At one point in Monday’s FA Cup quarterfinal at Stamford Bridge, former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho turned to a section of the home crowd and started gesturing, holding up three fingers and then pointing to the pitch, as if to say, “I won three Premier League titles for you on this hallowed turf now show some respect”. That specific section, near the press box and thus in full earshot of the media, had kindly asked The Special On(c)e to stick it where the Sun don’t shine...
Mourinho responds to chants of "f**k off Mourinho" from the Chelsea fans with a reminder of how many titles he won at the club #mufc #CFC pic.twitter.com/wNeXoCBjKJ
— Sean Kearns (@SeanPaulKearns) March 13, 2017
And in a way, he’s quite right. He is undoubtedly the most successful manager in club history, his trophy-haul unmatched by anyone else.
Trouble is, he’s not our coach right now. And to make matters more complicated, he’s the coach at one of our biggest rivals. Chelsea and Manchester United are the two most successful Premier League teams of the past decade, the former largely thanks to Jose himself. But as he so eloquently put it when Frank Lampard went to Manchester City, he is the enemy now.
So when he makes constant jabs at the club, or when he accuses Eden Hazard of diving (which may or may not have been the catalyst for Conte having a go as well), he should not be surprised if (some) fans will consign his past accomplishments to the pages of history and deal with the present situation in and of itself.
Far be it from Mourinho to not play this situation up for his own benefit and aggrandizement of course.
“They can call me what they want. I'm a professional. I feel responsibilities on Chelsea's bad Premier League last season, but when I left we were in the Champions League, winning the Champions League group. Now they don't play in Europe. It's not my fault.”
(LOL, is he serious?)
"Until the moment they have a manager that wins four Premier Leagues, I am number one. If a manager wins four I become number two. Until then, Judas is number one."
-José Mourinho; source: AFP
Love him or hate him; this is the man we know and (used to) love.