‘Humble’ Mourinho ready to kick with Spurs

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This article was published 22/11/2019 (2460 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Since anointing himself the “Special One” upon his Premier League arrival in 2004, when he was a charming, albeit cocky, 41-year-old fresh off an unlikely Champions League triumph with Porto, José Mourinho returned to the English top flight as a “happy,” accomplished man of 50 and descended into dark, angry professional and personal depths after turning 53.

Now, at 56, he is “humble.” He is introspective. He is affable.

The media who turned up in their droves to his introductory press conference as Tottenham Hotspur manager are his “friends.”

It is the latest rebranding of a figure with whom the football world has been obsessed for more than 15 years.

But it is also more than that. A lot more.

This is nothing less than a comprehensive exercise in career resuscitation, a bold attempt to overhaul a reputation that took a battering at Manchester United and that was already severely damaged after his second Chelsea exit and his disgraceful treatment of former Blues trainer Eva Carneiro. (You can draw a line through that shameful episode and notice totally different Mourinhos on either side of it. Make of that what you will.)

According to ESPN, he sought out the Spurs job as far back as late October. He approached club chairman Daniel Levy, and not the other way around. This would be the ideal setting for his re-launch, he decided — a squad of players he already liked, a brand-new stadium for his fresh approach and a home in London to return to after a long day’s work.

He turned up for his first day at 6:30 a.m.

At first glance, the pairing of Mourinho and Tottenham does seem odd. But a longer look reveals the sense of it all, from both manager and organization.

Mourinho will have desperately wanted his next job to be in London. Living in a Manchester hotel while coaching United had only added misery to the frustration of working for a completely dysfunctional employer. But in the capital, where he lives with his family, there were only two options: Arsenal and the Spurs.

Given the questions surrounding the Gunners’ squad, never mind that the captain is currently frozen out of the side, and the club’s own front-office chaos, the Spurs were always the preference. And with Arsenal manager Unai Emery under considerable pressure, Mourinho’s early approach to Levy perhaps indicates that he sought to speed up the process of Mauricio Pochettino’s departure before a less desirable opportunity at Emirates Stadium became available.

At Tottenham, he has a ready-made squad he clearly likes, what with the fact that he tried to sign several of its players while in previous jobs. And his predecessor’s rigorous training regimen means it is more than match-fit — something he found sorely lacking after taking over at Old Trafford.

“I don’t need players,” he said on Thursday. “I am so happy with the players I have. I just need time to understand them better and get to know them.”

To that end, he reportedly texted Harry Kane to tell him he thought the England skipper was the best centre-forward in England.

But now he has to deliver on the pitch, where the Spurs, despite making the Champions League final last term, have been playing relegation-level football since February.

Accompanying Mourinho in this endeavour is a staff that includes Joao Sacramento, a 30-year-old tactical prodigy who, until Wednesday, was assistant manager of Ligue 1 football-factory Lille. Another Portuguese, Nuno Santos, has also left Lille to serve as Tottenham’s goalkeeping coach. And then there is Carlos Lalin, with whom Mourinho was involved in a bust-up at United’s Carrington training facility. But the two also worked together at Chelsea, where Lalin, the fitness coach, was credited with keeping the notoriously unfit Diego Costa in something resembling playing shape. It’s Sacramento’s appointment, however, that really underlines what Mourinho insists is a commitment to evolve into a modern manager and do things differently this time around.

“I always thought these 11 months (since being sacked by United) were not a waste of time,” he commented at his press conference. “These 11 months were months to think, to analyze, take care and think about things.”

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It may be the humblest thing he’s ever said. Then again, “humility” is the buzzword for this latest recasting of José Mourinho. At least, as far as the branding is concerned.

What Levy, the Spurs players and the club’s fans will hope is that behind this new facade remains the brutal, single-minded traits of an ice-cold killer who will prevail at all costs. It may even cost the kind of attractive football espoused by Pochettino and that has long been the club’s hallmark. But the time for esthetics is past. It’s time to win.

Will Mourinho be humble in victory? Tottenham Hotspur can’t wait to find out.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter @JerradPeters