Jose Mourinho is one of the most famous managers in football. He has won a lot of trophies managing top clubs all over Europe. Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Tottenham, and AS Roma are all on his CV. He won the treble with Inter Milan, led Chelsea to their first Premier League trophy in 50 years, won the Champions League with Porto, won La Liga with Real Madrid, won the Europa League with Manchester United, and won the Conference League with Roma. The Portuguese manager has a long rap sheet of achievements in his managerial career making him one of the elite managers of the modern football era.
Jose Mourinho is called “The Special One” and what we are going to explain in this article is the origin of the nickname. It’s quite a funny story depending on how you look at it.
Mourinho was unveiled at Stamford Bridge on the 2nd of June, 2004 in a press conference that has now attained legendary status. During the conference, he said the famous words that would confer on him the nickname “The Special One”. Aged 41, with great hair and just coming off winning the Champions League with Porto, Mourinho was confident, charismatic, and engaged the journalists expertly with a swagger that surprised the journalists. “We have top players and I’m sorry I’m a bit arrogant but we have a top manager,” he said. “Please don’t call me arrogant because what I am saying is true. I am the European Champion. I am not one of the bottom. I think I am a special one.” And so with that speech, José Mourinho inadvertently chose his own nickname. The media ran with it and called him the special one popularizing the pseudonym. Indeed, he proved he was special as he won Chelsea their first league title at the end of his first season.
At the press conference following his Premier League triumph with Chelsea, he was asked whether he felt he had truly proven himself to be the special one he said he was at the start of the season. A surprised Mourinho replied “What do you mean special? I know I said it but at that time I was saying I’m special because I was the European champion two days before that. So I arrived here with a big ego and now it’s even higher.”
Jose only said he was special because he was the only other Champions League winner in the Premier League apart from Sir Alex Ferguson at the time of his arrival but the name stuck and today everywhere goes, he is “The Special One”. One thing is sure though; he will always be special to Chelsea. He is “The Special One ” who led them to their first Premier League trophy in 50 years and kickstarted an era of success for Chelsea.