http://football.guardian.co.uk/championsleague200405/story/0,15008,1436402,00.h
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Commentariat just don't get Mourinho
Kevin Mitchell
Sunday March 13, 2005 (選錄)
Some senior members of the commentariat (all of them honourable people) have
been moved recently to point out that Jose Mourinho could learn a thing or
two about decorum from some of the great managers of the past.
Looking back wistfully, one of them recalled Sir Matt Busby telling a player
who had celebrated too well after a goal: 'That is not the Manchester United
way.' Nor was it. In 1955. Moving swiftly on to the twenty-first century,
Mourinho's critics observed last week that his latest on-pitch celebration
with his players was further evidence of the young Chelsea manager's
insensitivity towards beaten opponents, not to mention a sure sign that he
lacked maturity.
They witnessed him prancing about in 'that coat' and hugging John Terry -
whose late header saved their bacon in a Champions League match that towered
above other fixtures for sheer excitement. They sniffed as manager and captain
lapped the ground and pointedly acknowledged the Barcelona fans as well as
their own, a gesture lost on those who preferred to dwell on how downcast the
visiting manager Frank Rijkaard looked as he disappeared down the tunnel,
ignored by his conqueror. As if Rijkaard was hanging out for a handshake.
Mourinho has prosecuted his mental war with Rijkaard too vigorously since he
reckoned he saw him going into the referee's dressing room at half-time during
the first leg in Barcelona. And he has unwittingly ignited the passions of
those few Chelsea fans who get a thrill from issuing anonymous threats to the
referee.
But, even without access to the Stamford Bridge dressing room, I would bet
good money that the Chelsea players greeted any suggestion that their manager
was suffering some football version of arrested development with a mixture of
derision and laughter. Mourinho has child-like qualities, an innocence married
to cunning and ruthlessness that confuses critics and opponents but, more
importantly, galvanises his players. They call him Jose. He comforts them when
they are down, laughs with them on the training pitch, and embraces them in
victory or defeat.
The temptation to paint Mourinho as a kid in charge of the world's most
magnificent toyshop proves irresistible for many. To some, he hasn't earned
his spurs in Halifax or Swindon, say, and he wasn't a proper player (true).
He lacks the forbidding gravitas to match their expectations - only because
they have grown up with managers who talk down rather than across, who have
ruled in the old-fashioned Busby way.
There was nothing wrong with that. But the world has changed. The top flight,
and much of the undercarriage, of football in this country is a cosmopolitan
mix of cultures and attitudes. It is a considerably more complex environment
than in the days when managers were routinely called 'The Gaffer'. And Mourinho
is decidedly more in touch with it than many of his peers.
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