When Jose Mourinho started out as a coach, success was all he knew. He moved from one success to another until one day that the triumphs ran out. One thing that never ran out, however, was his enthusiasm for the game.
This is exactly how Mourinho is described by author Joao Gabriel in his new book.
It is titled ‘Mantenham-se Loucos e Famintos’ – or ‘Stay Crazy and Hungry’ in English – and it isn’t even a football book. It is focused on communication, but it does have a lot of football throughout.
The friendship between Mourinho and the author has meant that the veteran coach has been more transparent than ever before in this publication.
“I’ve been a victim of myself and, if I could, it would be one of the things I wouldn’t repeat,” Mourinho said for the book.
“I won, won and won and I entered into a kind of dynamic where not winning seemed like the end of the world.
“I, myself, because of my personality, made out that the training, the games and the job were all to win, win, win … and then, when I came to situations where it was very difficult to win, which for other coaches is something acceptable, in my case it was never enough.
“Not winning was a failure, but that isn’t true.”
Mourinho did turn into a victim of his own success, with the first few years of coaching bringing numerous major titles. He’s touched the sky in his career, but also hit some lows.
There have always been stories of tensions between Mourinho and certain players, which is normal at the highest level.
“I always tell the players that, with me, they’ll find an honest guy,” he said.
“They’ll find a guy who will tell you the truth, the things you want to hear and also the things you don’t.
“Some may say that I’m a bad coach, that I was a bastard, but no one can say that I wasn’t serious or honest.”
