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Jose Mourinho not so special, Andre Villas-Boas failed at Tottenham - Adrian Durham column

At last, football has realised Jose Mourinho isn’t quite so special after all.

A quick internet search shows Eusebio, Platini and Ronaldo all stating Real Madrid is the best club in the world. That sort of claim is always up for debate. But what isn’t questionable is that the kind of behavior and ill-discipline encouraged and employed by Mourinho was not befitting of a club of such stature.

Last Friday night's Copa del Rey final was embarrassing for Real Madrid. Mourinho and Ronaldo were sent off and they lost to city rivals Atletico. Both clubs behaved appallingly, but Real need to be seen to be above that kind of behavior.

Real disappointment: Jose Mourinho was sent off as Madrid crashed in the Copa del Rey final to rivals Atletico last Friday in what heralded a bitter end to his stint at the Bernabeu

Red rage: Like Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo was also sent off against Atletico, who lifted the Spanish Cup (right)

    More from Adrian Durham...   ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: Why it's Mourinho's fault that Sir Alex has called it a day… Moyes needs to lay down the law and get Rooney to stay… and AVB needs Gareth to Bale him out 14/05/13   ADRIAN DURHAM: Teams promoted from sea of mediocrity could be embarrassing in the Premier League... Forget Luiz and Rafael, real issue is United's betrayal of competition... Oh, and is anyone else already bored of wild-eyed Di Canio? 07/05/13   Why I'd be happy to see Sunderland, Wigan or Newcastle go down... but Villa can stay 03/05/13   THE ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: Pardew must go... and he can take Di Canio with him... Davids was a Barnet blunder... Hazard would've won the league with a better boss... and a little bit of De La Soul 30/04/13   ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: United's title win shows Rooney is key, Mancini is Mr Average and Hodgson is talking nonsense... And as for Suarez, it's time Liverpool let him walk (alone)! 23/04/13   ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: True football fans stick together. Bill Kenwright's remarkable Hillsborough speech proved that 16/04/13   ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: Why I'm breaking my vow on brainless Barton... It would be a travesty if Villa go down and teams like Norwich and Stoke survive... And like Superman couldn't handle Kryptonite, United haters can't handle truth 09/04/13   ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: Sunderland did not give Di Canio the job for football reasons. I find that hard to swallow... Jol had no answer to Redknapp's tactics... and find out who my player of the season is 02/04/13   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE  

Mourinho is a winner, of course, but his methods are short-term, and in every way based more on destroying than creating. The best example is how he managed to win the title last season – he didn’t create a better team than the one that had thrilled and entertained at Barcelona. He simply destroyed Pep Guardiola’s spirit.

He divides the squad – some players love him, others hate him. Before the Copa del Rey final, the whole Real Madrid squad went out together without even notifying Mourinho. His stock with the players at the Bernabeu couldn’t be any lower. He didn’t divide the squad, he turned them all against him.

He walked into the club and told them he was brilliant. Unfortunately for Jose, nobody believed him so they asked him for proof. He couldn’t come up with any. Simply saying he is the Special One works at Stamford Bridge, but Real Madrid fans need more convincing. They’ve experienced greatness before, they don’t accept poor imitations too readily.

So Mourinho will go back to Chelsea where he simply could not come to terms with Rafa Benitez’s tactical superiority when the Spaniard was at Liverpool. Since he left, Chelsea have won a Champions League without him and also won FA Cups and a Premier League title.

Life went on after Mourinho left. Even Benitez won a trophy after just a few turbulent months in charge. They change managers a lot but managing Chelsea isn’t exactly the impossible job, especially for a man who the fans still hold so dear to their hearts.

He inherits a fantastic squad, so let’s see if he can get them playing great football.

One thing he needs to overcome is a shattered ego. Mourinho has achieved mission impossible by becoming the first man in football history to be hated by Barcelona fans as much as their Real Madrid enemies hate him. This manager self-destructed in three years. He’s going back to Chelsea to be stroked and cuddled after his reality check in the Spanish capital. This man is mortal, and he now knows it. 

Among authentic Spanish Real Madrid fans there is a collective sigh of relief this egomaniac has gone. They’re happy the rollercoaster ride is over. There was a title along the way but Mourinho left most Madridistas feeling nauseous.

Real Madrid are not a football club that will do literally anything for success. It has to be achieved in the correct manner. With class and quality. That is the mark of true greatness.

Real Madrid offered Jose Mourinho a chance to achieve true greatness at a global giant. He failed.

Over and out: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez revealed on Monday that Mourinho will leave the Spanish giants this summer

Real rollercoaster is over: Mourinho, whose only great success at Madrid was winning the Spanish title last season, looks destined for a return to Chelsea

Silver lining: Mourinho, pictured lifting the Premier League in 2005 (left) and the FA Cup in 2007 (right), will need to repair his reputation if he return to Stamford Bridge this summer

10 observations from the last day of the Premier League season...1) Top players should think twice before signing for a club managed by Tony Pulis.

Michael Owen might not have been a Premier League force in recent seasons – as Owen himself said: 'I’m not as good as I used to be' – but with Stoke City safe for another season, Tony Pulis had a duty to football and an obligation to football fans up and down the country to start Owen in his final game before retirement.

Leaving him on the bench until the final fifteen minutes at Southampton was disrespectful to a player who thrilled the nation at his peak. Owen was simply brilliant and the fitting finale would have been to start him.

Left out: Michael Owen deserved better than to be brought on as a sub on his last-ever game

What a shame the desperation to hit 40 points and all that clinical stuff that comes with the fantastic spectacle that is the Premier League seems to have killed off any sentimentality or emotion in managers like Pulis.

Stoke were safe already, Pulis needed to lighten up.

Stoke are lucky such a huge name signed for their club and unfortunately Pulis misjudged the mood of football fans and Stoke fans when he put a legend on the bench on Sunday.

2) Nice to see the good–looking brother of Norwich City turn up for the final game of the season. His ugly sibling has been dulling the senses of football fans for the past five months. Go and check Chris Hughton’s substitutions and tactics since they hit seventh spot in December (above Arsenal) – all geared towards drawing games, packing the midfield and trying to keep clean sheets.

Their most memorable result of the season was a home defeat by non-League opposition in the FA Cup, the only Premier League side ever to suffer such a shock. And their main striker only started performing after a recent kick up his not inconsiderable backside in this column. The table looks decent after 38 games, but most Norwich fans will know the truth.

Ben Foster’s fumblings on the penultimate weekend ensured Norwich City’s safety for another season. Only then did Hughton decide to let his players play, so they went to Manchester City and played with real panache, scored some fantastic goals, and were thoroughly entertaining. And significantly, they won. Makes you wonder why Hughton was so boring and cautious with them since Christmas.

Yellow peril: Chris Hughton's Norwich stunned Manchester City at the Etihad on the final day of the season

Norwich and the rest of the Premier League clubs receive millions from TV companies who rely on audience figures to attract sponsors, and need a spectacle to attract subscribers. Some clubs feel they deserve the money just for being in the Premier League. For me, they have a duty to entertain, that’s the return the TV companies want for their investment.

Norwich aren’t the only ones who’ve been dreadful to watch but they need to take that fantastic football from the final day into next season. They have a duty to their fans to stay in the Premier League but they also have a duty to entertain and earn their TV money. Norwich have proved they can play, so let’s see more of that please.

3) After the final game, Spurs fans were tweeting about how it had been a fantastic season, the manager had done really well and that they were improving. If finishing fifth, lower than last season, and missing out again on Champions League football constitutes a fantastic season, then the ambitions of the Spurs’ fans fail to get anywhere near the lofty, glittering ambitions of Gareth Bale.

By accepting failure so readily, the Spurs faithful make it very hard for Bale to stay long-term at White Hart Lane.

So has AVB failed? He took a top four team, spent £50million, had the double player of the year in his best ever form and still only finished fifth.

Second best: Gareth Bale must settle for Europa League football next season if he stays at Spurs this summer

On top of that, Chelsea sacked their manager, appointed a man the fans hated, and played 69 games – yet Spurs couldn’t finish above them.

Arsenal lost Robin van Persie – their captain, top scorer and best player and failed to adequately replace him. But still, the Gunners left Spurs trailing.

One positive was the record points total Spurs achieved. They are the first to accumulate over 70 points and still fail to finish in the top four. The target at the start of the season was Champions League football, a top-four finish. Imagine this conversation at the start of the season: Daniel Levy to AVB: 'Andre I am more than happy to miss out on Champions League football, so long as you get lots of points.'

Going backwards: Tottenham got their record points total in the Premier League under Villas-Boas this season but finished a place below last year

It doesn’t work like that. My team Peterborough achieved a record points total but ended up being relegated. So that means it was an awful season of failure. Same goes with Spurs – they failed to meet the target set at the start of the season. That’s a season of failure, whichever way you dress it up.

After Spurs beat Arsenal at the start of March, AVB announced that Arsenal were 'on a negative spiral in terms of results. To get out of that spiral is extremely difficult.'

The Gunners didn’t lose another game, overturned a seven-point gap and leapt above Spurs in the table.

In short, Arsene Wenger owned AVB.

Perhaps the Spurs’ manager’s rather bizarre obsession with the Europa League didn’t help.

To finish fourth and miss out on Champions League football was unlucky, to finish fifth and miss out again was careless.

Party time: The Gunners celebrate their fourth-place finish

4) Arsenal's whole dynamic as a football force has changed. In 2006, I saw them compete in a Champions League final, two years before that they were champions of England. These occasions seem like distant memories, probably because they are. The modern Arsenal celebrate a last-day fourth-place finish.

I can appreciate that in the moment, the win at Newcastle meant a lot to Gooners, what looked distinctly like celebrations, were surely only over-reacting to what was actually a feeling of relief. Thursday nights in the Europa would be bad, but finishing below Spurs was unthinkable.

I am actually disappointed the Gunners made it into the top four – it’s a long time since they showed some serious intent to actually go on and win the Champions League. Selling Fabregas, Nasri, Song and Van Persie is the best indicator of Arsenal’s Champions League ambitions – they simply don’t exist.

Arsene Wenger himself said that selling both Nasri and Fabregas in the same summer displayed a clear lack of ambition. Fans will point to victories over Barcelona and Bayern Munich in recent seasons – but deep down they know these ties are won and lost over two legs, and the aggregate outcome against both those giants was never in doubt.

The solution is simple: buy better players, keep your good players, win your Champions League group and Arsenal will have a better chance of being taken seriously. Let’s see if Wenger does that this summer, or whether he’s happy managing perennial also-rans.

5) Manchester City fans called him Bobby Manc, they sang his name on Sunday, and they are rightly grateful for the trophies he won in his time at the Etihad. But the sacking of Roberto Mancini puts into perspective what the demands are at City.

The next manager will know he cannot afford to fail two seasons running in the Champions League, he knows they can’t take such a dramatic step backwards from whatever was achieved in the Premier League the previous season, and he will know that if he takes the team to a final, they can’t turn up at Wembley and perform like a rich man’s Northampton Town.

Ciao, Roberto: City fans are unanimous in their admiration for axed boss Mancini but his predecessor must learn not to repeat the same mistakes of openly criticising his players

If he learns from the mistakes of his predecessor, the new man will also know not to publicly criticise his players – particularly the likes of Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany. Both respected members of the City squad, both openly lambasted this season by Mancini, something fellow professionals did not appreciate at all. The consequences were there for all to see.

The expectations have been made clear to the new manager of Manchester City. Can’t say fairer than that.

Signing off: Newcastle keeper Steve Harper

6) The Newcastle fans are phenomenal. Their send-off for Steve Harper was special, and after 20 years it’s no surprise he was left in tears.

The sad part is that this was like a trophy to the Newcastle fans – something for them to get emotional about at the end of the season. They’re too classy to celebrate survival – small clubs do that.

But there is nothing else for Newcastle fans to put their heart and soul into. The final game of the season said it all – the players battled but in the end they lost.

Alan Pardew moaned about the size of his squad and complained about the difficulty of playing Thursday then Sunday and competing in the Europa League.

He may have a point but it really isn’t what Newcastle fans want to hear. When Wigan and Swansea have brought trophies home and even Bradford reached a cup final, there are no excuses for the likes of Pardew. Newcastle should be doing better.

Sad times at St James’ Park when all the fans have to shout about is the third choice keeper retiring after 20 years.

7) Brendan Rodgers told talkSPORT this week that in 12 months' time he wants to be challenging for the top four. Well that might seem a little bit optimistic to most. Liverpool haven’t won a trophy, and they won’t be in Europe next season.

But their final game of the season showed a glimpse of a potentially exciting future ahead. Twenty three minutes into the match, teenager Jordon Ibe controlled a difficult spinning, bouncing, chest-high ball on the touchline, cut in from the left, confidently beat two men and then laid the ball off to another youngster Philippe Coutinho. The Brazilian fired home an unstoppable shot.

Looking up: Brendan Rodgers reckons the likes of Coutinho can fire Liverpool into the top four next season

If Coutinho’s consistency can match his unquestionable talent then he will be a Premier League star. This won’t go down as a great season in Liverpool’s history, but there is the promise of a bright future. The only problem they might have is finding the right level of experience to go with the youth to blend together an efficient and exciting first team capable of challenging for honours, especially now that one of the true leaders of the club, Jamie Carragher, is no longer there.

8) Paolo Di Canio’s outburst after Sunderland’s defeat at Spurs was brilliant and risky in equal measure. According to Di Canio there is an 'arrogant and ignorant' culture among Sunderland’s senior professionals. Makes you wonder if Martin O’Neill will ever work again but it also leaves you wondering how things will pan out at the Stadium of Light.

The Italian has already handed out fines to certain players who couldn’t be bothered to turn up to charity shirt-signing sessions. Think that through – a player who has realised a boyhood dream of not just becoming a professional footballer but playing at the very top level and earning fantastic money. Yet he can’t be bothered to sign some shirts to help charitable causes. It makes me feel sick to the pit of my stomach.

There are other problems Di Canio openly highlighted. Players told to meet at the training ground at 4pm, strolling in 20 minutes late, chewing gum, not apologising, and not bothered. These players live, according to Di Canio, five minutes from the training ground. 

Fuming: Paolo Di Canio has openly highlighted some of the issues at Sunderland

Controversy: Defender Phil Bardsley was dropped after 'celebrating' Sunderland's Premier League survival by draping himself with £50 notes at a casino last week

And then you get Phil Bardsley 'celebrating' survival by allowing himself to be photographed lying on the floor covered in £50 notes. Di Canio says the players who have transgressed will not be playing under him next season if he has his way.

I want to wish Paolo Di Canio all the best with this policy: players who take their privileged position for granted bring shame on their profession.

But the Sunderland manager faces many obstacles – agents, players under contract, footballers who will happily sit around and take money for not playing, the PFA (that fantastic organisation who happily applauded a convicted rapist last year but apologised for hiring a comedian this year), and maybe even fans who idolise certain players without knowing whether they are thoroughly professional when representing their club.

I hope he succeeds but I fear he may end up suffering the same fate as other managers who have taken on players in the past – sacked.

9) Martin Jol produced a miracle last August that kept Fulham in the Premier League. He signed Dimtar Berbatov. Fittingly the Bulgarian scored in a fine 3-0 win on Sunday at Swansea, his 15th goal of the season. Having sold Dempsey and Dembele, and with Johnson and Zamora gone, goals were a concern for the Craven Cottage side as the end of the summer transfer window approached.

Fiorentina agreed a deal with Manchester United for Berbatov but he failed to turn up for a scheduled medical. Juventus thought they had him. And then Jol stepped in with just hours to go before the window closed, to capture the player he had first signed at Tottenham.

We will never know what would have happened to Fulham without Berbatov but my opinion is they would have been relegated, so he has to go down as one of the signings of the season.10) I was privileged to be present at Sir Alex Ferguson’s final game in football, and what a game. A 10-goal thriller, with the champions doing what they’ve always done under the great man, providing unrivalled entertainment. Great football, and that’s what I’ll remember about Sir Alex.

Thanks for the memories: Sir Alex Ferguson bowed out on Sunday after a 5-5 draw at The Hawthorns

  More... Special gone! Mourinho will leave Real Madrid on June 1, paving the way for Chelsea return with Spanish giants dropping £12m release fee EXCLUSIVE: Bale Bombshell! Spurs face paying star £200k a week to stay Bring in the PFA! Sunderland duo want fines imposed by Di Canio for breaking club rules investigated... and you can read the Italian's amazing rant about the sanctions right here Spurs fan Lord Sugar blasts fan in Twitter row over scoreline gaffe


















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