For me, Mourinho taking the Man Utd job has restored some balance to the universe.
I'm a Charlton supporter and my main focus in football is on the success (or otherwise) of my club. However, like many, I take an interest in other clubs and particularly in those clubs challenging for honours. Now, attitudes to these clubs may change over time, but some things should remain fairly constant.
For most of my life, I've wanted Man Utd to fail. In the main, I've always been a supporter of the gritty underdog and Man Utd have been the epitome of the giant club swimming in cash, scooping up all the prizes while everyone else has to look on in despair. Admittedly, in the eighties this role was held by Liverpool, but then the Man Utd steamroller driven by Fergie came along and flattened all in it's way. And I couldn't stand them. This always seemed normal to me.
But then some weird things happened. Arsene Wenger started to become annoyingly one-eyed and, frankly, dishonest when it came to his team, whilst remaining hyper-critical of everyone else. I never used to mind them, but I started to develop a dislike of Arsenal. This has continued to grow over the years.
Chelsea suddenly got a sugar daddy and spent obscene amounts of money buying up a 'world XI' to play for them. This sat uncomfortably with me and I started to develop a dislike of them too.
More recently, Man City did the same thing. My dislike of them hasn't quite intensified in the same way, maybe because Chelsea already having done it took the edge off, but I have no love for City and I imagine I would have felt more antipathy to them if they'd swept all before them.
Liverpool, for some reason, considering they are, quite splendidly, still without Premier League success remained as an irritant to my football sensibilities. Maybe it's the fans. Maybe the sense of entitlement they seem to have. Maybe the fact that they used their number of top division titles to brag about being the best until Man Utd overtook them, so they changed the rules and made the number of European Cups the deciding factor. Deluded pricks.
But the biggest influence on my opinion of the top teams was Mourinho. Incredible arrogance, such a lack of humility, an utter absence of respect for his peers (or, for that matter, his medical staff - actually, maybe he doesn't respect anyone), an enemy of sportsmanship and a shameless promoter of gamesmanship. Granted, he's a very successful manager. But he comes across as a nasty, selfish and ruthless person with few redeeming qualities as a human being. This exacerbated my dislike of Chelsea to the point where I would cheer on anyone (except, of course, those stripey tossers) playing against them.
On the flip side of this, I quite like Jurgen Klopp. I still can't bear Liverpool, but I wonder if I might soften to them in the future...
Anyway, as a result of all this bollocks, I've found myself wishing ill on most of these 'big' clubs. But it's been strange for a few years because Man Utd have kind of become my
favourite of these! If I were to rank these clubs in the order of how much I've disliked them in recent years it would be as follows:
1) Chelsea
2) Liverpool
3) Arsenal
4) Man City
5) Man Utd
This seems wrong. I mean, they're all pretty loathsome, but there's no way Man Utd should be at the bottom of a table like that.
And so we come to the recent appointment of Mourinho at Man Utd.
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, it all makes sense! I can despise Man Utd again and the universe is in balance!
Now all I need is for Klopp to leave Liverpool and everything will be perfect.
Comments
They don't register on the huge-club-hate-o-meter though, because they're not a huge club. Even the most staunch Leicester fan would agree with that, I'm sure.
Now, if Sheffield Wednesday won the league, it would be a different situation...