Thursday 29 April 2010

Results that matter but why was he hated?

My favourite football coach was Brian Clough.
He managed to transform a 2nd division side, Nottingham Forrest into a
European Champion using old footballers, and yet the British public
don't like him or that is what the journalists will like to convey.

Brian Clough was never offered the coaching for England or even
Scotland. If he had coached England, I'm sure, England will be a World
Cup holder. Even Scotland will become World Champion.
There is something about Brian Clough that make me doubt that he will
want the job in the first place. Despite him being competitive, he
loves peace of mind more than anything else. His competitiveness made
him unpopular with the public, but this is the price you pay if you
want success. The ultimate judgement is for the players to decide. If
the players like him, despite his harsh treatment, that will make him
a good and nice person indeed.

Mourinho has the same intelligence and driving sprit as Brian Clough
but has even the strength to withstand all the mental pressures. We
have yet to see his greatness. He also suffer the same fate as Brian
Clough. The press don't like him. I was worried when he was out of
football for a long time. He should be able to uplift any team into
greatness but I would like him to see him lead a rich team to even
greater achievements and beautiful, intelligent and efficient game.
Imagine Mourinho leading Real Madrid. I wonder if he lasts a season in
Real Madrid.

Detractors will argue that Mourinho wins by losing forgetting that he
won 3-1 against Barcelona in Milan. Mourinho may not even last a
season in Real Madrid that fire coaches every month. Mourinho lost in
European Championship last year to MU. Every coach need time to
adjust.

Even sport journalists know the potentials of people like Mourinho but
somehow they don't like him to succeed. They prefer someone who is
more diplomatic and a liar. That is what I call those people who are
charming and saying nice words all the time. They care more for their
ego than results. In fact that is what most people want to do anyway.
They want themselves to succeed, not others, and they call this team
spirit.

And yet team spirit is about sacrifice. It is not about our egos. We
should be able to work together with people with different views and
styles because that is why they are more successful than ourselves in
their fields. It is not about sacrificing talent in order to fit into
a team in the name of discipline. Discipline that does not contribute
to result is a misplaced discipline.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article7111127.ece

From Times Online
April 29, 2010
Jose Mourinho enjoys finest hour after conquering Nou Camp
Matt Dickinson, Chief Sports Correspondent, Barcelona
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José Mourinho reached the Champions League final with Inter Milan last
night after a 1-0 loss away to Barcelona that he described as "the
most beautiful defeat of my life".

It was an achievement, he said, that even surpassed winning the trophy
with Porto in 2004, but, inevitably, it was also an occasion that
involved the Inter coach becoming embroiled in yet more controversy.
At the final whistle, Mourinho celebrated the 3-2 aggregate victory by
sprinting across the pitch, where he was confronted by Víctor Valdés,
the Barcelona goalkeeper, who thought the Inter coach was taunting the
Nou Camp fans. The pair grappled.

"I was celebrating with my fans; it is my right to do that," Mourinho
said. As for the loathing of the Barcelona supporters, he shrugged it
off. "If I came here and lose all the time, they love me," he said. "I
always say that the team that wins all the time, it is very difficult
for them to lose. I was a bad loser when I came here and lost 2-0 in
the group stage."

Mourinho's achievement in steering Inter to their first European Cup
final since 1972 is all the sweeter for knocking out two former clubs:
Chelsea in the round of 16 and Barcelona, the holders and the side
most people considered almost unbeatable.

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Inter will be favourites to beat Bayern Munich in the final at the
Bernabéu, Madrid, on May 22, when Mourinho could become only the third
coach, after Ottmar Hitzfeld and Ernst Happel, to win the European Cup
with two different clubs.

His stock as a manager who guarantees success could scarcely be
higher. As for complaints that his teams are overly defensive, never
more so than at the Nou Camp last night, when they clung doggedly to a
3-1 first-leg advantage, he proudly stated that Inter were "a team of
blood not skill". They had no choice than to defend in numbers, he
said, having lost Thiago Motta to a controversial dismissal in the
28th minute.

"We played to win at home," Mourinho said. "Tonight we played as we
could. It was the same style we played against Chelsea. And the style
against CSKA Moscow, when we could win 5-0 or 6-0. And the style
against Barcelona in the first leg when we could have won 5-3.

"Barça controlled it early on and logically with ten men we had to
defend, but we controlled it with our spirit and organisation. We made
huge sacrifices.

"They had the ball more, but it is Barça that take the ball from you
and don't give it back.

"This match was difficult with 11 players. With ten against 11 it was
historic. It is an incredible joy. I have already won a Champions
League, but today was even better."

Mourinho said that he had been bombarded with text messages straight
after the game, including from former colleagues at Chelsea. "I have
so many messages from them," he said. "I know how they felt when they
lost. And friends are friends."

But it is he who, to the envy of Roman Abramovich and Co at Stamford
Bridge, stands on the brink of claiming the trophy. A treble also
looms, with Inter in the final of the Coppa Italia and chasing the
Serie A title. And Mourinho says that he is far from finished.

"I am 47 so I have 23 years to coach," he said. "If Lord helps me and
gives me health, I'll coach for 23 more years and I'll lose, I'll win,
I'll cry, I'll jump. I have so many years in front of me."

Could it involve working at Barcelona, he was asked. "It is possible
that my career ends in another place," he replied. "It is a thin line
between the love and hate that fans have for you."

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