Mourinho’s arrogance is tempered by the fact that he respects those who have reached the heights of the game. The reason why Mourinho would much rather share a bottle of wine with Ferguson than Wenger is in no small part due to the Scot’s European successes.
"I am a special manager, because I have won the Champions League," Mourinho famously said. It seems he judges himself and all others on European success, so look out for an increased respect for Rafael Benitez in the coming season.
But while Benitez’s success is fresh in the memory and something of an anomaly against a backdrop of an underachieving domestic campaign, Ferguson’s 1999 success was perhaps the pinnacle of a dynasty that he created largely by himself. Ferguson joined Manchester United in November 1986 after remarkable success at Aberdeen. He led them to three Scottish titles and, most notably, a European Cup Winners’ Cup success over Real Madrid in 1983. His achievements in taking a small club to the very heights of the game mirror Mourinho’s achievements at Porto. Back to back Portuguese titles coupled with a UEFA Cup and a Champions League success marked Mourinho out as a talented manager with a future at a bigger club.
The Manchester United of 1986 represented an almighty challenge to its incumbent manager; a big club with a huge following that craved success, but lacked the squad and the infrastructure to deliver it. Ferguson overhauled the squad, but more importantly in terms of the longevity of the club’s success, he focused heavily on developing the club’s youth policy. The stadium was redeveloped and he was given the money to splash out on players to supplement the existing squad. Couple this with a few transfer masterstrokes (Peter Schmeichel, Denis Irwin and Eric Cantona) and United had the basis for success. United’s 1999 season was unforgettable in its drama and entertainment and saw the club’s youth policy and frugal transfer dealings come to fruition on the biggest club stage of all.
The comparisons with Mourinho are marked. The task Mourinho had in front of him last summer was similar to Ferguson’s 1986 challenge, albeit at a more advanced stage. Just like United, Chelsea were just off the pace prior to the arrival of ‘The Special One,’ and he quickly set about ensuring the infrastructure exists so that the club can dominate.
What is ominous for the rest of The Premiership is that even if Roman Abramovich pulls his money out in the near future, Mourinho is fast making sure that Chelsea’s future will be bright. The appointments of Peter Kenyon and now Frank Arnesen are all part of Chelsea’s attempt to create a dynasty to rival that of United. Of course, it is all a lot more complicated now than in 1986. United were able to dominate the game at a time when the commercialism bomb exploded in football, and were thus in a strong position to maximise monetary gain whilst at the forefront of the market. Chelsea are trying to build an empire at 21st Century prices, which is why the Abramovich millions are so vital to the initial development.
Chelsea are not similar to Manchester United in terms of history; United have an illustrious past rich with success, characters and tragedy, while a solitary title 50 years ago and a stand once named after an outhouse hardly constitutes historic quantity. So, Chelsea are making their history now. Establishing the brand is the key to longevity, and Mourinho’s role is simply to win things and create a legend. He must spend wisely and solidify Chelsea’s position among the game’s elite, and the club will only be perceived to be at the top after a sustained period of success.
It is only Abramovich’s money that bullied the club’s way into the top echelons of the game, but now Mourinho has set about ensuring the team deserves its new status. Mourinho has delivered success in double quick time; the Premiership and the League Cup were perhaps more than most expected from his first season in charge. But as Chelsea look to establish their global brand, Mourinho will be expected to deliver in Europe, and it is this that brings us back to his link with Ferguson. Both have Europe on the mind for different reasons, but both see it as the ultimate testing ground for their skills.
Ferguson has long admired the measured and mature approach to European football in the mould of AC Milan, and has tried to temper United’s natural desire to go forward with a more patient approach mirroring Carlo Ancelotti’s side. He wants to prove his greatness by winning the Champions League more than once, thus cementing his place among the greatest ever managers in the world. He has achieved all there is in domestic football, but in Jose Mourinho he has found someone who has reignited his passion for the previously mundane. A long and gruelling Premiership season has new value and a third dimension with the onset of the Portuguese, and Mourinho’s attitude will multiply Ferguson’s desire to reign supreme. In addition, the financial constraints placed on United as a result of the Glazer takeover mean he will be under greater pressure than ever to deliver on the stage where revenue is at its highest.
For Mourinho, he only has respect for European winners, and he desperately wants to be one with Chelsea. He relishes the opportunity to build a dynasty in his own way, and sees Ferguson as his only superior in English football because the Scot did it with more limited resources.
But what of Arsene Wenger? Well, Wenger is notoriously disinterested in the Ferguson tradition of sharing a glass of wine after a game, and has shown himself to be petty and narrow-minded when it has come to dealing with the Scot last season. He allowed himself to be ruffled by the Scot, and seems unable to leave their exchanges to rest in the way the Mourinho-Ferguson clashes have been.
Mourinho’s arrival has brought the old adversaries together in a way never before seen. Wenger’s utterance that United’s 1999 team was "the best I have seen" is a marked change from the usual hostility between the two, although it may just be a reflection of the three-way mind games that are now a feature of the Premiership. Wenger has seen his "invincibles" become all too beatable last year while they continue to falter on the European stage.
A fortuitous FA Cup win did not disguise a below par season in which they continue to rely heavily on Thierry Henry to kick-start their flowing football. Wenger has achieved a great degree of success at Arsenal but he has failed on the greatest stage, and has been unable to dislodge United from the top of the game consistently enough to shift the ‘balance of power.’
All of which means Mourinho, with his incredibly high standards, leans toward Ferguson more than Wenger. Ferguson was happy to use this relationship to break Arsenal’s grip on the Premiership, but it remains to be seen how friendly the two will remain if they become embroiled in a close title race next season. Mourinho’s aggressive style and quick success have catapulted him alongside Ferguson and Wenger.
Mourinho’s next challenge is to prove whether he can create a club to permanently dislodge Ferguson and United from the summit of English football, or whether he will become a reasonably successful manager with spells of brilliance in the mould of Wenger. The way the Portuguese has started, the latter may not be enough to satisfy him.