You can judge the rise of a man’s reputation by the prestige of the rumours attached to him. Only a few months ago Jose Mourinho was being touted as the new Tottenham Hotspur manager, but now, to hear tell, the Porto coach is earmarked for even greater things and a far larger salary.
Maybe we will have to treat the Champions League final as the last stage in a Chelsea interview process. Should Mourinho meet Claudio Ranieri there the winner may receive a sleek contract at Stamford Bridge as well as a shiny trophy. That might sound a crass way of deciding the Chelsea managership, but few schemes in football are ever ruled out on grounds of bad taste.
Even if Mourinho does not go to London, he will surely be on the move. Around Europe he is perceived as an elite coach in the making, just the man to come to the fore as Marcello Lippi, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Alex Ferguson seem markedly to age. Mourinho knows his own worth and no longer has much truck with deference.
Psychological duelling is the other sport practised at Old Trafford, but it was Ferguson who was run through when Porto prevailed there in the last 16 of the Champions League. After the Manchester United manager had rambled about referees and play-acting on the eve of the game, Mourinho wielded the rapier more deftly as he wondered why the world’s biggest club were in a flap about facing his little team. He was tough and funny on the topic and, in retrospect, it does feel as if he skewered a real anxiety within Old Trafford.
Mourinho has a sharp eye for talent, too. The man of the match in last year’s Uefa Cup final was Derlei, whom Porto had bought for a token sum. This year, during the Christmas break, the coach came up with another ingenious signing, the 19-year-old Brazilian Carlos Alberto.
Realising that he cannot top Porto’s current achievements, Mourinho is expected to be open to offers. His South African forward, Benni McCarthy, has already gone into a reverie over the heights the coach might touch at a richer club. He also hinted at the decline that could then blight the Portuguese champions.
Anyone with an attachment to the richness of the European Cup’s traditions should mourn his departure as much as the most devoted of Mourinho’s acolytes in Oporto itself.
Where will we find another coach who can take a relatively disadvantaged club with a proud tradition and reinstate them among the continent’s most eminent names?
Last season Portugal did not even have a representative in the Champions League proper. Sides from such nations usually make so little from the tournament, comparatively speaking, that they cannot afford to develop the underlying strength that would keep them to the fore.
This week, for the first time since 1999, the semifinal cartel in the Champions League has been broken and places there are not available exclusively to clubs from Spain, Italy, England or Germany. Chelsea and Deportivo la Coruna take part, but so too do Porto and Monaco.
The abolition of the second group phase in the competition made it a little easier for the lesser sides to progress, but the odds are still heavily against them. To take the measure of Porto’s feat, you have to appreciate how the Champions League finances are rigged to the disadvantage of smaller countries.
Uefa trumpets the sums it pays to the 32 contestants in appearance fees and performance payments for each win and draw. These are substantial, with clubs such as Bayern Munich, Genk and Spartak Moscow each collecting about £4-million from the ruling body last season despite going out in the initial group stage.
There is far less publicity from Uefa, however, about its distribution of the market pool. This fund is allocated in the off-season and the amount given to each club is dependent on the worth of their country’s television market. So it was, a year ago, that Bayern were presented with about £11-million whereas Spartak Moscow had to make do with less than £500 000. Belgium’s population of 10-million is similar to Portugal’s and Genk were handed only about £1-million.
The system will not be reformed, with the beneficiaries arguing that it is their sophisticated, sprawling economies that generate the Champions League affluence in the first place. That is true, but the hoarding of money in England, Italy, Spain and Germany harms the diversity of the tournament.
Mourinho relishes this season’s adventure, but his career can only remain stimulating if he leaves Portugal. Even a wizard cries out for a great stage on which to perform his magic. —