Jose Mourinho’s position among ‘elite’ managers is a peculiar one.
He has been sacked by his last four clubs (Roma, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Chelsea), but he has won the Champions League twice as well as eight league titles in England (three), Portugal (two), Italy (two) and Spain (one).
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Despite being dismissed at Roma, the idea of Mourinho landing another high-profile job is not farfetched. It begs the question: where could he go next?
With the help of Football Manager 2024, The Athletic carried out a series of experiments to see how Mourinho would perform at seven new clubs. Here are the results.
Chelsea
In a recent survey by The Athletic, 30 per cent of Chelsea fans said they would welcome Mourinho’s return. If FM24 is anything to go by, they may want to be careful what they wish for.
Mourinho inherited an expensively assembled squad and only made one notable addition to the first team, Christian Eriksen. But they still finished seventh and did not beat a top-six side all season.
The rare bright spot was the form of Nicolas Jackson, who was productive in Mourinho’s 5-3-2 formation. Only Erling Haaland (19), Rasmus Hojlund (17) and Darwin Nunez (16) scored more goals in the Premier League than the former Villarreal forward (15).
Chelsea have finished 12th last season. Technically, they improved under Mourinho. If he boasted about helping the club return to Europe by securing a spot in the Europa Conference League in real life, it might annoy the fan base, but he would have a valid point.
Newcastle United
Mourinho was sacked midway through February with tangible goals in sight. He helped them finish top of their group in the Champions League but that was not enough to satisfy the owners.
With Newcastle in sixth and into the fifth round of the FA Cup, it is hard to say that qualifies as a failure.
In this experiment, Mourinho tried everything to save his job. He spent £85million on two strikers, Umar Sadiq (£33m) and Ivan Toney (£52m). He changed the team’s formation from a 5-3-2 to a 4-3-3. He got rid of fan favourites Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron. Nothing worked.
Mourinho loyalists will say he was not given enough time, critics will say a manager of his calibre should have done more with the time he had.
Real Madrid
All signs appeared to be pointing towards a disappointing second act for Mourinho in Madrid until a dramatic finale on the last day of the season.
Real Madrid were eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League and semi-final of the Copa del Rey, but a run of seven wins in their last eight games, including a win over second-placed Atletico Madrid in the penultimate game of the season, saw them win the league.
What makes this experiment even more impressive is that he did not buy a single player. He did not make any signings and delivered what might be considered the bare minimum as manager of Real Madrid by winning the league.
Jude Bellingham was sometimes used as a defensive midfielder in a 5-3-2 formation. Some may argue that his growth was stunted, given how productive Bellingham has been in a more forward-thinking role in real life. But the main takeaway is that Mourinho did not get sacked and may have done enough to warrant another season.
Paris Saint-Germain
This was vintage Mourinho. PSG did not lose a game in any domestic competition, only conceded 13 goals in Ligue 1 and lost just twice in 53 games.
They did not win the Champions League. But they won everything else. Their only defeats came against Sevilla in the first leg in the last 16, which they overturned. They were less successful against Barcelona. They lost the first leg of the semi-final and then could not find a way past them in the second leg.
PSG are expected to win every domestic trophy, but losing only two games in all competitions, regardless of the expectations, is still impressive.
As for Mourinho, his exploits in Paris helped restore his reputation.
Porto
Having led Porto to their highest heights by winning the Champions League in 2004, it is safe to say he has credit in the bank among the fanbase.
The goodwill he had with supporters eroded quickly in the 2023-24 season after Porto finished 21 points behind eventual league champions Benfica and underwhelmed in other competitions.
Porto reached the final of the Taca de Portugal but lost 3-0 to Benfica. A two-legged defeat to Newcastle in the round of 16 saw them crash out of the Champions League too.
Instead of protecting a legacy as arguably Porto’s greatest-ever manager, he returned and left his most loyal supporters with doubts about whether he still had it.
Galatasaray
This was supposed to be easy, but it may have devalued Mourinho’s stock even further. Galatasaray did not win the league and embarked on a failed European adventure.
They somehow managed to compete in all three European competitions but did not win any of them. After failing to qualify for the Champions League group stage, Galatasaray entered the Europa League but did not make it through to the knockout stage. A semi-final defeat on penalties to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa Conference League encapsulated an underwhelming campaign.
Mourinho moved away from his trusted tactic of using a 5-3-2 regardless of who he manages in FM24 and went with a 4-2-3-1 formation but that did little to change his fortunes in Turkey.
It was the type of season that could either mark the beginning of the end of his reign as an elite manager or provide the kind of rock-bottom storyline that is necessary for him to build an incredible comeback story arc. Speaking of which…
England
It may well be time for Mourinho to manage an international side.
The chances of him leading England at the 2024 European Championship are slim but for this experiment, it is worth getting a feel for how he would perform on the international stage. The answer is pretty good, as England won in Germany.
Mourinho’s 5-3-2 formation finally paid dividends, as did his team selection. Harry Kane was injured, so Ivan Toney and Danny Namaso, formerly of Reading and now at Porto, started up front in the final, with the latter scoring both goals.
Aaron Ramsdale was favoured over Jordan Pickford, Bukayo Saka was used as a left wing-back, Joe Gomez was a starter and Harvey Elliott was on the bench. It does not sound like a recipe for success, but Mourinho pulled this one out of the bag.
Conclusions
Mourinho won six trophies in seven experiments on FM24, including the European Championship, La Liga and Ligue 1. His only sacking came at Newcastle.
Mourinho seems to be wedded to a 5-3-2 formation in FM24. The reason for that is because Football Manager aims to reflect how fluid managers are in real life.
If a manager is known for tinkering their formation often, that will be reflected in the game. If they are tied to one style of play, then they will likely not deviate from their main formation.
On this evidence, he is not done as a top manager just yet.
(Photo: Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)