Even in the hyperreal world of football, there are few characters more compelling, more polarising, or more everything than José Mourinho, the best and worst of public him on full display in a new three-part Netflix series. As he puts it in the show: “I look, you look, I see more than you.” Making documentaries, though, is often about taking people to the places they’re most skilled at avoiding. Everything bad is everyone else’s fault and everything he’s done is validated by winning.
Because that’s all that’s important.” This is just one aspect of an unusual worldview. Which, for one of the greatest man-managers of all time, is quite odd.” The son of a much-loved coach, Mourinho felt like an outsider from childhood because he was known by way of his dad. Then, when he became a coach himself, having not been a player, that appeared to confer insider privilege.
Indisputably, this self-image has helped Mourinho self-actualise, surviving unlimited wealth at Chelsea and a spell at Real Madrid, with the attitude of “someone who’s had a chip on their shoulder for a lot of their life” – along, of course, with his irrepressible charisma and tactical acumen. Félix Mourinho died in June 2017 and, when that comes up in the documentary, there are tears. As someone who’s lost a parent, I can talk about my mum very openly because I’ve processed it.
I’ve been to therapy, I’ve tried to understand what that part of my life means. I don’t think José’s ever tried to understand what any part of his life means. I think he’s always looking forward, always looking for the next thing.
He’s winning the treble for Inter against Louis van Gaal and Bayern but, at the same time, he’s really thinking about crushing Pep [Guardiola] when he joins Madrid. And on top of that, José carries every word, every goal, every decision that doesn’t go his way; it’s a rucksack of pain he’s been lugging around since he was probably 19, 20 years old.” Nevertheless, everything that makes Mourinho special – the wit, the insight, the confidence, the zest, the charm, the genius, the cool – burns through the screen. One who, it seems, sees football as distinct from the real world, with combatants permitted to do anything in the pursuit of victory; he is no more apologetic for his Anders Frisk and Eva Carneiro excesses now than at the time.
Yet Mourinho also articulates his desire to be loved, though you sometimes wonder if, to him, that has as much in common with adulation as affection. It’s like this safety blanket that allows him to feel like he’s doing things for a righteous cause.” At home Mourinho is different: more reserved, quieter. And it is with regard to his home life that we experience the show’s other sad moment: Mourinho explaining he’s been away from his family a lot, so much so that it’s easier for them when he’s not around.
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