It has been a week since Jose Mourinho was sacked as the manager by Chelsea amidst widespread debate, discontent and perhaps a tinge of inevitability. And in this time, there have been countless wars in social media comment sections, in various studios and even in the living rooms on the ethical and sporting reasons behind the English champions’ decision of letting go of their most successful manager.
On one hand, the club has chosen to back the players, as they have done many a time in the past, ahead of the manager who comes with a reputation and a trophy cabinet full of silverware from across Europe.
On the other hand is the truth, plain as day, that the players, the same bunch who went on to win the title just a few months ago, had lost all motivation to play for their manager.
While many may have sympathy for the gaffer, it is perhaps hard to find defence to a man who openly covets controversy and has time and again taken shots at the players, belittling their success — even once going as far as stating that he had got them to a level above their potential in the last season.
Now, challenging players to do better is something that many managers have done in the past, either veiled or direct. But seldom has a manager done so in a more ‘holier than thou’ fashion like the Portuguese.
Having players run the team is never a good sign — a fact Sir Alex Ferguson would attest to having removed the trouble makers, no matter how big a star, time and again — but when the manager is Mourinho, who seeks unnecessary quarrel with fellow managers and officials and courts controversy, it is hard to hold him to the same standards as others.
Chelsea knew what they were getting into when they brought him back. Never has the man stayed at a club for long periods of time and never has his tendency to push boundaries been hidden.
