Chelsea v Spurs: Jose Mourinho And Villas-Boas Make Kanye Blush

By Ed Fernandez
11 years Ago

Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho | Chelsea FC: A Season of Nothing for Jose Mourinho

Kanye West hasn’t been having a good week. Jimmy Kimmel had a field day mocking the star, featuring kids playing the role of Kanye West and his interviewer in a recreation of the now infamous BBC interview where Kim Kardashian’s bitter half referred to himself both as a god, and the creator of leather jogging pants. Simultaneously.

The persistent urge of some men to act childish, hasn’t spared even the English Premier League. As Chelsea and Tottenham prepare to do battle, the focus is on educating the supporters of both sides to refrain from using the Y-word. The word, a slur for Jewish people, is used by Tottenham fans to refer to themselves. Chelsea supporters are more likely to join in, for less than charitable reasons.

Chelsea have warned their fans not to do it, pointedly stating that Tottenham’s acceptance of the term isn’t reason enough to indulge in some chanting of their own. Ordinarily, that would’ve been enough, but things have gotten so out of hand, that the police have had to step in. The Metropolitan police have shown a nuanced understanding of the term, and will likely go lenient on Spurs fans who use the term rather innocuously but will hold visiting Chelsea fans to a higher standard.

The fact that grown men feel the need to sing about Auschwitz, the mass slaughter in World War 2 and use ethnic slurs to refer to themselves or others, makes them no better than petulant infants with an absolute lack of moral compass. Into this volatile mix, add the confusing stance of the Metropolitan police whose attempt at identifying intent is juvenile at best, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Are things going to be any better on the field? Probably not. Chelsea’s top player of last season now languishes on the sidelines. Tottenham have offloaded their best to Real Madrid, albeit for a terrific sum. And Chelsea’s successful pursuit of Willian isn’t likely to endear the two sets of players to each other – with bad blood expected, when the underwhelming Brazilian takes to the field.

Will the Spurs faithful rub it in, by chanting Juan Mata’s name? The Spaniard was reportedly a target for the Lilywhites, who failed to secure his release from their West London counterparts.

Perhaps you might be tempted to look at the helm of both ships for a higher standard of gamesmanship. Everyone knows Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho have had a past together, during happier times, as sorcerer and apprentice at Chelsea and Inter Milan. When Villas-Boas was appointed Chelsea’s manager, he let it slip that he hadn’t spoken to Mourinho in a while.

People put that down to him plying his trade in the Portuguese Liga, masterminding one Porto triumph after another, and the obvious time constraints that imposed on him. As news emerged that Villas-Boas had lost the dressing room, it took little effort to connect the dots and realize it was Mourinho’s old guard that were most mad at him.

Still, that was water under the bridge, and 2 managers had come and gone since then, before Mourinho returned to his post. So it’s a bit surprising that Villas-Boas would choose his press conference to stress – in case anyone hadn’t gotten it last time around – that he REALLY no longer speaks to Jose Mourinho. Fair enough; nobody expects managers to be chums off the field.

Villas-Boas made all the right noises, offering a forced and saccharine assessment of his bond with Mourinho. But then came the zinger. The “I don’t lose any sleep over it” remark casually lobbed at the waiting horde of journalists.

Villas-Boas had managed to do something he hadn’t ever since exiting Chelsea: grab headlines. Suddenly, it was the diss of the decade. And predictably, Jose Mourinho who had gone to great extents claiming he’d mellowed down, was back in action.

Mourinho ratcheted it up a notch, stressing his maturity and how if he had a problem, he’d settle it over lunch. If that wasn’t subtle enough, Mourinho effectively called Andre Villas-Boas a “kid”, before relegating the man whose hand he must shake to the trash heap of insignificance.

“I don’t care what he says. I’m here, not to comment on what he says or what to know what he says. I’m not interested.”, Mourinho shrugged, driving the knife in further. He made sure to twist it even more so than usual, by feigning surprise, shock and horror that Villas-Boas even shared the same planet as Bobby Robson.

Villas-Boas was being ridiculous when he chose to make the most of the fortuitous position Tottenham Hotspur finds itself in, in the league standings, by stoking the embers in Mourinho’s ego. And the Special One proved he wasn’t far behind, by jumping headlong into the media maelstrom of ‘he said it first’.

All this before a clash of utmost importance, that might go on to define the fortunes of two of the most talented sides in the English Premier League. When calmer minds should have prevailed, wounded pride did.

And you thought Kanye was nuts.

Categories: Chelsea FC, English Premier League, Features, Tottenham Hotspur
Tags: Chelsea FC Mourinho Villas Boas

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