Some wise words and perspective from Clayton Beerman on Jose Mourinho, Chelsea and Twitter…
I was on holiday recently and the hotel didn’t have free Wi-Fi. I went to reception and found out you could buy it but you couldn’t use it on two devices at the same time. I said that was crazy and the receptionist after blaming the provider said but nobody’s forcing you to use it!
His answer for someone in the service industry was rude but prophetically spot on in terms of my current reading of the press and social media.
I have really embraced twitter. It has been a conduit for new friends, the birth of my blogging and podding “careers” (yes it’s twitter’s fault!) a great source of information about the arts, music and books but at the moment it’s a difficult read.
Last Saturday night whilst the X Factor was droning on in the background I saw a Tweet from the Times journalist Oliver Kay saying that Jose had collapsed in his hotel room and had been rushed to hospital. I immediately went on to the BBC website and saw nothing. There was no other mention and upon further inspection “Oliver Kay” was an imposter and the tweet just mischief.
What the f#ck possesses some loser to do that. Taking away football rivalries for a second this really makes no sense on any level. Going to the trouble of replicating a journalist’s account and tweeting shit. Thankfully I cannot get into the head of the saddo. I suppose it beats having to do your geography home work.
As we know football is all about opinions and there may well be a faction of “fans” who would like us to get rid of our manager. Step forward the @Mourhinooutclub account on twitter. Divisive drivel with the inevitable threat to fly a plane with the banner etc. Whether it’s a Chelsea fan or not, who knows but as I have mentioned before I’d rather lose the players than the manager.
Twitter also links in to all the headline stories from the newspapers. Every day there is something new from Hans Christian Anderson school of journalism. The club are doing this, the cardboard box for desk clearing has arrived, and the players have turned up for training with pitchforks and lighted torches.
I know it is their job but why are the press hounding Jose out of British football? Taking my Chelsea hat off surely his presence here has to be in their interest. Every day however there is some sensationalist crap about his last chance, the dressing room has been lost, and the owner is just about to pull the trigger.
There are a few out there writing good stuff such as Dominic Fifield, a journo who seems to have some inkling about what is actually happening. The latest however is the hijacking of a piece from cfcuk fanzine by the Sun. Written before the proverbial hit the fan. On the whole a positive piece which rightly questioned Jose’s comments on our away fans. Used without consent and another stick to beat the man with.
It is hard to remember a more collective effort from our press to vilify a manager. It is fair to say that Jose sometimes does not help himself. The whole Eva episode hangs heavy. It is impossible to know what impact that had on the internal moral at the club. I have always said with Jose you take the good with the bad.
Maybe the press are continuing the assault because they know other fans are desperate for him to go and hopefully end up at their club!
The bottom line is no one knows what Roman thinks. He will undoubtedly be unhappy as this is the worst the club has done during his 
ownership. He probably knows that getting Hiddink in for 6 months will “rescue” the season and maybe get into the top four but then what?
It is obvious that there is something wrong at the club. From lack of fitness, to some stellar players stinking the place out. It is true that Jose tried to get players in in the summer and I have no doubt that the addition to the squad of say Stones and Pogba would have given a bounce effect to the club and certainly would have changed some results. It didn’t happen for whatever reason and we have to hold on until January. The really interesting question is whether Jose will still be there.
If he is then for me it proves the club let him down in the summer. An admission that the additional players Jose wanted was the right way to go. The alternative is not worth thinking about. I like many will recall when he heard he’d gone first time round. It was like being chucked when you were circa 15/16 by the “one”. Your stomach churned, a feeling of helplessness knowing nothing you can do will change things. It pervades your thoughts and makes you miserable!
Despite the defeat at Stoke the team showed more fight and whilst not playing brilliantly the most recent performances show an improvement. The luck however continues to elude us. Another appalling referee which Jose cannot even speak about and Stoke didn’t even lose that many players to the respective squads during the rugby world cup.
For Charlie Adams read Diego Costa and “that” tackle gets 24/7 coverage from Sky. Whilst a persecution complex is never good for the club it is sometimes difficult to reconcile the treatment afforded to our club and any other. I saw footage of McClaren coming on to the pitch at half time after they got the wrong end of a penalty decision and wagging his finger at the referee. What I do not see is the admonishment from the FA and his subsequent fine/ban.
So does this mean I will not look at twitter or the press, what do you think?
One thing I will be doing on twitter is voting for the Chelsea FanCast as Best Football Podcast in the Football Blogging Awards. Voting ends at 8.00 pm GMT on Friday 30th October so make sure you get your vote in. Vote on twitter by clicking here or the Football Blogging Awards website here: http://www.footballbloggingawards.co.uk/vote-now/
Clayton Beerman
@goalie59 on Twitter
Great article – but what could complete vultures the British press are. I wish we’d ban them from the bridge. Their collective hatred of chelsea as a team and Jose is there for all to see – pure harassment. Shame on those idiotic fans calling for his head
In Jose we trust