Instead of “the special one,” maybe we should call Jose Mourinho “the boastful one.” The Manchester United manager, who angrily walked out on reporters the last time he did a media opportunity, kicked his boasting and braggadocio up another notch at his Friday press conference.
Mourinho melted down at his last presser, muttering the word “respect” over and over again as he stormed out of the Q&A session early. Today, he declared himself one of the greatest managers in the world and made reference to Georg Wilhem Friedrich Hegel, a German philosopher and prominent figure of the German idealism movement.
“I am the manager of one of the greatest clubs in the world but I am one of the greatest managers in the world,” Mourinho said ahead of Sunday’s league fixture at Burnley.
“I had great success last season and that’s probably what you don’t want to admit. You do what you want, I do what I want. I analyze my performance myself. For me it is more important what I think than what you think.”
“Two seasons ago we had a fantastic season because we won the Europa League. We won it because it was our level. We are the last team in England to win a European competition. I’m the only manager to win eight titles in Italy, Spain and England – not small titles – and my second place last season was one of my greatest achievements in football. I think and I say. You have the right to disagree.”
Well, he’s certainly self-assured, as that spiel conveys.
Mourinho was asked if he still regards himself as one of the greatest managers even if he fails to win a Premier League title during his time at United.
The Portugese was quite defiant in his response, asking reporters to pose the same query to Liverpools Jurgen Klopp and Tottenham Hotspur’s Mauricio Pochettino. He then made an allusion to the Stuttgart purveyor metaphysics.
“Of course. Did you never spend time reading the philosopher Hegel?” Mourinho continued.
‘The truth is in the whole, it’s always in the whole that you find the truth.’ Do you ask the same question to the manager that finished third in Premier League last season or the manager that finished fourth or fifth?”
This was certainly a news conference that had a lot of Gestalt.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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