The Lion Grown Old: The Plight of José Mourinho
In “The Lion Grown Old”, one of Aesop’s fables, an elderly, feeble lion lies at the mouth of his cave. Once feared and revered by all, the dying lion is visited by his old enemies. A bull comes along and gores him with its horns. A boar drives at him with its tusks. Even a donkey, feeling safe from danger, kicks its heels in the lion’s face. Lamenting this, the lion calls such humiliation a “double death”.
Aesop’s fable is intended to edify how cowardly and baseless it is to humiliate and abuse the defenceless, even if they were once an enemy. It can, however, be applied to football. The elderly lion is José Mourinho. A man who once ruled the kingdom, but whose power has now attenuated and whose reputation is waning.
The bull represents his former teams, providing the first layer of embarrassment. Chelsea 4 – 0 Manchester United in 2016 springs to mind. The boar represents teams that used to fear a Mourinho side, but now smell weakness and strike where they would once cower. Dinamo Zagreb’s 3-0 win to overturn a 2-0 deficit versus Tottenham Hotspur is a stark example. And then there’s the donkey, representing the fans and media who provide the kick in the teeth to a lion already down.
But for now, let’s rewind the clocks to the 2002/03 season, where a young, bloodthirsty lion was prowling at Porto. In his first season, he won the league title and the UEFA Cup, beating Celtic in the final. In his second season, he retained the league and won the Champions League, one of the most remarkable successes in the cup’s illustrious history.
The most iconic moment in that run was at Old Trafford in the round of 16. With just minutes left, Porto scored an equaliser to send them through. Cue one of the most iconic celebrations in the Champions League: Mourinho sprinting down the Old Trafford touchline to join his players’ celebrations. It was the first glimpse the wider footballing world got of the brilliance, impetuousness, and occasional arrogance of José Mourinho. It was also auspicious for his time to come to England, where he would regularly get the better of Manchester United and assert Chelsea’s place at the top of the pyramid.
His Champions League win with Porto, who had 50-1 odds to win when the competition began, is perhaps one of the greatest and most underrated achievements in the trophy’s storied past. So no wonder he deemed himself “the Special One” when he arrived at Chelsea. A moniker he would live up to.
In 2004, the Premier League landscape was one dominated by Manchester United and Arsenal. It had effectively become a duopoly, with the two clubs winning the nine previous titles. Then along came Mourinho, who didn’t just break it up, but vanquished it in his first season. Chelsea won with 95 points, a record at the time, having only lost one game. Mourinho was accused of being arrogant by many in the game. But arrogance is defined as inflated superiority and excessive confidence. When Mourinho invaded English football, his superiority wasn’t inflated. He simply was superior.
He would go on to win two league titles, two league cups, and an FA cup in his first spell. But perhaps the greatest accomplishment, certainly the one that will live longest in posterity, is his defensive record for the 2004/05 season. 15 goals conceded in 38 games. 6 conceded at home. At one point, they went on a run of ten games without conceding a single goal. To put things into perspective, the next best defensive record is 22 goals conceded – almost 50% extra. Some records are made to be broken. Others simply cannot be.
Mourinho left Chelsea in 2007, leaving them as the most successful manager in the club’s history and established as the new kid on the block. Within a year, he was at one of the block’s elders: Inter Milan. Having dominated domestically in the preceding years but with no success in Europe’s elite trophy since they won the European Cup back-to-back in 1964 and 1965, Inter were voracious for European success again. Enter stage left, Jose Mourinho.
His first season in Italy was marked by the usual domestic dominance. The Scudetto was won by 10 points, and the Supercoppa Italiana was secured too, but Inter exited the Champions League to Manchester United in the Round of 16. The next season, however, was, and still is, unprecedented in Italian football. Mourinho’s Inter won the Serie A, the Coppa Italia, and the Champions League, a.k.a. The Treble. The pinnacle of club football (well, technically not the pinnacle, as Barcelona 2009, Bayern Munich 2020 and PSG 2025 have won sextuples. But 6 trophies in a season is so many that it’s frankly obscene).
At this point, Mourinho was King Midas. Every club he went to turned to gold. So what better club for a king than Real Madrid? After achieving perfection with Inter, that’s where he headed. His first season in the Spanish capital was a mercurial, capricious one. There were highs, such as an 8-0 win over Levante and a Copa Del Rey trophy, ending their 18-year drought in the competition.
But there were also Barcelona-shaped lows, such as the ignominious 5-0 loss in his first El Clásico, dubbed the worst game in the history of Real Madrid by Florentino Perez, the Champions League semi-final exit to Barcelona, and finishing runners-up in the league. When you’re at one of the top two teams in Spain, how you perform is important. It’s just not as important as how your arch-rival does.
The following season, however, Madrid were so imperious that their rivals could only stand by and watch. It was a record-breaking year. Most points ever obtained (100), most wins (32), most away wins (16), most goals scored (121), and highest goal difference (+89). Mourinho broke so many records that he was banned from vinyl stores. Another disappointing Champions League semi-final exit wasn’t enough to cloud over what had been a season of sun for Madrid in securing their first league title in four years.
But that sun was soon to be eclipsed. The 12/13 season saw Madrid finish 15 points behind Barca’s centurions, exit the Champions League in the semi-final for the third year running, and lose to city rivals Atlético Madrid in the Copa Del Rey final. Add in the usual Mourinho madness (falling outs with players, clashes with journalists and officials, complaints of referring bias), and you have a season Mourinho called the “worst of my career”.
It was also his last in Spain. After being hurt and wounded in Madrid, there was only one logical place for Mourinho to go – back to Chelsea. Mourinho was like a child returning home after being heartbroken, desperate to receive the familiar affection and unconditional love of family. And that is what he got. Held up as the paragon of perfection and emblematic of Chelsea as a club, Mourinho was idolised by the fans on his homecoming. Odysseus had returned.
Like the veritable child, Mourinho spent his initial time back home licking his wounds. His first season was solid without being special, finishing third and (once again) exiting the Champions League in the semi-finals. After stability and confidence had been restored, the imperious Mourinho returned. His second season saw a League Cup and a Premier League title, losing just three league games all season.
Chelsea and Jose Mourinho had a singular bond. His sway over the club was like that of a conductor, directing music he composed. He was the snake-charmer, the fans the snake. But by December, the subsequent season, Mourinho was gone. His charm had waned, and the music stopped. That 14/15 season, Mourinho’s last full one at Chelsea, was the last time he was at the peak of his powers. He has slowly but surely been on a downward trajectory since.
Of course, it would be facile to say there have been no highlights amid the lowlights of his later career. In fact, his 2nd placed finish with Manchester United in the 2017/18 season was described by the man himself as one of the greatest achievements in his career. When he returned to Italy with Roma, he ended their 11-year trophy drought when he won the UEFA Conference League and became the only manager to win all three UEFA Cup competitions currently active in the process. Even at 59 years old and past his prime, Mourinho was still setting records.
But this is not the same Mourinho anymore. Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma, and Fenerbahçe all ended sourly. ‘The Special One’ is now an average one. Time’s arrow neither stands still nor reverses. It merely marches forward. And time’s arrow has caught up with Mourinho. To be brutally honest, he feels anachronistic in this age of football. However, some of his career statistics and records are timeless.
His most impressive one, and the one that feels impossible to break, is his unbeaten streak at home. In 2002, his Porto side lost 3-2 to Beira-Mar. He wouldn’t lose another game at home until April 2nd, 2011. That’s nine years and 150(!!!) matches. Of those 150 games, 125 were wins. He may be approaching the nadir of his career now, but when he was at his zenith, no one was above him.
Additionally, he is one of seven to have won the European Cup/Champions League with two clubs, one of six to win league titles in four different countries, and the only manager to win every domestic title (league, cup, Super Cup and League Cup if available) in four European leagues.
Mourinho’s bite was vicious, but his bark was equally intense. If you’re ever bored, search up ‘Mourinho best moments’ on YouTube, and your nightly entertainment will be sorted. From his ‘Special One’ press conference, to holding up three fingers to signify his three Premier League titles after a 3-0 loss, to his “football heritage” rant, and his “if I speak, I am in big trouble” quote, Mourinho has contributed more to football’s lexicon and culture than any other manager. For that alone, football fans should be grateful.
But even on a personal level, Mourinho seems to be changing. In 2023, as Roma manager, he wore a wire to record everything the referees said in a bid to fight the perceived referring bias against him. He has twice been levelled with racism accusations, most recently amid the Vinícius Junior incident when he claimed Benfica could not be racist as “the biggest person in the history of this club was black”. Mourinho has gone from the charming, exotic man fans either love to love or love to hate (but love nonetheless), to the old man at the pub with dodgy views, banging on about conspiracies.
What the future holds for Mourinho is obfuscated by his perennial unpredictability. But links to the Portugal national job following the 2026 World Cup are unwavering. And it would make sense. His reign in club football is approaching an end, but having conquered it all, his rule has left an indelible mark.
The logical swansong to his career would be to manage his country. Particularly given that international football is less about tactics and more about the maximisation and optimisation of available players, in conjunction with man-management (although whether you think that’s a strength or weakness of Mourinho is up to you). And, after all, who wouldn’t want to see Mourinho at the World Cup?
José Mourinho’s career has been quite the soap opera. Melodramatic story lines, intense emotions, iconic quotes. He is one of the greatest characters in the history of football, the world’s greatest show. But his character is slowly being killed off. The bull, the boar, and the donkey are circling, taunting the elderly animal that was formerly king of the jungle. But when he takes his last breath, at least he can say “I was a lion once”.
By: Brent Forrest / @BrettFjourno
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Tottenham Hotspur FC