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José Mourinho, GOIH (pron. IPA /ʒu'zɛ mo'ɾiɲu/) (full name: José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix) (born January 26, 1963 in Setúbal), son of Portuguese goalkeeper Félix Mourinho, is football manager of Chelsea F.C.

For two consecutive years (2004 and 2005), Mourinho was named the world's best football coach by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). He is considered one of the best coaches in the Premiership and in Europe. The Portuguese coach is seen as the key to Chelsea's form that saw them lift the league title for the first time in fifty years, and make them only the second club to win back-to-back Premier League championships. To date he has won four consecutive league titles, having previously managed Porto to two Liga crowns, as well as the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup titles. Mourinho is well-known for his self-belief, and has at times been a controversial figure.

Career

Early years

Mourinho's playing career consisted of a few generally unsuccessful spells at small clubs. His clear aptitude was his impressive managing and organisational ability and from an early age he prepared match reports and dossiers for his father's teams. He also has a degree in Physical Education, specialising in sports methodology and worked as a high school coach.

After low-key backroom jobs at Estrela da Amadora and his hometown club Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s, Mourinho soon earned the nickname Tradutor (translator), when he worked with Sir Bobby Robson as his translator (technically speaking, as an interpreter) at both Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting Lisbon) and then F.C. Porto (alias FCP).

He then followed Robson to FC Barcelona in 1996 where he learned Catalan. When Robson left for PSV, he stayed at the Catalonia side and worked with Robson's replacement, Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. Mourinho's undoubted confidence and personality helped him get beyond his original role, as he began to participate actively in coaching sessions and management meetings. Eventually, Mourinho coached FC Barcelona B.

Sport Lisboa e Benfica and União de Leiria

In 2000 his chance of becoming a manager finally arrived when he was picked by Lisbon side Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Benfica) to replace Jupp Heynckes after the fourth week of the Portuguese Liga. Mourinho picked Carlos Mozer, a retired but still highly respected Benfica defender, to be his assistant.

However, while the duo was popular, especially after a 3-0 win against fierce rivals Sporting, Benfica's election turned against club president João Vale e Azevedo, and the newly-elected Manuel Vilarinho already had another coach waiting on the wings, Toni - a legend for Benfica's fans. Although Vilarinho had no intention of firing him, Mourinho decided to ask for an extension to his contract in the middle of the season. When the president refused, Mourinho quit Benfica (after just nine games in charge). Vilarinho later said in an interview that if Mourinho had won the championship, he would have extended his contract.

The next season, 2001-02, Mourinho worked for unfashionable mid-tablers União de Leiria, where the club climbed as high as the fourth place.

F.C. Porto

He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by FCP to replace Octávio Machado as the manager of the badly-motivated and unhappy team, which was already out of contention for the league title and was on the verge of not qualifying for any European competition. Mourinho arrived with the promise of "making FCP champions next year" and guided the team to third place after a decent 15 game run (WDL 11-2-2).

He quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect FCP team: Baía, Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, Dmitri Alenichev and Postiga. He recalled captain Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to Charlton Athletic (after a dispute with Machado). The signings from other clubs included Nuno Valente and Derlei from Leiria, Paulo Ferreira from Vitória Setúbal, Pedro Emanuel from Boavista FC, and Edgaras Jankauskas and Maniche who had been out of contract at Benfica, the latter after a season in the reserve.

During the pre-season, Mourinho put on the club website detailed reports on the team training. The reports were filled with formal vocabulary, as, for instance, he referred to a 20km jog as an extended aerobic exercise. While they attracted scorn for the pretentiousness, others praised the innovation and the scientific approach to the old-fashioned training methods practiced in Portugal. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era FCP was the pressurising play, which started at the offensive line, dubbed "high pressure" (pt: pressão alta). The physical and combative abilities of defenders and midfielders such as Derlei, Maniche and Deco allowed FCP to apply pressure from the offensive lines and forced the opponents either to concede the ball or try longer passes.

In 2003, Mourinho won his first Super Liga with a 27-5-2 WDL record, 11 points clear of Benfica, the team which he had quit two years earlier. The total of 86 points out of the possible maximum of 102 was a Portuguese record since the rule of three points per win was introduced. The previous record was 85 points that was also held by FCP for their 1996/97 season. Mourinho also won the Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the UEFA Cup final against Celtic in Seville, both in May 2003.

The following season witnessed further successes, as while perhaps not playing as impressively, FCP scooped their 20th Super Liga title. The club pulled off a perfect home record, an eight-points advantage, and an unbeaten run that only ended against Gil Vicente FC. They secured the title five weeks before the end of the season, while heavily involved in the Champions League at the same time. FCP lost the Portuguese Cup final to Benfica in May 2004, but two weeks later Mourinho won the ultimate prize: the Champions League, with an emphatic 3-0 win over Monaco in the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The club had eliminated Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais and Deportivo de La Coruña and saw only one defeat against Real Madrid in the group round.

Porto to Chelsea

Whilst still at FCP, Mourinho was linked with several top European clubs, including Liverpool and Chelsea. Many people, especially in Portugal, questioned the legality of alleged contract discussions with several clubs, but no wrongdoing was officially proved, and no charges were brought. Mourinho finally moved to Chelsea in June 2004.

In the press conference on joining the English side, Mourinho claimed to be "a special one", a prime example of his unreserved self-belief. He became one of the highest paid managers in football, as the salary for Chelsea was reported to be in the €300,000 range and was subsequently raised to an undisclosed amount.

Chelsea

Mourinho went straight to work, recruiting his backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout Andre Villas and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro. He retained the services of Steve Clarke, a long-serving former player at Chelsea and who had also performed an assistant managerial-type job under previous managers at the club. In terms of spending, Mourinho carried on where his predecessor Claudio Ranieri left off, and spent almost £70m on stars such as Tiago Mendes, Didier Drogba and Porto pair Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira.

Under Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season. The two solid English players summed up the strength of the squad: defender John Terry, and midfielder Frank Lampard. By early December, they were at the top of the Premiership table and reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League. On 27 February 2005, Mourinho led Chelsea to the League Cup trophy in Cardiff, Wales, dramatically beating Liverpool 3-2 after an extra time. Towards the end of the match, Mourinho was escorted from the touchline for allegedly inciting Liverpool fans following Chelsea's equaliser. On 30 April 2005, Chelsea secured the club's first top-flight domestic title in 50 years with a 2-0 victory against Bolton (he had earlier predicted that his team would win the title at Bolton). However, he failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League success when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition, by a controversial goal, three days later in the semi-finals by eventual winners Liverpool.

On 31 March 2005 Mourinho was handed a two-matches suspension and a fine by UEFA for bringing the game into disrepute after he had criticised referee Anders Frisk following a Champions League tie against FC Barcelona. He argued that a member of his staff saw Frisk talking with Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard at half-time in breach of the rules and that the apparent bias of the referee prompted him to send Drogba off when Chelsea was leading 1-0.Frisk subsequently retired when he allegedly came under threats to his life after the match. As it was later revealed, Rijkaard had tried to converse with Frisk at half-time - the referee's own match report mentioned the incident - but that Frisk sent him away. The episode led the UEFA referee's chief, Volker Roth, to describe the manager as an "enemy of football," although UEFA distanced themselves from the comment.

On 2 June 2005, he was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with Arsenal full-back Ashley Cole in January 2005 in breach of the Premier League rules. In August 2005 his fine was reduced to £75,000 after a hearing. In late 2005, Mourinho labelled Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger a 'voyeur' after being irked at what he saw as the latter's apparent obsession with Chelsea. The episode eventually died down and the two have since made peace.

On April 29, after topping the table for nearly all season, Chelsea beat rivals Manchester United 3-0 to win their second consecutive Premiership title and Mourinho's fourth domestic title in a row. After the presentation of his championship medal, Mourinho went to the Matthew Harding end of Stamford Bridge and threw his medal and blazer into the crowd. He was awarded a second medal within minutes and he threw that into the crowd, too. He stated that because the medal was exactly the same as the one he had received an year earlier, he did not need another and wanted to reward the crowd for their support. Predictably, the items were promptly listed on eBay The first medal, there were at least 3 attempted auctions in the following days, was listed by a seller in Cheshire within hours of being thrown it reached £10 million (a bid ceiling on eBay) before the auction was ended - it is understood that the auction was never completed and that none of these listings were genuine. On the following days two Chelsea fans (Sebastian Kayll and Dean Juckes) were featured in several UK papers proudly showing the medals (neither was from Cheshire) and both claimed they would not be selling them.

After a league match with Everton on December 17th, 2006, Chelsea boss Mourinho branded Johnson "untrustworthy" following a challenge with Chelsea keeper Hilário. Everton issued a statement threatening legal action and calling on Mourinho to apologise, which he has since done.

Honours

• With F.C. Porto:
  • Portuguese Championships (2): 2002/03; 2003/04
  • SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira: 2003
  • Cup of Portugal: 2002/03
  • UEFA Cup: 2002/03
  • UEFA Champions League: 2003/04
• With Chelsea FC:
  • FA Premier League (2): 2004/05; 2005/06
  • Football League Cup: 2004/05
  • FA Community Shield: 2005

Portuguese national team

Mourinho has publicly stated that he wishes to run the Portuguese national team at some point in his career. At the match that gave him his second title with Chelsea, Mourinho wore a Portugal scarf and at the press conference said: "It means I am Portuguese. I wouldn't put on the scarf of another country. I can smell, feel in my country, there are still a few rats waiting to celebrate my mistakes. But when I think of the other 10.5 million Portuguese working all over the world I know what I mean to them. I know they are proud of what I am doing."

Personal life

In 1989, he married Matilde (Tami), whom he had known since childhood. They have two children: Matilde (Tita), 9 years old and José Jr (Zuca), 6 years old.

Widely known for his strong personality, Mourinho features in advertisement campaigns in Europe for Samsung, American Express, and other corporations. In Portugal, where his official biography was a best-seller, he's a national celebrity, endorsing numerous products and campaigns.

José Mourinho has also been a part of social initiatives in many parts of the world, such as youth projects for Israeli and Palestinian children and children in his native country.

Quotations

• "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one."
• "We have top players and, sorry if I'm arrogant, we have a top manager."
• "If I wanted to have an easy job...I would have stayed at Porto - beautiful blue chair, the Uefa Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me."
• "As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal." - after a 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur
• "If he helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt." - on Chelsea F.C. owner Roman Abramovich
• "I saw their players and manager go for a lap of honour after losing to us in their last home game. In Portugal if you do this, they throw bottles at you." - on Manchester United
• "Pressure? What pressure? Pressure is poor people in the world trying to feed their families. There is no pressure in football" - Speaking in a post-match interview
• "Everybody wants Chelsea to lose a game. When they do they should declare a public holiday." - Speaking in a press conference about Chelsea's leading Premiership start in the 2005/06 season
• " We are on top at the moment but not because of the club's financial power. We are in contention for a lot of trophies because of my hard work."
• " You have to wonder why they did that penalty. Because they have so many penalties in the season, that's why. They have to do something special and different. - on Arsenal's penalty mix-up in October 2005
• "I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea." - on Arsène Wenger
• "I am more scared of bird flu than football. What is football compared with life? I have to buy some masks and stuff - maybe for my team as well." - Speaking soon after H5N1 spread to Britain, and when Chelsea's league lead over Manchester United had slipped to 7 points.
• "Its not the premiership, its not the FA cup, its not the champions league but its still a cup and we must respect it" - Speaking about the Carling Cup.Full article.
• "Pavel Nedvěd, Paul Scholes, Luís Figo have all retired from international football. With the Czechs, England and Portugal it is ok, but France? They don't have liberty. It is unbelievable. Makélélé is not a footballer, he is a slave. He has no human rights, no right to choice or liberty, so he is a slave. But the rules are there, so what can we do?" - Criticizing France coach Raymond Domenech for calling up Claude Makélélé for Euro 2008 qualifiers, after Makélélé announced his retirement from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, rules by FIFA state that players who refuse a selection on their national team could be suspended from their professional clubs. The use of "slave" in Mourinho's press release was criticized by Domenech and France captain Patrick Vieira.

• "Look, we're not entertaining? I don't care; we win." - on Chelsea's performance at the start of the 2006/2007 season

See also

• José and his Amazing Technicolor Overcoat
• I Sign a Little Player or Two

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Chelsea		June 2 2004	Present	140	98	18	24	70

Notes

1. Mourinho sets title-winning date URL accessed 28 July 2006.
2. Mourinho accuses Barca's Rijkaard URL accessed 28 July 2006
3. Uefa: Rijkaard did approach Frisk URL accessed 28 July 2006.
4. Mourinho accused as Frisk quits URL accessed 28 July 2006.
5. Uefa Steer Clear of Roth RemarksURL accessed 28 July 2006.
6. Mourinho regrets 'voyeur' comment URL accessed 28 July 2006.
7. MaisFutebol.iol.pt - Medalha de campeão de Mourinho já está em leilão na internet (Mourinho's champion medal is already on auction on the Internet) April 30 2006.
8. http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1765003,00.html
9. http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2006200094,00.html
10. "Everton want Mourinho retraction". BBC Sport. 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2006-12-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "Mourinho makes apology to Johnson". BBC. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2006-12-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Mourinho gives peace a chance URL accessed 28 July 2006.

External links

• José Mourinho management career statistics at Soccerbase
• José Mourinho

• NPOV disputes
• 1963 births
• Living people
• Portuguese football managers
• FA Premier League managers
• FC Porto managers
• Chelsea F.C. managers
• Roman Catholics