Came across this from the Guardian - quite an interesting theory. 

 

"Mourinho may have his own a long list of exculpatory reasons why this has happened, from refereeing covens to club hierarchy failings. But taking the wider view, there is another, less accusatory story here. Perhaps the reason Mourinho has stuttered is simply that he is human after all, subject to the normal rules of gravity that suggest even the most compelling managers tend to get no more than a decade of outright, untouchable success.

 

There is no obvious reason why the current crop should buck the trend, not least when the demands have never been so great. Ten years, give or take: this has been the most common career trajectory. If we take as the measure of headline success the number of league titles and European trophies won, the pattern is fairly clear.

 

Louis van Gaal won eight major trophies in the golden LVG years 1992-1999. Since when he has a pair of league titles in Holland and Germany. Fabio Capello won seven league and European titles in the years 1992-2001, one league title since. Bill Shankly rebuilt Liverpool from the ground up, then set off aged 50 on nine years of cups and titles. All of Arrigo Sacchi’s nine top level trophies came between the years 1988-1990. Marcello Lippi won all seven of his main League and European titles between 1995 and 2003 (and a World Cup three years later).

 

What, if anything, does this tell us about Mourinho? Perhaps simply that he is just one of many special ones to have come and gone, subject like everyone else to the natural limits of human capacity. There are of course exceptions. Giovanni Trapattoni stands out, a Serie A title winner with Juve in 1977 and an Austrian Bundesliga champ with Salzburg 30 years on. Plus of course there is the amazingly sustained run of Alex Ferguson, a Cup-Winners’ Cup winner with Aberdeen in 1983 and a Champions League winner with Manchester United 25 years on. Albeit even these two giants had a break now and then (Ferguson went eight trophy-less years in his prime). Pep Guardiola, four years (sorry Pep fans) without a European trophy, will surely benefit in the long term from his decision to take that sabbatical year." 

 

 

Interesting theory which seems to pan out in the majority of managers. They burn themselves out and can only sustain 10 years of truly being top of their game. Has Jose peaked and was he always destined to be sacked given the 10 year trajectory? Obviously time will tell but he has certainly changed since he was here in 2004. Hes not as chirpy and definitely more moody. 

Edited January 12, 201610 yr by JM7

Read that article a while ago, it does raise an interesting point.

Honestly, I think his 'park the bus' type tactics have backfired and become outdated.... many teams are wiser to it now and its made the English league harder... think West Ham that time when Big Sam said he 'out tacticed' Jose. Big Sam was doing the exact sort of thing Jose did at Inter in the champions league when playing against a better team.

In fairness to Mourinho, he gave the flamboyant stuff a real go last year at the start....but one or two defeats and he reverted back to the old style of drudgery which slowly started us on the road to destruction this season.

Van Gaal is on a similar path now I think, but his style is defending by meaninglessly holding onto the ball and taking no risks.

Edited January 12, 201610 yr by Zola

It's facninating that the majority of top level managers all seem to do their best work in the first 10 years of management. After that, they seem to struggle to get back to that level.

I never thought Jose would be like that but maybe it's true, maybe he's achieved his best work already. Going forward, he will still be a success and one of the top managers but might be on the decline.