Upon his arrival to the main stage, Jose Mourinho seemed to err on the side of arrogance yet the continued success was there to back it up. “I am not one of the bottle” and “I think I am the special one”. The man from Portugal will be immortalised in his words and actions in football. Much like how Ozymandias, the titular character in Percy Shelley’s renowned poem, tried to immortalise himself with “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”. Except in that moment, all that was round Ozymandias’s statue was decay. Mourinho’s career lay in similar fashion at a time. After an outstanding 8 years, followed a sharp descent into mediocrity. 

By 2021, he found himself in Rome, a city that itself has immortalised the decay of its once great empire. His new task - to restore the team of AS Roma and, with it, his own reputation. The message of Ozymandias is that everything has its course of time and no matter the level of greatness, there is always a greater force that could quell that. The career of Mourinho is no greater testament to that. In his pomp, no one could touch Mourinho. His methods were innovative and his personality was challenging to the establishment. Schooled in the ways of Vitor Frade, tactical periodisation took Portugal by storm & Jose Mourinho was at the forefront. 

The Building of The Statue

The focus of integrating technical, physical and psychological sides into tactical aspects of a style of play. Before, they were viewed in prisms that were trained separately. Something that is common place now, was a source of wonderment to players like John Terry. The layout of sessions being set up prior to player’s arrival, so that the transition between drills were seamless, and always training with a ball.