Adeus Jose

In what must be good news for fans for English soccer, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been linked with the same position at Inter Milan, the long underachieving Italian giants.

Though always arrogant (he once famously described himself as 'the Special One'), Mourinho was initially seen by many fans of the English as a breath of fresh air for his candor. After all, every quality manager, or player for that matter, has an ego. And he backed up all his talk. He's managed 68 league matches for Chelsea, winning an amazing 53 and losing only 4... none at home. His squad is virtually assured of a second consecutive English league title.

But Mourinho has become tedious faster than you can say 'Christmas Card.' If you count cup and European competitions, I believe Chelsea have lost 7 or 8 times in the Special One's almost two years. Yet if you were to listen to Mourinho, his Chelsea has never once been beaten by a team that was better than them on that particular day.

It's always the referee's fault. The linesman's fault. The other manager's fault. The other team dives or kicks. Bias by the Football Association, UEFA or Premiership governing bodies. Nay, a global conspiracy against poor, underresourced Chelsea. I'm surprised he hasn't condemned Mother Nature's influence yet.

I understand the rationale behind Mourinho's schtick. It's a classic managerial motivation trick, creating the 'us against the world' mentality to foster team unity. That's why it's always someone else's fault. That's why you never hear him say 'Today, the other 11 just outplayed us.'

At this weekend's match, a hand ball call cost Chelsea a goal in a match they lost 1-0. He admitted that the ref made the right call ("I've seen it on TV and I know it's a hand ball") but blasted the official about it anyway!

Let me repeat that: he admitted that the ref made the right call, BUT THREW A TEMPER TANTRUM ABOUT IT ANYWAY!

"There are 19 managers and clubs plus one. There are not 20 in the same table," he sniffed.

His rants are designed to make himself the lightning rod to take the pressure off his players. This is another way he motivates players and earns their loyalty. But the downside is that he's become tiresome in record time. He's managed the neat trick of making Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson seem like a warm, sympathetic character by comparison.

As Fox Soccer Channel analyst Bobby McMahon pointed out, Chelsea have the aura of the nouveau riche. They're fine and dandy when they're winning but when faced with the tiniest bit of adversity, their lack of class is cruelly exposed.

Mourinho employs a high risk strategy that works well in the short term, but I'm not sure if it's sustainable over a long period of time. He's been at four clubs but has never spent more than two full seasons at the same place. By contrast, Ferguson has been at Manchester United for 20 years.

His emphasis on discipline worked well at Porto (and allowed them to compete with and beat Europe's giants) and at previously underachieving Chelsea (which gave them long overdue domestic, if not European, success). But you have to wonder how that emphasis on discipline at all costs would be received by Inter crowds used to flair and creativity.