When it comes to Jose Mourinho, there’s no grey area. You either love him or hate him: there’s no ‘in-between’. Also, you know exactly what you will get.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez knows what he will get: silverware, trophies, success. And he is now ready to get the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’.
If there is anything that Mourinho guarantees, then it is success; rather, instant success. Think of FC Porto and 2003 and 2004; think of Chelsea and 2005 and 2006; think of Inter and 2009 and 2010. Wherever the 47-year-old has gone, he has garnered success.
And success is what Real Madrid have been lacking since 2008; if you consider the Champions League, then Madrid have been unsuccessful since 2002. Between then and now, Mourinho has won the coveted trophy twice. There is hardly any doubt that in employing the former Barcelona assistant coach as their new tactician, Madrid would be taking on board arguably the best footballing brain on the planet - a brain that masterminded the fall of Barcelona in the Champions League. And indeed it was a fall, as for the first time under coach Josep Guardiola, the might Barca conceded thrice in a match.
In appointing Mourinho as the Real Madrid coach, Perez will also know that Mourinho doesn’t guarantee attractive, good, romantically poetic football that Madrid fans associate themselves with. The Merengues are hard to please – Fabio Capello terminated Madrid’s worth drought in over 50 years in 2007 but he was sacked for playing “ugly football”. Now of course, Mourinho’s football is not exactly “ugly”, but it does find its roots in defensive strength and caution and preference to blocking the opposition from scoring first and then going on the attack.
With Mourinho, Real Madrid fans can rest assured that they will have more chances of winning the Liga and the Champions League in 2010-2011 than they will with any other coach in the world, but they should also be aware that they would have to swallow the Mouth’s ego. At Chelsea, he was the king until he was forced out by the Blues owner Roman Abramovic, at Inter everyone in Italy except the Nerazzurri followers hated him. At Madrid, he will seen as God but the relationship between the club and the ‘others’ could get damaged.
Then of course, there is the small matter of how much power Mourinho will have over the running of the club. He doesn’t bother to eclipse that he wants to be the boss of whichever club he manages but that wouldn’t necessarily be possible at Real Madrid, where coaches’ authority are often undermined.
Yet Real Madrid are left with no choice. Manuel Pellegrini has failed with arguably the second most talented squad in club football and he has to leave and the best coach (available) at the moment is Jose Mourinho. Whether the Portuguese brings success or not to los Blancos will be decided in due time but he will certainly bring more drama to the Spanish Primera Liga.