You’ve got to be someone pretty special to work in the highest echelons of professional football in Europe, a most arrogant and self-aggrandising industry, and still be singled out for narcissism. As any media across Europe, maybe even the world, will attest though, José Mourinho snugly fits that bill.
Mourinho treads fine lines wherever he goes: between football employee and outright celebrity; between master protector of his players and master self-promoter; and perhaps most crucially, between healthy and destructive narcissism. But it can be 
the crossing of fine lines by even the finest of margins that can have the most far-reaching consequences. The sudden change of perception following the inevitably bitter climax to the Clásico series means his peers now see him as the most calculating of narcissists—deliberately antagonising for the sake of it, rather than pathologically self-believing—and it has dealt him a severe blow. The ‘uncontrollable narcissist’ is not an attractive moniker.
Defeat in the Champions League must have been especially chastening given the seeming validation of Madrid’s plan in the Copa del Rey—11 players for the majority, a stunning goal on the counter, the first trophy of the Spanish season. But as Real’s involvement subsided, Mourinho’s very public narcissism intensified and cracks appeared amid a swirl of conspiracy theories.
Mourinho’s challenge in European football, his arena lest anyone forget, was to topple this lauded Barcelona side. And he did not achieve it. Narcissism does not deal well with such a state of affairs and so apportions blame onto, say, UEFA. Their referees. Barcelona’s cheating. You name it. Suddenly all the things that were holding you back become obvious. But not as obvious as a very public fall from grace. The lack of class displayed in Mourinho’s accusations sticks in the throats of admirers and peers and continues to do so, particularly in Manchester, where one presumes spies monitor Mourinho’s movements with half an eye trained on Sir Alex’s pension fund.
In England, Mourinho’s dastardly arrogance was judged mischievous. In Italy, he appeared troubled, but protected himself with haughtiness, battled against a sceptical press and was ultimately vindicated. In Spain, he was relishing the good cop/bad cop dialogue the media created for him and Guardiola until the cloak of invulnerability was lifted. Europe was watching as the bad cop became a bad loser. A really bad loser.
That said, Mourinho has since won what could be one of the most significant battles of the summer. Jorge Valdano was relieved of his role as director general of Real Madrid by President Florentino Pérez on May 20, who then choked: “There were two people filling a sporting role between whom there was no understanding. Ignoring the evidence is not practical for anyone.” Somewhere, Mourinho smiled wryly.
The coming season is the acid test for Mourinho in Spain. Destructive narcissism could see the myth crumble further under the weight of his belief that the way to beat Barcelona is to kick them off the park. Falling short in a similar manner to this campaign could be disastrous.
Potential suitors at Old Trafford look on, weighing up whether the narcissism is a help or a hindrance and how this correlates to continuing the 20-odd year long legacy of an equally egotistical Scot. It’s often said that Mourinho wants Ferguson’s job and if he does replace Ferguson at United, he would be presented with a league far better suited to his special brand of self-absorption. It always has been.
In England, he wouldn’t face one rival for the title but four or five, diluting the crying foul in which he loves to indulge. Neither is the dual media of Spain an issue—the tit-for-tat exchanges between Real-obssessed Marca and the Barca-oriented Sport provide colourful and highly partisan reference points throughout the season and serve only to perpetuate the mammoth rivalry between the two heavyweights. But in the Premier League, there are not just two vying for the title so there is no black and white ‘us against them’. The dynamics of the Premier League are very different.
If he produces behaviour similar to that exhibited at this season’s conclusion next year, though, it is more likely that United would shun his appointment. A man as self-aware as Mourinho will know he has put one foot firmly over the line and will need to retreat accordingly if he isn’t to alienate all and sundry, which may explain the lack of soundbites through this season’s conclusion.
Even the English media, those who feel a sense of ownership that regularly approaches fever pitch over ‘our character’, found the fallout difficult to stomach. ‘We miss him’, they nevertheless concluded. He fills pages like no one else, though with a press so famously quick to tear people down as they are to build up their favourites, the tide can quickly turn.
As they need him, so he needs them. The self-absorbed maelstrom of the Premier League, separated from the rest of Europe by water, is the ideal environment for narcissists to thrive. Mourinho’s battle is to validate his approach in the face of Barcelona’s ongoing dominance. With Valdano gone, he has the autonomy he has long craved. But as public a dissemination of the victim complex as seen in April will not be forgotten. The healthy narcissism cannot be allowed to become destructive.
Adam Bushby & Rob MacDonald can be found at Magic Spongers.
Though in this regard he may be helped by Barcelona’s forecast decline.
Although, may we add, it was in typically sensationalist fashion.
Read More: José Mourinho
by Adam Bushby & Rob MacDonald · June 10, 2011
You must know some real life psychiatrists, why not give them a bash at analysing Jose instead of the constant stream of pop psychology.
One might add how beautifully Mourinho’s personality dovetails with one of the trickiest and (especially for the particular jobs he’s held) essential functions of coaching an elite club, namely keeping a dressing room full of likewise blame-averse Ubermenschen signed on and doing what you want them to do, even when things aren’t going well and the edifice is starting to crumble. It’s perfect, really: he need only do what comes naturally (ie. lash out with a yawp of wounded-narcissist denial) and there you have it, instant ego-sanctuary for everybody else into the bargain.
“You’ve got to be someone pretty special…”
Well played, sirs, well played.
pish posh, melodramatic, (and if i’m to exaggerate as well) nonsense . Nothing is new. UNICEF. FA. FIGC. He’s blamed everyone before.
He did beat Barcelona the year before though, with the same tactics. The whole “kick them off”…lest not forget the volume of play acting that went along with the martial arts. If you don’t like him and want to hang him for something he probably said about your favorite team or coach that’s fine. It’s a bit pompous on you to do a psychology number and claim it’s everyone who sees him like however-you-put-it ‘now’, don’t you think?
Shouldn’t the end of the first paragraph read;
“José Mourinho smugly fits that bill.’?
@Russell Only because “spugly” isn’t a word.
Great article!
The sad thing, from a Portuguese perspective, is that all Mourinho is doing is exporting the tendencies of most Portuguese coaches onto the international stage. He is almost a caricature of the Portuguese coach, whose regular petty-minded, poorly-veiled insults towards opponents through the mainstream sports media simply serve to help the fascination with football in that country keep rolling on.
Do people even remember that characters like Mourinho and Ronaldo have a birthplace, a home? Mourinho is ‘special’ because he nearly always wins. He isn’t ‘special’ for his relationship with the press. If you follow Portuguese football, insults between representatives of Porto and Benfica, Sporting and Benfica, Sporting and Porto (less frequently), or Guimaraes and Braga, are standard fare most days of the week.
How does the ‘narcissism’ of Jose Mourinho compare,say, with that of Jorge Jesus? Jorge Jesus, the man who listed his ‘commandments’ in a press conference, claimed Benfica could win the Champions’ League (then denied the claim a year later), regularly insults Andre Villas-Boas through the press and actually sets up his team according to the rigid dogmas entrenched in his own head?
Or Villas-Boas himself, who, just to show he was up-to-date with Porto’s ‘methods’ before his first season in charge, began throwing insults at Benfica (always through the press) and making grandiose claims for himself and his adopted club?
In Portugal, a discussion of the referee, open accusations of corruption and bribery, and veiled references to ‘national conspiracies’ occur pretty much every week. Mourinho is a product of his homeland (which, it surprise people, isn’t an evil underground Bond-villain-base in South London). Were he Italian, he’d be accused of exporting a national stereotype. For better or for worse, Portugal hasn’t been blessed with one.
May I ask the author/administrator which clever fellow comes up with the artwork on this site? It’s wonderful.
@Newton I gots lots of time man. It’s not me.
@Brouhaha huh?
@Augusto Neto Great points. We so often forget that these sensationalized caricatured figures actually are flesh-and-blood and connected in a real way to a geographical locale.. a place that has emotionally, socially and culturally molded a great deal of their personhood.
@themostbrian At the same time it’s easy to be essentialist about something like this. There are lots of Portuguese coaches; it’s a mistake to think that most of them, if transplanted to Chelsea or Madrid, would act exactly like Mourinho, or with the same results. That’s not to say culture isn’t a factor, but temperament matters too.
@Brian Phillips Absolutely. My apologies if my post seemed to imply that our history/roots fatalistically determine who we become. Fundamentally, this is something of an unsolvable nature (Mourinho’s biologically hardwired makeup/temperament) vs. nurture (Place of birth, culture, parents, schooling, etc) riddle, but I think we can both agree that the two components are both vitally important and interconnected so as to be nearly impossible to unwind.
Mourinho doesn’t need to be MU manager after Fergie. This article suggests that if Mourinho succeeds with Madrid this up-comming season, then he would of done what he has to cement his position at Man-U. This is true. But who says that if Mourinho finds the key to success at Real, he will walk down the hall and open the door to Manchester? He may just want to renovate the trophy room at the Bernabau…
@ao “But who says that if Mourinho finds the key to success at Real, he will walk down the hall and open the door to Manchester? He may just want to renovate the trophy room at the Bernabau…” <– If past actions reveal something about future behaviours, that is not going to happen. He could have done the same thing in Italy after winning everything with juve.
Moreover, you know, "If I wanted to have an easy job I would have stayed at Porto. Beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me."
@Salvo Sorry, of course it was not juve, it was Inter.
“he wouldn’t face one rival for the title but four or five” Usually its two sometimes a third that falls away at the end of the season. Despite Englands supposed dominance at domestic level, Mourinhos only two home losses were in Spain.
Good article though.
@Salvo Fair enough, man. But neither Porto, Inter, or Chelsea match the grandeur of Real Madrid. There is a swag to working and playing in Madrid that no European club has. To be an outsider turned insider within a year is not an easy feat but Mourinho accomplished it. Valdano leaving is a major sign of whats happening to Madrid and may reveal Mourinho’s long term plans. Mourinho doesn’t leave until he’s confident he’s left a positive mark. How long will it take him to be comfortable leaving Madrid? Well see!
@ao That may be the case, nobody discusses the epic aura of Real Madrid as opposed to Chelsea and Porto (I would have some doubts about it being greater than Inter’s aura, but this could be a bias due to the fact that I’m an Italian Inter fan :D)… but if there is something everybody, lovers and haters, agree on when we talk about Mourinho, it is the humongous size of his ego.
The “civil war” against Valdano could be something Mourinho deemed necessary to better integrate his vision into Real Madrid’s values, and only time will tell whether he’ll stay for a longer time or leave, galloping towards the sunset while the town is celebrating his greatness, as you pointed out so well. As for me, I can’t but take note of the fact that he came, he saw, he conquered, he went away in Oporto, London and Milan. My two cents are that he’ll do the same in Madrid: just let him win the Liga and possibly the Champions League; he likes to go away in style.
@Brian Phillips Was the use of the term ‘essentialist’ a reference, Brian? 😉
In all seriousness, I’m not trying to make any sort of comment on the Portuguese people. It’s more that Mourinho’s behaviour is exceedingly typical of current Portuguese coaches. Jorge Jesus is similar, Villas-Boas is similar, and then we have people like Manuel Machado at Guimaraes, for example: all foster an extreme ‘us versus them’ mentality, all make grandiose claims, all use the media to launch veiled threats and tirades against match officials in that Portuguese ‘between the lines’ sort of way. Domingos Paciencia (ex-Braga, now with Sporting) seems to be the exception which proves the rule. Generalisations can never be more than that, but the reason we employ them is because they are broadly true.
Of course, individual temperament plays a part; then again, if a Portuguese coach is expected to be a certain way, then it’s only natural that people of the same temperament should succeed.
The problem for an outsider, I suppose, is that there haven’t been enough Portuguese coaches who have reached the international fame of Mourinho. Carlos Queiroz is universally recognised, but talented coaches like Manuel Jose, Antonio Oliveira etc have, over the years, opted for the riches of the Middle East and obscure international challenges rather than take the European club route. Villas-Boas will almost certainly move abroad after he’s led Porto’s ‘ League campaign; Domingos could follow, depending on how much freedom he gets at Sporting…
you should write something about how Villas-Boas might the be the one to bring balance to the force.