José Mourinho reflects on the ‘transformation’ in coaching since the days of Ferguson and Wenger

Few managers in the history of soccer have a resume comparable to that of current Real Madrid boss José Mourinho.

The Special One, now 63 years old, has won titles in Portugal, England, Italy, and Spain, managing some of the biggest teams in the world. Mourinho’s career has also seen him overlap with somewhat of a shift in the approach towards managers, experiencing the tail ends of the careers of the likes of club stalwarts such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, to today’s more year-by-year approach.

This dramatic shift, or “transformation” as Mourinho dubbed it, was something he expanded upon in a recent interview with Corriere dello Sport ahead of Madrid’s return to action following an extended international break.

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Mourinho believes there has been a ‘transformation’ within coaching -Credit:Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images

“Today a coach’s career is much shorter. They arrive quickly and leave quickly. There’s no longer that prototype of a coach that I call the coach of a career,” he explained via online translation.

“Many years in different clubs, a great accumulation of experienced people who live football and breathe football and never get tired of football. This type of people doesn’t exist anymore. It’s easy to get there, but it’s also easy to disappear.

“These people when I started, I remember the first times I went to the UEFA meeting with the coaches who were in the Champions League: I went there the first two or three times Sir Alex, Don Fabio [Capello], [Giovanni] Trapattoni, [Marcello] Lippi, Wenger, people of weight.

“Today, if you do this type of meeting, there will be guys who…We don’t even know who they are. This is not to say that they are not good, that they can’t have a long career like ours. It’s simply a different profile. It’s a different profile. But we who are year after year we are part of the transformation for the good and the bad, and that’s why I say transformation.”

To listen to the latest episode of ‘All Out Soccer’ – José Mourinho reflects on the ‘transformation’

But it isn’t just the managers who have changed, according to Mourinho, pointing out that there has been a dramatic change within the clubs as well.

“The means we have at our disposal, it’s incredible,” he said. “I think every team today travels with two buses: one for the players one for the staff. I think when we arrive at the hotel I see the list of rooms, there are two pages: one with the players, 101, [Kylian] Mbappé, 102, Vinicius, 103, Jude Bellingham, and then there is another page with another 40 rooms with 10 analysts, 10 social media people.”

The game may have moved on dramatically since he first entered management with Benfica back in 2000, but Mourinho is hoping he can continue his trend of making an immediate impact in his second stint with Madrid.

Thus far, after seven La Liga games in charge, Los Blancos have secured five wins and two defeats, leaving them fourth, six points behind bitter rivals Barcelona, who have enjoyed a flawless start to their campaign under Hansi Flick. Madrid is scheduled to return to action on Saturday when they host Villarreal.