Glenda's Legs
Paul Walsh
All hail the “MASK”
The DESK is dead. Long live the MASK.
All hail the “MASK”
I don't post very often but I was split on Joses' appointmemt and like most fans I worry that he's a relic but as much as I have loved what Poch has done for us and put us in the place we are now I ask myself do I feel that we are more likely to win trophies under Jose.. Definitely and I'm sure the players will too, I don't think Poch had it in him and even if in 2 years it turns sour I think there will be a trophy or two for us to celebrate so I for one will be throwing everything behind the new regime hoping to have something to remember when the baron times return! Cmon Jose...COYS
1.4 posts a year for 7 years. As prolific as Sissoko!I don't post very often but I was split on Joses' appointmemt and like most fans I worry that he's a relic but as much as I have loved what Poch has done for us and put us in the place we are now I ask myself do I feel that we are more likely to win trophies under Jose.. Definitely and I'm sure the players will too, I don't think Poch had it in him and even if in 2 years it turns sour I think there will be a trophy or two for us to celebrate so I for one will be throwing everything behind the new regime hoping to have something to remember when the baron times return! Cmon Jose...COYS
Watching him in front of the camera, it's like he's morphed into MkI Poch while Poch was morhping into MkII Jose.
has he?
I’ve not seen that anywhere other than maybe united but I’m happy to be wrong
TBH I think he is tactically outstanding and that’s his BIG step up form Poch
His man management was outstanding too until he went to Madrid and had to deal with their egos
I will say this about him - he's bloody strategic in how he's managing his image now.
Very, very much so. For a prime example, look at how he started his post-match interview with BT Sport - 'First of all, I would like to say hello to the guys in the studio - my boy, Joe Cole, Peter (Crouch), and the guy who is a massive fan of Norwich (the presenter).'
Everyone in the BT Sport room had grins wider than the Thames after that - which made their post-match analysis ludicrously easy on Mourinho.
I think he's used his ten months in the media to build relationships with nearly every pundit and commentator across terrestrial television, from Sky to Bein Sport to BT. Plus, the way he went through his first full press conference joking and conversing with the reporters personally ('not this guy, he'll come with philosophical question! Oh, it's okay, you are a good guy')...
...it's masterful, because the media bought him down twice, at Chelsea and United. He's determined to ensure that they're all relentlessly in love with him again, like the first time he was on these shores.
Hats off to him - that stint as a pundit wasn't random. Judging by how he handles the media now, it was intensely strategic.
The real test of his new relationships will come when he starts losing, but credit to the guy for thinking ahead.
However, that brings a danger with it - one that has implications for Levy.
The more Mourinho charms the media (And he has them eating out of his hand right now), the more influence he wields over the public perception of how he's being backed by Levy.
And I do not doubt for a single instant that Mourinho is the sort of man who will gleefully turn that powerful media blast straight at Levy if he feels he isn't being backed.
Poch, for all his flaws, was an honest, principled man - and a good human being, who trusted that he wouldn't be thrown under the bus.
The only public 'mouthpiece' he really had was his friend Guillem Balague - so when the end came for him, Levy escaped the worst of the media's fury because we, as a club, were able to prepare the ground by leaking things about Poch to the papers before sacking him. Levy's approach in terms of controlling narratives is to do that - go to the press first before sacking his coaches. Poch didn't bother with a response, and simply took it like a man.
I have little love for the man right now. But for his own sake, Levy needs to understand the danger in what Mourinho is doing. It is very, very different to Poch - and if things reach a head, Levy will find that the newly charming, roguish Mourinho has a media presence 1,000 times more powerful than Levy, and the club itself. That's the scale of the man.
I don't really care - if it forces Levy to spend money, good for Mourinho. We needed someone to scare that chairman of ours into spending.
But it will damage the club, which is the real risk here. For that reason, Levy needs to understand the dangerous brilliance of Mourinho's strategy.
He played 433 most of the time at chelsea
people have have said that but when I looked at the players in his squad and the games they played I’d say it was 4-4-2 with GudJohnson and Drogba up front with two wingers
The London Stadium played host to 380 football journalists in their various guises. The guy on the gate who distributes the passes and, it is not unkind to say, has been round the block a few times, said it was unprecedented.
Yeah I’d agree but looking at the number of games played it doesn’t equate rightI was thinking more of Robben, Cole/Duff and Drogba. With the midfield three being Makelele, Essien and Lampard.
Is there any need for it to get toxic?
Levy has seen Mourinho's history, he has seen Levy's work. They've (apparently) had discussion before.
If the contract is deliberately set at only three years with a fair understanding that this is not much more than a short-term appointment, then both parties could easily be satisfied by this. Especially as Jose is building on Levy and Pochettino's work in elevating the club's profile and squad as well as the infrastructure that finally seems near-ready to give significant boost to possible transfer spending.
On an unrelated point, I wonder if Jose sees any sort of parallel between Kane/Son/Moura and Drogba/Robben/Duff. I do not doubt that he really does feel that he has significant resources at his disposal and has enough confidence in his ability to believe that he can do big things with them
Good points you bring up here.However, that brings a danger with it - one that has implications for Levy.
The more Mourinho charms the media (And he has them eating out of his hand right now), the more influence he wields over the public perception of how he's being backed by Levy.
And I do not doubt for a single instant that Mourinho is the sort of man who will gleefully turn that powerful media blast straight at Levy if he feels he isn't being backed.
Poch, for all his flaws, was an honest, principled man - and a good human being, who trusted that he wouldn't be thrown under the bus.
The only public 'mouthpiece' he really had was his friend Guillem Balague - so when the end came for him, Levy escaped the worst of the media's fury because we, as a club, were able to prepare the ground by leaking things about Poch to the papers before sacking him. Levy's approach in terms of controlling narratives is to do that - go to the press first before sacking his coaches. Poch didn't bother with a response, and simply took it like a man.
I have little love for the man right now. But for his own sake, Levy needs to understand the danger in what Mourinho is doing. It is very, very different to Poch - and if things reach a head, Levy will find that the newly charming, roguish Mourinho has a media presence 1,000 times more powerful than Levy, and the club itself. That's the scale of the man.
I don't really care - if it forces Levy to spend money, good for Mourinho. We needed someone to scare that chairman of ours into spending.
But it will damage the club, which is the real risk here. For that reason, Levy needs to understand the dangerous brilliance of Mourinho's strategy.