game media conference on Tuesday made me giggle.

Tottenham Hotspur had just completed a 3-0 whitewash of his Manchester United team that sent social and football media into a spin.

Many have labelled the club as being in crisis with some even calling for the dismissal of perhaps the most famed and enigmatic manager in world football.

Mourinho held up three fingers in the direction of a journalist who had alluded to some rather obvious elephants in the room. United sit 13th in the very early stages of the season and in itself, that shouldn’t be a problem.

In a purely mathematical world and considering his squad of stars, a couple of settling wins could have them back on track very quickly, however the team looks to be in something of a rut.

There is a growing belief that Mourinho’s generally reactive and conservative approach to the game is putting him well behind the modern football curve.

Throw in his increasingly erratic behaviour and commentary that has always been hard to follow, along with the rumoured tensions between the manager and some key officials at the Red Devils and the future looks grim.

Jose Mourinho storms out of a press conference after demanding respect

Jose Mourinho storms out of a press conference, demanding respect

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Mourinho stormed from the presser citing respect; specifically, the respect he deserved for winning more titles than all of the other Premier League managers put together.

Without any personal disrespect intended, I almost wet my pants. We all look at the world through a different lens and the uniqueness of the individual is something to be celebrated.

However, Mourinho appears to be looking through a lens about as functional and reliable as the glasses worn by Piggy in Lord of the Flies.

He has lost the plot.

The greatest tool in overcoming distasteful hubris, is a clear dose of perspective. Or, as an Anglican Minister preached at an awards ceremony I attended some years back; what you see depends on where you stand.

Of course it is all a little bit Mr Keating from Dead Poet’s Society but the point, I think, is fair.

Mourinho has thrown the rattle, teething ring and blankie from the cot and mum and dad aren’t patting him back to sleep. The Portugese earns a reported £15 million per season to mentor one of the biggest and most expensive teams in world football.

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He has been given somewhere around £400 million to build and mould the current crop of players and has lived in a bubble of adoration for much of his managerial career.

Appointments in Portugal, Spain, England and Italy saw everything he touched turn to gold, until now.

To most of us here in the contrastingly humble A-League world, Mourinho comes across as an elitist sook.

The ten A-league teams work off a frustrating salary cap of around three million Australian dollars whilst Mourinho manages a team worth somewhere near A$1.3 billion. That is actually kind of funny.

Jose Mourinho manager of Manchester United

Jose Mourinho (Supplied)

His big summer signing, Fred, arrived after a £52 million transfer arrangement with Shakhtar Donetesk; a figure that almost buys the entire A-League playing stocks twice over.

While Australian football struggles to grow attendance figures and attract world class talent as often as it would like, Mourinho finds it difficult to answer a tough question about a team whose value is in excess of the GDP of many nations.

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If Mourinho thinks he has reason to go home and slam a few doors in frustration, perhaps he should take a look at football through an Australian lens.

The never ending domestic challenges in Australia are far more significant than those faced by a team of millionaires that has managed only three points from its first three matches.

As I wrote on Tuesday, the Australian domestic competition grapples with the question of the Wellington Phoenix; both its value and long term place in the competition.

Moreover, the new expansion teams, whoever they may be, will have significant battles early in their existence.

The development of a fully professional second tier where the elite NPL clubs from around the country have graduation rights to the A-League presents further structural and governance challenges. As valuable as it will be in the long term, there will be no saloon passage and casualties along the way are inevitable rather than undesirable.

The Premier League is an industry around which clear turnover and profit statistics are difficult to gauge. Perhaps the best measuring stick is the £2.42 billion that was shared between the clubs in the off-season.

Sadly, that money appears to be feeding the egotistical nonsense of the world’s most controversial football manager.

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Plagued with self-interest and narcissism, he reminds me of a Liberal Party leadership candidate; so distanced from reality and the ultimate altruistic purpose that should occupy his thinking.

He can take his three titles and shove ‘em. I’ll remain more concerned about A-League membership numbers, crowd figures and the quality of play on the pitch, than whether or not Jose Mourinho will one day grow up.

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