5 biggest mistakes in Jose Mourinho’s career

The Portuguese gaffer made headlines when he led an unfancied Porto to a Champions League triumph in 2004 and became a media sensation when he stylishly declared himself the ‘Special One’ in his first press conference as Chelsea manager.

Over the next decade, Mourinho justified his stance, with several records broken and titles won across spells in England, Italy and Spain, while he also remains the most successful manager in Chelsea’s history.

However, for all of his achievements, the 57-year-old is very much human like the rest of us and has made his fair share of mistakes during his two-decade-long managerial career.

While some were minor gaffes which had next to no impact on overall results, others had far-reaching consequences, some of which are still felt to this day.

Here, we shall have a rundown of the five biggest mistakes that Jose Mourinho has made in his managerial career.

#5 Bizarre transfer window in 2013/2014

Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea in the summer of 2013 to take the club back to previous heights and immediately got to the task by setting his sights on the transfer window, with Wayne Rooney being his prime target.

Romelu Lukaku was also sent out on loan after missing a decisive spot-kick in the UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich, while Juan Mata, who was by far Chelsea’s most creative player and named Club Player of the Year in consecutive seasons, was sold to Manchester United in January 2014.

These disastrous transfer decisions had an impact on Chelsea that season and it came as no surprise that they ended the campaign trophyless. Jose Mourinho addressed some of his errors in the next transfer window, with players like Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas coming in.

#4 Making all three substitutions during half-time against Newcastle United (2005)

Jose Mourinho prides himself on his ruthlessness and his tendency to not care about letting his players know when they have performed below par. These are traits that have helped cement his status as a legendary manager but there have also been instances when they proved to be counter-productive.

The latter happened to be the case when Chelsea squared off with Newcastle United in the quarterfinal of the FA Cup. With the Londoners chasing an unprecedented quadruple, they found themselves behind when Patrick Kluivert scored to put the Magpies ahead after just four minutes.

This remained the status quo at half-time and rather bizarrely, Jose Mourinho opted to make use of his allocated three substitutes, bringing on Eidur Gudjohnsen, Frank Lampard and Damien Duff for Geremy, Joe Cole and Tiago. Tellingly, none of the substitutions was enforced by injury.

What happened next was the stuff of legends as just two minutes into the second half, Wayne Bridge was stretchered off with an injury to force Chelsea into playing with 10 men. Meanwhile Damien Duff had to play on despite being in physical discomfort after picking up a knock.

More bizarrely, goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini was sent off later in the second half, leaving young defender Glen Johnson to play in goal for the rest of the match, with just eight outfield players for the Blues.

In typical Jose Mourinho fashion, the Chelsea boss stood by his decision to throw all his cards at half-time and insisted that he would have made six substitutions at once if given the opportunity.

#3 Making unproven allegations against referee Anders Frisk (2005)

Following their elimination from the FA Cup to Newcastle United, Chelsea turned their attention to the Champions League and came up against the might of Barcelona in the Round of 16.

They fell to a 2-1 defeat to the Catalans in the first leg at Camp Nou, with Barcelona coming from a goal down in the first half after star striker Didier Drogba was sent off for two bookable offences.

This ruled the Ivorian out of the second leg (which Chelsea won) and prompted Jose Mourinho to launch a scathing attack on the integrity of match referee Anders Frisk, claiming the red card was issued after he invited Frank Rijkaard to his room for ‘a meeting’ during half-time.

At the time, Andres Frisk was the most highly-regarded referee in the world. Following the allegation, however, the official and his family were subjected to several death threats. His reputation was also called into question, leading him to prematurely announce his retirement at the age of 42 just three weeks after this fixture.

Of course, Jose Mourinho never gave credible evidence to substantiate his extraordinary claim and he was given a two-game touchline ban by UEFA, as well as a £50,000 fine.

#2 Falling out with marquee players at Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United (2011, 2015, 2018)

This is perfectly manifested in his relationship with his players and while some- like those at Inter Milan and those who played for him during his first spell with Chelsea- praise him to the high heavens, the Portuguese manager infamously fell out with some of the biggest names in the dressing room at Real Madrid, Manchester United and during his second spell at Stamford Bridge.

Footballers have some of the biggest egos in the world and names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Eden Hazard, Sergio Ramos, Paul Pogba, Iker Casillas and Marcus Rashford are among those who had bad blood with Jose Mourinho.

These fallouts led to him losing the support of the dressing room and played a major role in his acrimonious departures from each of the aforementioned clubs.

#1 Not giving younger players a chance earlier in his career

Jose Mourinho’s fixation on getting ready-made players primed to deliver instant results has seen lots of promising youngsters fail to get regular playing time, leading them to consider their futures elsewhere.

This was especially true across his spells at Chelsea. Despite possessing one of the best academies in the world and winning several titles at youth level, the players failed to make the step-up and were consequently loaned or sold elsewhere.

Romelu Lukaku was unceremoniously discarded in 2013 without getting adequate opportunities and the folly of this decision was evident when Jose Mourinho signed him four years later for a record-breaking fee at Manchester United.

Others like Kevin de Bruyne and Mo Salah have gone on to become bonafide world-class players who are key players for Manchester City and Liverpool after being discarded in their youth by Chelsea.