Thread by @AaryanGondal

A 🧵 on some lessons from Jose Mourinho 👇

I’d recently watched an episode from a Netflix Original series called The Playbook, where in which popular and successful coaches from all sorts of sports share the rules they live by to achieve success in sports and in life. (1/23)

The episode that stood out to me the most was arguably the one of Jose Mourinho, not only due to my love for ⚽️, but also my admiration for him as an individual and a coach.

The following tweets are some of the takeaways and lessons from his rules for life and coaching. (2/23)

Rule No 1️⃣: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE 

Mourinho was promoted to Head Coach at Porto in 2002-03. A team, which at the time required a massive overhaul and rebuild due to there being no clear vision in the team, and most of all no passion to win. (3/23)

In his own words: “You are born loving your club, you die loving the same club, but sometimes you are not in love with your team – People relate to the values of a club, they demand that spirit and sacrifice, if that’s the people you represent.” (4/23)

Using this ideology, he didn’t spend on out and out football stars, but smaller, more unknown players with a deep feeling and desire to play and represent Porto.

The result?

A team full of hunger, sacrifice and harmony, that embodies the fans values and drive to win (5/23)

When you’re able to create something as wonderful and impenetrable as this, not only do the results follow, but the club also strengthens its bond with its fans. Porto’s home ground became a fortress for two years, they did not lose a single match at home🤯 (6/23)

Rule No 2️⃣: IF YOU ARE PREPARED FOR THE WORST, YOU ARE PREPARED

This rule stems from a crazy story of Mourinho, he converted the fear of playing Manchester United in the 2003 UEFA Champions League opener to mental strength (7/23)

Knowing just how tough Manchester United were at time, Mourinho knew his players would despise the idea of playing them. But rather than praying they’d avoid United, he manipulated the team into wishing for it as they sat together and watched the Draw unveil live on TV. (8/23)

And sure enough, they did get Manchester United. And rather than dreading the thought of this extremely difficult and challenging fixture, they celebrated the fact that they drew MUFC in the first round.

Simply put; what we saw was a classic case of reverse psychology! (9/23)

A technique which to this day continues to be effective not only in the area of sports, but in all sorts of fields such as business. (10/23)

Rule No 3️⃣: THE UNDERDOG ATTACK

In their match with Manchester United, the team’s optimistic and hunger to take on the challenge of playing one of Europe’s best teams is what ultimately led them to victory (11/23)

Rather than sitting back, defending, and soaking in pressure, Mourinho’s team kept on attacking them. The team may have lacked the stars, the quality and the skills compared their opponent, it was ultimately their ambition and drive to win that led them to success. (12/23)

Rule No 4️⃣: SOME RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN

Arguably the oddest yet funniest story you’d have heard, 8 months into his managerial job at Chelsea, he was suspended for making disrespectful comments on Frank Rijkaard, the opposing team (Football Club Barcelona’s) coach. (13/23)

The 2-match suspension meant no access to the bench, no tunnel, and lastly no locker room. He knew his players would need his guidance and support in order to go through the QF with Bayern Munich. (14/23)

Knowing he just had to be there for his team, he took the bold and risky decision of actually being there in locker room during the match. To get there he got into the empty stadium extremely early in the morning when nobody was there. (15/23)

The funnier and well more scarier situation occurred when he had to leave the stadium. The kit man put him in the laundry basket, and left it a little open in order for him to breathe. (16/23)

But the chaos didn’t stop there! While he was being taken outside the dressing room, members of UEFA were desperately following him and trying to find him, so the kit man closed the box and Mourinho was left struggling to breathe! (17/23)

He escaped unharmed and undetected. José was there for the team and later reflect on it.

“We won the game, but it’s not about that. I’m not proud of what I did because it was against the rules. But I’m proud of it as a leader and a player’s friend. I did it for my boys.”(18/23)

Rule No 5️⃣: THE TRAIN DOESN’T STOP TWICE

During a tournament in 2010 with Inter Milan, José had an offer to coach Real Madrid.

He said: “People used to say that the train doesn’t stop twice. So I thought it may be the best thing for my career to make that movement.” (19/23)

His dream was to win the championships in three of Europe’s biggest leagues. Having already conquered England and more recently Italy, it was his chance to go to Spain, and potentially win silverware there. But with a decision of this magnitude also comes the emotions. (20/23)

After winning the Champions League with Inter Milan, he decided to join Real Madrid the next morning. He skipped the locker room, the team bus and even skipped the idea of having a final farewell with the players he coached and the staff who assisted him. (21/23)

The lesson?

Though he would’ve loved to celebrate differently, the emotion of leaving his team on an absolute high would have surely kept him from leaving. Tough decisions always have to be made but one mustn’t ignore the bigger picture and the bigger goals. (22/23)

Rule No 6️⃣: DON’T COACH THE PLAYER, COACH THE TEAM

“If you’re not able to coach the Big Players, you’re not able to coach anyone.”

“It’s important to understand that you’re not going to teach them how to play ⚽️. You’re going to coach them how to play ⚽️ in that team”
(23/23)

Hopefully through this thread you’ll be able to learn a bit about the legendary Jose Mourinho, and his his rules for coaching and life. For me a lot of what’s been said doesn’t only apply to football, but to all other areas of life. Be it ones job, a relationship or group task.

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