Jose Mourinho

The manager everyone loves to hate

Mercurial Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, who regards himself as football’s equivalent of George Clooney, featured in his own blockbuster this summer when he took charge of Manchester United – the world’s biggest club. The news sent shockwaves through the Old Trafford faithful – generations of whom have pledged their loyalty to a succession of managerial legends including Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson. At the very outset of what promises to be a tumultuous season for the Red Devils, Andrew J Kirby investigates in his latest book Jose Mourinho: The Art of Winning whether the latest controversial move by the club’s owners is a marriage made in heaven or hell. Machiavellian schemer, marketing man’s dream, inspirational leader and motivator, arrogant “manager-lout”, Super Coach. Anti-hero. Serial trophy-winner. Jose Mourinho’s personality is a complex one. Jose Mourinho: The Art of Winning is an entertaining character study of the man who in many ways has come to define modern, elite-level football. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo apart, the biggest, most marketable stars in world football today are the managers. The 2016-17 edition of the FA Premier League is being billed as the most exciting yet, and that’s not because of the influx of star players after the European Championships in France. Though some eye-catching names have joined the league, none have the cache of a Messi or a Ronaldo. None have the standing of a Jose Mourinho or a Pep Guardiola either. And so it is on the manager’s shoulders that the responsibility for delivering the customary Premier League spectacle falls. Incorporating interviews with fans (of United, and of Mourinho’s former clubs), players (past and present), commentators and journalists, this book…