Mou leaves Chelsea but his mouth stays behind

The enemies have done their worst. And they are everywhere – from the Emirates to the FA and from the newsrooms and commentary stands to the Bridge. Yes, even Stamford Bridge.

Jose Mourinho said at the beginning of the season that they were after him. Now, they’ve got him.

The British press led the pack. They baited, taunted and teased him about dressing room gossip, squabbles in the medical team and even his pet name. When he said, “I’m a special one,” the press set him up and changed just one article that made it sound like he was robbing shoulders with the Messiah: “I’m the special one,” he was misquoted as saying.

What does it matter? The special one is now the unemployed one.

After the first few games this season he said there was a campaign to bring Chelsea down, but they said it was a mere wolf cry; a grasping at straws by a man with an ego problem and a dysfunctional team. Yet, Mourinho gave the press as much as he got.

He often picked his fights and was in charge of the narrative, telling journalists on one occasion that if he wanted, he could make his silence noisy. And on occasions, he did, by either refusing to show up at post-match briefings or simply framing his own questions when he felt cornered!

Referees and match officials were probably next to British journalists on his hit list. In October after a disastrous 1 – 3 loss to Southampton, Mourinho lashed out at referees, calling them “weak and naïve,” and promising never to stop the name-calling until refs regained their mojo. His outburst earned him a fine and a stadium ban both of which he paid without remorse.

But as football imitates life, Mourinho’s most telling battles, the ones that would prove fatal, were the ones he fought at home. His decision in August to sideline Eva and Fearn – both members of the medical team – after they rushed in to treat Eden Hazard forcing Chelsea to play short two and ending that vital game against Swansea in a draw at the Bridge, appears to be the beginning of the end.

Mourinho was right to be upset, but the medical team also had a duty of care. Sidelining the medics after the Swansea game left a few influential members of the team with the impression that their coach cared more about winning than their personal safety.

“His problems started before that,” Dr. Larry Izamoje, owner of Nigeria’s biggest sports radio told me on Friday.

“It started with the way he treated Terry. The rush to replace Terry with 20-year-old Zouma, signaled that Terry who played virtually every match last season, was not going to be a regular. Terry’s loyalists and other defenders lost their zeal. It widened the crack in the dressing room,” he explained.

“Mourinho’s greatest problem was his inability to manage success. The implosion over Eva, Costa – the spillover of the end-of-season quarrel with Eden, too. Outside, the fans were seeing bright feathers, while the body – the dressing room – was in turmoil,” Izamoje said.

Yet, Mourinho lashed out at everyone and obsessed about gang ups, traitors and weaklings without paying a minute’s attention to his own demons. Maybe he did that to survive. God knows that you need more than a thick skin and a match plan to survive the shark-infested waters of the Premier league. Mourinho’s mouth was his life vest.

But how on earth did he fail to notice the early warning signs? Chelsea, the reigning champs, played seven tune-up games in pre-session. They lost three, won four (two on penalties after full time). For a team that played 38 games in the last season and lost only three, it was a no-brainer that its keeper, Petr Czech, was a key figure in keeping a solid defence; yet he sold Czech off and boasted that the club was not even going to miss him. His bête noir, Arsene Wenger, can’t thank him enough for that folly.

Mourinho saw his sack coming, his foes prayed to hasten it and lent a little hand wherever they could. But it was he, and he alone, that finally brought it on himself.

It wouldn’t change his legend as one of Chelsea’s all time greats and one of the most competitive managers ever produced by the Premier league. The next chapter in his life and in the lives of the millions around the world who have adored or despised him must begin with a lesson on how to manage success.

Mourinho leaves but his mouth lingers on at the Bridge, and beyond.

Ishiekwene is the managing director/editor-in-chief of The Interview magazine and member of board of the Paris-based Global Editors’ Network.