Mourinho 'shoots granny'

Peter van der Gea

Likes Pineapple on well done Steak
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They’re having a PR nightmare. Won’t fare well in the long run, with sponsorship and everything else.
They have a huge stadium debt to service and have spent peanuts in the transfer market for years.

They were extremely lucky with the quartet of Pochettino, Kane, Son and Erikssen - only a matter of time before the bubble bursts and they go back to where they belong - trophy obscurity.
They haven't won a trophy in over a decade...
 

Rozay

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Just last week or whatever he was the good guy volunteering within the community too.
 

Cutch

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The Athletic done a piece on this if anyone interested

Why Mourinho was in the park with Ndombele

Have you heard? Jose Mourinho has been training with Tanguy Ndombele in the park. At first, Tuesday’s news sounded like a joke concocted on social media, the sort of thing that is made up to inspire a series of memes.

But no, it was actually happening — and there was a photo, taken by an Arsenal fan of course, to prove it. And soon the plot thickened, with a clip showing Tottenham team-mates Ryan Sessegnon and Davinson Sanchez running along the side of a road not observing the UK government’s social distancing measures. (Official advice is that all individuals should keep at least two metres apart at all times and outdoor exercise can only be undertaken with one other person from your own household. Sessegnon and Sanchez do not live together).

Keen to get in on the act, Serge Aurier shared a video of himself on Instagram running closer to a friend than the allotted two metres.

So what exactly happened, and how did this all come about?

Let’s start with the first event — Mourinho and Ndombele’s one-on-one session. The pair currently live nearby to one another (Mourinho is temporarily housed with his core staff in accommodation close to the club’s training ground) and so he suggested meeting in Hadley Common in Barnet, north London.

The session lasted around an hour and consisted of routine stretching, sprinting, and jogging. Given the uncertainty around when the season will resume and with therefore no specific timeframe to work towards, the priority for players is to maintain core fitness levels.

There was nothing especially advanced in the session, hence Mourinho taking it himself rather than one of his dedicated fitness coaches. According to one source, because of the absence of a definitive return date, the session was “not about working obsessively over fitness. It was more a psychological strategy to make Ndombele feel important and part of the team.”

All the players have a dedicated fitness programme, with slight deviations depending on the individual. Mourinho thought it would be helpful to the player to have some face time rather than another video session and since they would keep the requisite distance from one another throughout, misguidedly didn’t see it as being a major issue.

Turning around the fortunes of Ndombele has been a big priority for Mourinho, even if some questioned whether his public shaming of the player after last month’s draw with Burnley was the best way of doing it. On this occasion, one could appreciate the desire to work individually with Ndombele but seriously condemn the inappropriateness of it, especially as face-to-face work is only being permitted if it is deemed essential.

Ndombele lives in an apartment block, so it is natural he should want to exercise outside but across the country, players and coaches have been interacting on video link rather than in person. Later on in their session, Mourinho and Ndombele were joined by two members of the public, who are understood to have abided by the two-metre rule but the group then acted in breach of only exercising with members of one’s own household.

At around the same time, Sessegnon and Sanchez were also involved in some outdoor exercise. They live in the same apartment block as Ndombele and so did some of their training on Hadley Common as well. The pair were not involved in Mourinho’s session with Ndombele but they did briefly meet with the head coach to receive instructions on their training, which mainly involved running exercises as part of their daily programmes.

At that point, they were all said to be more than two metres apart but a video later showed Sessegnon and Sanchez running much closer than that along a road side. Aurier, meanwhile, was training elsewhere and did not meet with Mourinho.

Once footage started to circulate and the various incidents were brought to the attention of the club, Mourinho and the players were reprimanded by senior officials. Spurs released a statement from a spokesperson that said: “All of our players have been reminded to respect social distancing when exercising outdoors.

“We shall continue to reinforce this message.”

Mourinho accepted the telling off, and on Wednesday said: “I accept that my actions were not in line with government protocol and we must only have contact with members of our own household. It is vital we all play our part and follow government advice in order to support our heroes in the NHS and save lives.”

Earlier this month, the Tottenham manager appeared alongside other athletes and celebrities in a video to say thanks to the NHS for their work to combat the coronavirus pandemic and last month, he and his coaching staff hit the streets of Enfield to help Age UK and other charities pack and deliver goods to help the elderly.

Back to Tuesday — and the incident gives an interesting insight into his way of thinking. From Mourinho’s perspective, seeing the players was a way of keeping them motivated and engaged.

For Ndombele in particular, it was a chance to show that he is valued at the club and there is a commitment to making his time in England a success. The convenience of doing so and being able to briefly meet with Sessegnon and Sanchez made the whole thing seem erroneously like a good idea.

Mourinho misses regular contact with his players and he has repeated often since he joined Spurs in November that he sees the training pitch as the place where he does his best work. In normal circumstances, he is tactile with the players and relishes the regular contact — he still messages them often but clearly, that is not the same.

None of which of course is to in any way justify Tuesday’s actions — it is just to add context to what on the face of it appeared like a completely inexplicable decision.

Many will still view it that way but some have pointed to the recent misdemeanours of Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker to argue that Mourinho and the players made a mistake, but not an especially heinous one.

They were still in breach of government guidelines though, and speaking of context, given the nightmare week Spurs have had PR-wise following the furloughing of staff, it would surely have been prudent not to engage in any activity that could generate negative headlines. Mourinho wearing his Tottenham tracksuit was also ill-advised as it gave off the impression that this was a club-approved activity.

As for the coming weeks, Mourinho will be more circumspect, though who knows how the situation will change in the medium or even short term.

In the meantime, he’ll have to rely on awkward, stilted Zoom interactions like the rest of us.
 

Rado_N

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So Jose and Ndombele live close to one another and went for a run together, seemingly staying 2m apart?

I mean, it’s not great from a PR perspective but it’s hardly the end of the world is it.
 
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So Jose and Ndombele live close to one another and went for a run together, seemingly staying 2m apart?

I mean, it’s not great from a PR perspective but it’s hardly the end of the world is it.
But then kids see this - and do the same. Tom thinks theres wrong with seeing your mates for a bit of a training session, it’s only Bob and Bill who lives in the same road. It’s not as if they live miles away.

Problem is Bob, and Bill have families as home and suddenly the seemingly innocuous play around has meant that three families have been interacting.

this is how the virus moves.

stay at home you idiots.
 

Rado_N

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But then kids see this - and do the same. Tom thinks theres wrong with seeing your mates for a bit of a training session, it’s only Bob and Bill who lives in the same road. It’s not as if they live miles away.

Problem is Bob, and Bill have families as home and suddenly the seemingly innocuous play around has meant that three families have been interacting.

this is how the virus moves.

stay at home you idiots.
I get that but getting out for exercise is acceptable. If they’d done it alone it wouldn’t have been an issue.
 

RedDevil@84

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Get out for an exercise. Just don't call up mates and fix up a time and place.
 
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I get that but getting out for exercise is acceptable. If they’d done it alone it wouldn’t have been an issue.
but they didn’t do it alone. There are kids around here playing basketball and football in the parks - this doesn’t help in the slightest, especially with a bank holiday weekend that’s going to be very hot.
 

Cutch

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So Jose and Ndombele live close to one another and went for a run together, seemingly staying 2m apart?

I mean, it’s not great from a PR perspective but it’s hardly the end of the world is it.
It was a one to one session. N'Dombele training and Mourinho overseeing.

This is where I have some sympathy. All the things a lot of us have to help get through the boredom of lockdown he likely doesn't have. He's getting to grips with living in a new country, I'm assuming he has no wife or kids and he can't go to work. I see he lives in a tower block so probably hasn't a garden or the space to do the workouts assigned to the players.

His manager who lives beside him took him to the nearby park to do a few drills, not the end of the world as you say. Probably made worse just with the other 2 appearing who didn't seem to be keeping their distance and not helped by Mourinhos choice of attire making it look like official club business.
 

Eckers99

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Are the indiscretions of footballers being over-reported, or are they genuinely the most stupid and arrogant subsection of famous society? They just can't seem to stop fecking up right now.
 

Robertd0803

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Are the indiscretions of footballers being over-reported, or are they genuinely the most stupid and arrogant subsection of famous society? They just can't seem to stop fecking up right now.
It does seem to be the case.
 

Brightonian

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Are the indiscretions of footballers being over-reported, or are they genuinely the most stupid and arrogant subsection of famous society? They just can't seem to stop fecking up right now.
Perfect storm of 1) often not that bright or educated 2) very famous 3) very rich 4) infantilised by the nature of the job, and 5) got tabloid crosshairs on them because they're working-class but wealthy and successful.

Of course, a lot of that applies more to players than managers.
 

africanspur

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The reaction is of course a little over the top as usual but what a fecking idiot Mourinho can be sometimes.