Pressure and Priorities |
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It has caused much surprise in Italy, including some angry and resentful voices, Jose Mourinho's decision to leave Inter despite still having a three-year contract and after winning with the team, and I say it with great satisfaction, the Championship, the Italian Cup and the Champions League. Frankly, although I would have preferred to keep seeing Jose sitting on Inter’s bench, I disagree with this surprise. Firstly I believe that, as permitted by the rules, if a club can decide to sack a coach at any time, providing it will fulfil its contractual duties, the coach has the right to do the same without this being considered like a betrayal, especially when there is a termination clause that obviously the coach or his new club will have to pay.  Mourinho has been for months without talking to the media, unless it was in the UEFA’s mandatory press conferences. The Portuguese coach took this decision not without reason considering that he has been unfairly treated by the Italian press. The coach felt that instead of going every two or three days in an argument or conflict with one or more journalists, the best decision was to not make any statements and limit it to a few mandatory situations or just talking with the club’s own media, in this case with Inter Channel.Apart from that, I guess he must have felt having achieved the maximum he could achieve with Inter and that next season could only be worse, which is always a very strong reason for an ambitious coach who seeks success and not comfort to consider a change, even though feeling at home with the old club and having an important contract like in the case of the Portuguese. Nothing better for him that a new challenge such as going to a club where it is true that the triumphs are magnified as in no other club in the world, but where, however, it is equally true that it is so complicated winning that the percentage of coaches that leave as winners is, I think, the lowest in the world. I would like to share with you a very apt phrase from an experienced journalist, which made me think a lot: "In Real Madrid what make news is, in the order: failures, trophies and lost games": meaning that the won games are not even considered news! In all countries and all sports, majority of the journalists are professionals who know enough about the topics they write about, but it is also true that in all countries and all sports there are also other interests that influence and condition, media that may be in favour of those who took the decision to hire a coach, whereas others may disagree and demonstrate it by attacking, or even journalists close to the previous coach that see the new coach as an usurper, or others that for lack of knowledge or for choice do not know/want to assess the situation but only the results ... Finally, we must recognize that there are other factors that affect media’s attitude towards a coach, and that they have nothing to do with the job that the professional is actually doing, but that weights quite importantly if the club is influenceable (if not even with the press itself acting as a loudspeaker for the Club’s thoughts, which has already happened...). These considerations, after having lived them on my skin in my seasons as coach of Real Madrid, were very helpful last summer during the Eurobasket, having allowed me to focus on work and tie myself, my staff and my players in a very united and very strong group, reacting to the initial situation of uncertain performances that sparked a very strong pressure on national media. As I learned very well (and in this there is no better school in the world than Real Madrid) it’s the end result that counts. And those who determine if results are good or bad are firstly the players, and to a lesser extent, the coaches. There is very little gain in opening a discussion. It’s of no use entering a conflict. It is much more important focusing on work quality and developing human relationships within the group, looking inward without giving too much importance to what happens outside. If you can ensure that players are not influenced by these distractions and only identify the real enemy as the opposite team, and sometimes the negative attitude of the team itself, you will get them to focus on the most important thing: playing a good basketball! |
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