I feel bad for José Mourinho. His Christmas has been ruined! Even worse is that many are “celebrating” his sacking! Now of course he’s no ordinary employee. He’s a Millionaire, many times over, considering he’s been earning at least $12m a year since he was appointed Manchester United Manager in 2016 and will reportedly be getting a $15M severance package for the early sacking. Way more than enough to help drown his sorrows! Still, I think it was bad timing. The United Board should have let the man enjoy his Christmas Break and broken the bad news sometime next year! Christmas is meant to be the best time of year and you don’t want bad memories to reflect on when everybody else is making merry! You want to end the year on a high and not depressed having just lost your job. It’s the same reason we dread losing loved ones around the Holidays because you end up associating the Festive Season with the sad news of family and friends who’ve passed away. My advice to Mourinho is to lay low for the next couple of months. Go on Vacation or something and whatever he does, he shouldn’t read the News because it’s brutal. Few have any sympathy for his fate but we need to remember that he’s human too. I was thinking to myself what I’d do if I got fired just before Christmas. I would be inconsolable. You know how it goes. We trash our jobs until we lose them. How do you cope with your bleak situation at a time when you need all the money you can get your hands on? Unless you’re one of those with a healthy Savings Account, you’re likely to be stressed about the rent, the kids’ fees come January and just how to make it through the Holidays without a Job. Many would have been looking forward to annual bonuses and possible pay raises come the New Year and suddenly, all those possibilities are gone. I mentioned Mourinho’s millions earlier but in a way, he’s kind of like us regular people. It’s going to take a while for him to find another job because his line of work doesn’t have that many openings at any given time. And even if you’re lucky enough and get hired again, you could lose that job in a matter of months given the result-oriented mindset at most top clubs. That is why I’ll choose job security over high pay every time. I can’t handle stressful jobs regardless of how good the pay is. I know Mourinho is arrogant but it could’ve been born out of all the criticism levelled against him. It’s expected of course, given the high profile clubs he’s coached over the years and I guess if you decide to take on such a demanding job, you should be able to handle it. Still, I’ll cut him some slack. I’ve always believed Managers and Players should share the blame for the club’s poor performance. You can bark orders from the Touchline all you want but at the end of the day, you’re not on the pitch!
