Just seven months ago, he was jubilant and on top of the world.

Jose Mourinhos Chelsea had

just stomped the entire English Premier League (EPL) to a comfortable top of the table finish,
leaving its rival Manchester City in the dust with an eight-point margin by seasons end. It was
all supposed to be the start of something magnificent, the beginning of a long reign of dominance
but it was all just talk and hype. What believed to be just a slow start at the beginning of next
season became a chaotic crisis when Chelsea free-fall to 16 th place, just two spots above
relegation. And just like that Mourinho was fired again by his beloved club after an abysmal start
to the 2015/2016 season (Jose Mourinho Sacked). Like most people who first found out about
the sacking, mainstream media had only been able to dig the surface of the shocking news since
that is what most readers only really care about. For more serious fans, Miguel Delaneys article
Chelsea was a mess Jose Mourinho couldnt fix once he lost his players was able to dig deeper
into the reasons that lead to the sacking of The Special One as he goes through key events and
quotes.
The article is obviously for soccer fanatics as there are various information and terms that
conventional readers would not understand. The basic knowledge of most soccer fans out there
today involves popular team and player names or to a deeper extent, their favorite teams players.
If they were to be asked about extensive knowledge, only few would be able to elaborate. This
means that the expected age group to be reading this article is mostly like in their late teens or
older since there are details which the younger ones were not able to witness in their life time.
Delaney comprehends that mass media had been able to thoroughly cover the fact that Mourinho
was sacked again by Chelsea Football Club which lead him to omit basic details and dive straight
into the core:

Jose Mourinho almost never speaks to his players immediately after games, but once his
side had been beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge to put him on the brink of the
sack, he felt he had to. It was a situation that summed up just how bad things had got for
Mourinho; another illustration that he just didn't know what to do next (Delaney).
Delaney knew that readers who read his article would already hear about the dismissal so he
decided to start his first paragraph about the day that marked the boiling point of the situation,
signaling the sacking would be inevitable. Other key details that the author mentioned included
Mourinhos 15-year managerial career and [him] still trying to play a constrained style in an
open era are some of the other examples that show the readers need to know more than just
player names to grasp what he is talking about (Delaney). These are just some of the proofs of
the audience Delaney was aiming towards.
As mentioned above, Delaney adds another layer of complexity and he does so by providing
his readers with insights on the various reasons that lead to Mourinho leaving. He was quick to
point out the root of the problem. Chelsea was on a roll for the most part of 2014/2015 reason as
they were playing mesmerizing football that made them look unbeatable at times. This did not
last long as problems began to appear in the locker room in February, 2015. What seemed like a
heroic act to [take] every criticism of the squad on himself, players began to realize that this
went beyond a tactic as some players found it odd that he became so obsessed with the
criticism from pundits (Delaney). This proofed to be true as the performance of Chelsea on the
pitch dropped significantly after this. It was no longer playing attractive football and began to
drop easy points along the home stretch. Instead, it reverted back to a Mourinho-like style of
play: a constrained style in an open era (Delaney). Though it ultimately didnt matter, fans
could see that this was not the team that they had witnessed during the first half of the season. It

turned out to be a warning of things to come as Chelsea continued to slip during the start of the
2015/2016 EPL season. Because of this, Mourinho became so desperate to get his players back to
form that [he] felt he had to try everything this [2015/2016] season -- abrupt team changes,
public criticism, private criticism, public praise, private discussions -- but none of it worked
(Delaney). This obviously did not help as the team continued one of its worst start in the modern
era. It got so bad that many believed Chelsea would ultimately be relegated into the
Championship, the league below the EPL.
Wanting to prove that he is right, Delaney emphasizes his article with powerful quotes from
key figures such as Mourinho, the man himself. Are you trying to kill me? was what Mourinho
screamed at his players after the 1-0 loss to Bournemouth, a game that Chelsea was never
supposed to lose in the first place. This proved to be the turning point and ended any hope that
the crisis will somehow be averted. [He] then went on to question the attitude and passion of a
number of his players (Delaney). This only added fuel to the fire as it continued to make the
situation worse. These were obvious quotes that showed Mourinho was losing his men but
nothing summarized it better than this:
Current Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano has previously said it all about
Mourinho's entire career. Soriano was a director at Barcelona before City, and a few years ago,
he spoke about why the Catalan [Barcelona] club had taken the fateful decision in 2008 to reject
the Portuguese for Pep Guardiola. Mourinho is a winner, Soriano began. But in order to win,
he generates a level of tension that becomes a problem (Delaney).
This quote is a recap of Mourinhos entire coaching career. Since 2002, he has been able to bring
glory to every club that he managed (Jose Mourinho Wikipedia). Though successful, there were
glaring flaws to this as he has never managed to coach a team for more than three years. It wasnt

a curse, it was just the style of coaching that will never provide stability. This proved to be the
ultimate sacrifice Mourinho as he continues to look for trophies elsewhere.
To get his point across, Delaney persuades his readers with a very sharp style of writing.
Where he felt was the most important, the author tries to be as blunt as he can: short but direct.
The article is littered with these examples, usually the last sentence of a paragraph: It meant he
couldn't generate the intensity It meant they stopped listening (Delaney). By doing this, he
immediately gains the utmost attention from his readers because sentences like these are so
straight to the point that it sums up the ideas he is trying to get across. Delaney also provides a
significant amount of concrete facts from various sources rather than trying to overwhelm the
viewers with his personal opinions. Everything opinionated was backed up by incidents or quotes
in order to show that what hes writing about is legit. This means that the style of the article leans
more toward the use of logos, the use of logic by citing facts and quotes. This was most likely the
safest route to go at the time as the news of the firing just got out and there would be many
opinionated articles that appeal to different readers. The most solid way to go was to provide
solid information to get ideas across.

Although Delaney was the one who wrote this article, he also included other peoples
opinions
article.

into

the

Espnfc.com

allow its authors to

embed

videos

into

their articles. Because

this was fresh news at
the

time,

many

personals in the soccer profession had something to say about the sacking of Mourinho. Rather
than writing about it in his articles, Delaney embed videos relating to the topic for his readers to
see what were some thoughts of other people. This allows for multiple point of views but at the
same, does not take away from the fact that this article was written by Delaney.
It was one of the most spectacular collapses in football history, Delaney writes (Delaney).
Coming back to Chelsea for the second time, Mourinho wanted his relationship with the team to
have a long lasting tie and so did its fans. The second tenure started slow but smooth. Mourinhos
first season back did not bring any glory but the fans bought into the believe that patience is
needed in order to win trophies. Their patience was greatly awarded the following year with
Chelsea winning two domestic trophies. To most people, this was going to be the start of
something spectacular but to Delaney, this was the start of a series of unfortunate but predicted
events that lead to the inevitable sacking of Mourinho.