Meet Jose Mourinho, one of ‘the great deadpan comedians’

It's difficult to know where to begin with Mick Brown's excellent phenomenal phenomenally excellent interview with Jose Mourinho in the Telegraph. For starters, you should read it. It's chock full of good information and perhaps the best I've seen on exploring the manager's personality. But, in the spirit of all bloggers everywhere, I have to choose my favourite part to share with the world. Here it is:

It strikes me, I say, that he is greatly misunderstood; that he is actually one of the great deadpan comedians.

Mourinho looks at me, and says nothing. Then, ever so slowly, his face creases into an enormous smile.

This, I think, gets to the heart of Mourinho's public face. Sure, he can be nasty and combative, and it's true that neutrals consider him over the top in his complaints about coverage and attacks on his peers. But he's almost always amusing, and that makes up for a lot.

But perhaps the comedian tag can be taken too far, because Mourinho's certainly not just doing it to amuse. I think that 'troll' might be a more accurate description -- much like Diego Costa's tussling, everything is done in order to create an emotional response in his opposition. And that makes them stupider and easier to manipulate.