A nickname is two decades old. The man who coined the phrase often used to describe him is more than three times as old. Jose Mourinho was unveiled at Fenerbahce on the 20th anniversary of his arrival at Chelsea; the day he pronounced himself special. The euphoric reception in Istanbul was a reminder of his enduring star quality; the indication instead of how far the mighty has fallen lies simply in the fact that Mourinho is now working in the Turkish league.
The Special One has often been greeted with taunts that he isn’t special any more. In a summer when two of the major managerial jobs have gone to Enzo Maresca and Vincent Kompany, when clubs from AC Milan to Barcelona, Bayern Munich to Chelsea, Juventus to Liverpool have looked for managers with no hint of interest in Mourinho, the more telling verdict may have come from the kinds of people who used to queue up to employ him.
