José Mourinho

In the eve of El Classico 2010, let"s know more about the greatest football manager in the soccer world.

The son of Portuguese goalkeeper José Félix Mourinho, Mourinho started out as a player but he was dissatisfied with his lack of skill and switched to management. After spells working as an assistant manager and a youth team coach in the early 1990s, he became an interpreter for Sir Bobby Robson. There, Mourinho learnt much from the veteran coach and worked with him at Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto in Portugal, before following him to Spanish club FC Barcelona.

He began focusing on coaching and impressed with brief but successful managerial periods at Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Uni?o de Leiria. He returned to FC Porto in 2002, this time as head coach, and soon became a force to be reckoned with, winning the Portuguese Liga, Cup of Portugal, and UEFA Cup in 2003. Greater success followed in 2004 as Mourinho guided the team to the top of the league for a second time and won the highest honour in European club football, the UEFA Champions League.

Mourinho moved to Chelsea the following year and won two consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, among other domestic honours. He often courted controversy for his outspokenness, but his victories at Chelsea and Porto established him as one of the world"s top football managers, well regarded by both his peers and the press. Additionally, he was named the world"s best football manager by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) for both the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons.

After a fall-out with the Chelsea hierarchy, he moved to Italy"s Serie A, signing a three-year contract with Internazionale in mid-2008. Within three months, he had won his first Italian honour, the Supercoppa Italiana, and completed his first season in Italy by winning the Serie A league title. He then followed that up the following year by winning the first treble in Italian history, the Serie A league title, Coppa Italia, and the UEFA Champions League, thus becoming the third manager in football history to win two UEFA Champions League with two different teams, after Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld.

Mourinho is regarded by some as the best manager in world football today. In 2010, before their semi-final second-leg clash, Guardiola of Barcelona said: "In terms of the world"s best managers, when you compare José [Mourinho] to Sir Alex [Ferguson], Arsène [Wenger] and Fabio [Capello], he is still very young. But even at his age there is a very strong case for him being the best manager in the world. That"s the truth."

On 28 May 2010, his appointment as head coach at Real Madrid was confirmed.

Early life and career

Formative years and education

José M?rio dos Santos Félix Mourinho was born in 1963 to a large middle-class family in Set?bal, Portugal, the son of Félix Mourinho and wife Maria J?lia Carrajola dos Santos. His father played football professionally for Os Belenenses and Vit?ria de Set?bal, earning one cap for Portugal in the course of his career. His mother was a primary school teacher from an affluent background; her uncle funded the construction of the Vit?ria de Set?bal football stadium. The fall of Ant?nio de Oliveira Salazar"s Estado Novo regime in April 1974, however, led to the family losing all but a property in nearby Palmela.

Mourinho was a popular and competitive child and his mother encouraged him to be successful in his endeavors.[6] Football was a major part of his life and his father recalled being very impressed with his knowledge of the game. Footballing commitments in Porto and Lisbon meant that Félix was often separated from his son. Still, the young Mourinho managed to spend time with him and as a teenager he would travel by any means necessary to attend weekend matches. By this time, his father had changed from player to coach and in turn the José Mourinho became a student of the game, observing training sessions and scouting opposing teams.

Mourinho wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father by becoming a footballer and he joined the Belenenses youth team. Graduating to the senior level, he played at Rio Ave (where his father was coach), Belenenses, and Sesimbra, but it became evident that he would not excel as a professional due to a lack of the requisite pace and power. Acceding to his shortcomings, he chose to pursue the dream of becoming a professional football coach instead. His mother had different ideas altogether and enrolled him in a business school. Mourinho attended the school but dropped out on his first day, deciding he would rather focus on sport, and chose to attend the Instituto Superior de Educaç?o F?sica (ISEF), Technical University of Lisbon, to study sports science. He taught physical education at various schools and after five years, he had earned his diploma, receiving consistently good marks throughout the course. After attending coaching courses held by the English and Scottish Football Associations, former Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh took note of the young Portuguese"s drive and attention to detail. Mourinho sought to redefine the role of coach in football by mixing coaching theory with motivational and psychological techniques.

Entering management

After leaving his job as a school coach, Mourinho looked for paths into professional management in his hometown and became youth team coach at Vit?ria de Set?bal in the early 1990s. Working his way up the ladder, he accepted the position of assistant manager at Estrela da Amadora, with the manager being Jesualdo Ferreira. Mourinho yearned for greater challenges and in 1992 an opportunity arose to work as a translator for a top foreign coach. Sir Bobby Robson had been appointed as the new manager of Lisbon club Sporting Clube de Portugal and the Englishman required a local coach with a good command of English to work as his interpreter.

Initially, the move was a step away from management but as an interpreter, Mourinho earned Robson"s respect and friendship. He welcomed Mourinho"s translations and the two became close through discussing tactics and coaching. Robson was sacked by Sporting in December 1993, but Portuguese rivals FC Porto appointed him as their head coach and Mourinho continued to coach and interpret for players at the new post. After two years at Porto, the duo moved again, switching to FC Barcelona in 1996. Their last match as coach and assistant in FC Porto was a 5–0 win against Benfica in Estadio da Luz for the Portuguese Super Cup, a match that is still remembered by most fans in Portugal.[citation needed] In Barcelona, Mourinho continued to show his linguistic dexterity and drive, learning Catalan for the new challenge. Mourinho and his family moved to Barcelona and he gradually became a prominent figure of Barcelona"s staff by translating at press conferences, planning practice sessions, and helping players through tactical advice and analyses of the opposition. Robson and Mourinho"s styles complemented each other: the Englishman favoured an attacking style, while Mourinho covered defensive options, and the Portuguese"s love of planning and training combined with Robson"s direct man-management. The partnership was fruitful and Barcelona finished the season with the European Cup Winners" Cup. Robson moved club the following season but this time Mourinho did not follow as Barcelona were keen to retain him as assistant manager. Despite the move, the two remained good friends and Mourinho later reflected on the effect Robson had had upon him:

One of the most important things I learnt from Bobby Robson is that when you win, you shouldn"t assume you are the team, and when you lose, you shouldn’t think you are rubbish.

He began working with Robson"s successor, Louis van Gaal, and he learnt much from the Dutchman"s conscientious style. Both assistant and head coach combined their studious approach to the game and Barcelona won La Liga twice in van Gaal"s first two years as coach. Van Gaal saw that his number two had the promise to be more than a skilled assistant. He let Mourinho develop his own independent coaching style and entrusted him with the coaching duties of FC Barcelona B. Van Gaal also let Mourinho take charge of the first team (acting as Mourinho"s assistant himself) for certain trophies, like the Copa Catalunya, which Mourinho won in 2000.

Unbeaten home record

As of 20 November 2010, Mourinho is on a run of 142 home league matches unbeaten: 38 (W36–D2) with Porto, 60 (W46–D14) with Chelsea, 38 (W29–D9) with Internazionale and 6 (W6-D0) with Real Madrid.

His last and only home league defeat came when Porto were defeated 3–2 by Beira-Mar on 23 February 2002.

Personal life

Mourinho met his wife Matilde "Tami" Faria, born in Angola, when they were teenagers in Set?bal, Portugal, and the couple married in 1989. Their first child, daughter Matilde, was born in 1996 and they had their first son, José M?rio, Jr., four years later. Mourinho, whilst dedicated to football, describes his family as the centre of his life and has noted that the "most important thing is my family and being a good father."He was selected as the New Statesman Man of the Year 2005 and was described as a man devoted to both his family and his work. Mourinho has also been a part of social initiatives and charity work, helping with a youth project, bringing Israeli and Palestinian children together through football and donating his "lucky" jacket to Tsunami Relief, earning £22,000 for the charity.José Mourinho is a Catholic.

Widely known for his strong personality, refined dress sense,and quirky comments at press conferences,Mourinho has experienced fame outside of football circles, featuring in European advertisement campaigns for Samsung, American Express and adidas, amongst others. An unofficial biography of Mourinho, titled O Vencedor – De Set?bal a Stamford Bridge (The Winner – from Setubal to Stamford Bridge), was a best seller in Portugal. However, Mourinho did not authorise the biography and attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent the book from being published.

Mourinho was part of an unusual event in May 2007 when he was arrested for preventing animal welfare officials from putting his dog in to quarantine. The dog had not been sufficiently inoculated but the situation was resolved after it was returned to Portugal and Mourinho received a police caution.

In 23 March 2009, José Mourinho was awarded a doctorate honoris causa degree by the Technical University of Lisbon for his accomplishments in football.

Mourinho speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and English fluently. He also speaks Catalan. In October 2010, Mourinho was ranked No.9 on the list of Most Influential Men published by AskMen.com.

Photo 3: With his children

Photo 4: With his wife "Matilde"

Source: wikipedia.org

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