Who's NOT Mourning for Mourinho?

ME!

I was never a great fan of the self-named Special One, and have never exactly taken pains to hide my dislike.

After news broke last week of his sudden departure by mutual consent from Chelsea, it has been tempting to play history revisionist and remember the man more fondly than I ever regarded him. Watching all those news reports of Chelsea fans eulogizing his achievements and football pundits roundly hailing his contribution to the Premier League, I was almost inclined to get a little misty-eyed over the end of the Mourinho era at Stamford Bridge.

He will be missed. He did bring his own inimitable style to the Premiership. He was at all times, newsworthy and media-friendly (if not exactly, friendly to the media). He was a charismatic character in a stable of Premiership managers that are collectively somewhat lacking in that quality. For his fashion sense alone, he deserved a Manager of the Month award, totally in keeping with Chelsea's reputation as the up-market London team. Above all, he achieved spectacular results on the football field for his club - that unbeaten home streak is some sort of a miracle.

Yes, he will be missed and has more than earned his place among the greatest and most celebrated of Chelsea legends.

But let us not forget that he was also often arrogant, an atrociously sore loser, an even more ungracious winner, something of a bully, petulant, childish, rude, supercilious and altogether too pleased with himself. So much so that I had begun to find him laughable and almost clownish in his dogged display of bad behaviour. He seemed to have offered up rudeness as proof of his "special" ability to march to the beat of his own drum; a badge of honour against authority and establishment. Goodness knows that football authorities deserve as much dissent as any other body in power, but Mourinho's accusations of bias and other misdeeds have been firmly barking up the wrong tree, reflecting not a deep concern for the governance of football but a much more self-centred, and less admirable, need to always deflect blame away from himself.

I don't know, perhaps he got out of Chelsea just in time, before the shine wore off. As it is, he leaves with a glowing reputation and as ever has been his way, the media eating out of his hands. It is almost like a masterfully staged personal PR coup; whatever Mourinho goes on to do next, he will attract attention and interest. I did not much admire the man, but I have to give him this much - I can admire his style.