Only three weeks ago, I warned fans and friends of Chelsea FC about a looming catastrophe. I also advised that their revered manager, Jose Mourinho, should publicly apologise to Dr. Eva Caneiro, the young, innocent female medical doctor that he had rebuked, humiliated and sacked to massage his bulging ego. Mourinho was playing god in football – all knowing and all-powerful!
I stated that what was happening to Chelsea on the field was avoidable and had its root outside it – a simple outstanding matter they needed to fix in order for Mourinho, and by extension the club, to avoid the ‘curse’ of a woman scorned.
His actions were a wanton display of arrogance and an abuse of power and were bound to attract an elemental reaction in accordance to the universal order of the equilibrium of things – tit for tat. I even quoted poetic lines from the bowels of literature: ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’.
I read many reactions to that article after it was published with many fans of the reigning Premiership champions calling me names and questioning my competency as a commentator and a football analyst.
What they failed to realize then was that I was not discussing any technical football issues that could be ascribed as the reasons for the unprecedented cataclysmic drop of a team from the commanding heights of a champion to the pits of relegation, all within the space of a few months!
What could have happened so quickly and so sharply to the Champions of the EPL and to their legendary coach acclaimed as one of the best and most successful club managers of this generation within the space of a few months?
I looked for the answer beyond the football field because on it nothing had changed – at the start of the season the champions did not lose key players (the team actually recruited a few more) and the manager was waxing strong and lyrical.
In short, everything that had worked to make them champions was still in place, so why would they suddenly start to find defeating even the ‘small’ teams in the EPL impossible despite dominating matches, creating endless chances and fluffing them all?
Week after week the mystery deepened as Chelsea fell under the spell of an unprecedented slump.
The answer lay beyond the realm of football technicalities. That’s what a frustrated Fabregas, more or less, also said – that it was inexplicable that the entire team of players, including the ‘big’ ones, was playing badly, but that with time and continuous effort they would ride the tide and things would change. Unfortunately, there wasn’t the luxury of such patience to wait and weather the raging storm. The ship was sinking fast.
That’s why it came as no real surprise that even the Special One had to eat the humble pie of being sacked this week as the team plummeted to only one point above the gallows of relegation. By this weekend the defending champions of the EPL could actually sink into the cesspool of that unfamiliar zone.
My take on the matter
I am delving into rather ‘dangerous’ territory, I know, but the reality is that, true or false, football is full of idiosyncrasies and superstitions that exist side by side the game throughout its entire gamut. These are beliefs beyond the ordinary and into realm of spirituality and metaphysics.
In absolute reality, therefore, the matter of Dr. Caneiro may not be the cause of Chelsea’s fall, but in a situation where there is no clear, explicable technical cause for the club’s travails it only makes sense to eliminate what could possibly be a remote factor.
My conclusion
Jose Mourinho has started to harvest the fruits of what he sowed.
His life beyond Chelsea would be an interesting subject of close observation for people like me. He will surely not be out of work for any length of time. Many top teams would be angling for his signature.
But, I believe that Jose will never be the same again. Somehow, during this stay in Chelsea he has ‘suffered’ some de-mystification. The mind-game he used to play successfully with opposing coaches and won all the time may have come to a terminus.
But even beyond that, until he unhinges his achievements and successes from the anchor of arrogant posturing and egocentric tendencies, this period in his career may linger on.
The Special One must quickly become the wise one. Favoured by the elements so far, he must go back to the roots of his present travails by revisiting the simple issue of Dr. Eva Caneiro and clear that ‘mess’, even if quietly. He must seek her forgiveness before returning to work on the football field again and to his old winning ways. A word is enough for the wise!
The fate of Chelsea after Mourinho?
Will Chelsea’s slump stop now that Mourinho has been sacked? That’s a million Dollar question.
The answer is a follow up question: was the team complicit and, therefore, culpable in Eva’s maltreatment by watching and doing nothing to check Mourinho even when everyone knew his action was harsh and wrong?
Although, a new manager and the next few matches will provide the answer, my humble advise still will be that the club publicly denounces the action of Jose Mourinho against Eva Caneiro, apologises to her for keeping silent in the face of injustice and offers to have her back in the club should she choose to return.
Only then shall their ‘world’ return to normal and the team to winning ways again.
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