I was there at Jose Mourinho’s bombastic first Chelsea press conference – everyone gets the same thing wrong
WHEN I rocked up at Stamford Bridge on June 2, 2004, I was expecting a pretty run-of-the-mill new manager press conference.
Nothing special, let alone The Special One – which is one misconception about that famous day that needs to be cleared up in a little while.
Yes, I’d seen Jose Mourinho charge down the Old Trafford touchline like a lunatic after his Porto side scored the away goal to knock Manchester United out of the Champions League.
Yes, the way Porto had gone on to win the competition, just a few days before Mourinho was confirmed as the new Blues boss, had made plenty of people sit up and take notice.
But, to be honest, it had been pretty obvious that Roman Abramovich was going to sack Claudio Ranieri for some time, and increasingly likely that a certain Portugeezer was going to replace him.
Thinking about it, I was only four years into my national newspaper career and it was the most high-profile manager unveiling I had attended up to that point.
Yet it didn’t look like being a particularly remarkable Wednesday. Until Mourinho opened his mouth.
I remember the room in one of the suites in the West Stand being very busy. Lots of TV people from around the world, as well as the more familiar faces from the English written press.
Because I was working for the Mail on Sunday, and due to have a separate session with Mourinho alongside my Sunday paper colleagues, I was just there to watch the main presser, see what questions came up, and think of new and better ones to ask later.
So I found myself standing towards the back of the room, behind the rows of chairs for people taking part in the first section of the proceedings.
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It may have been the first question, it may not. But when asked why he was confident of Chelsea being successful under him, Mourinho was blunt.
He said: “I have to say this: we have top players and – I’m sorry I’m a bit arrogant – we have a top manager.”
At this point, some of the people in the group standing just to my left turned to each other with stunned expressions on their faces. On closer inspection, they were members of Mourinho’s own entourage, including backroom staff, as well as some Portuguese journalists.
Even they couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
Her Majesty’s Press quite naturally bristled at the very un-British self-confidence on display. When challenged again, Mourinho came back with what is still his most famous – and most misquoted – press conference gem.
He said: “Again please don’t call me arrogant, because what I’m saying is true.
“I’m European champion so I’m not one…of the bottle. I think I’m a special one.”
Cue more shared glances in Team Mourinho that combined amusement and disbelief.
Two things. By “of the bottle”, Mourinho probably meant “straight out of the bottle” – that is to say, he was of a quality that you couldn’t just buy off the shelf.
More importantly, he said “A special one”, not “THE Special One”.
Does it matter? Probably not. What’s a definite article and two capital letters between friends? Calling yourself special is always going to make waves.
But there is a difference between claiming to be one of a few outstanding people in a particular field, and saying that you stand completely apart.
JOSE'S CHELSEA ACCOLADES
Here's every honour that Mourinho has won in his two spells with the Blues:
2004-2007
Premier League: 2005, 2006
FA Cup: 2007
League Cup: 2005, 2007
Community Shield: 2005
2013-2015
Premier League: 2015
League Cup: 2015
Mourinho went on to send a message to Ranieri, when a journalist from either France or Spain reminded him that the Italian had also questioned the credentials of a manager from Portugal to succeed in England.
He said: “I heard that and I suggest if one of you is Mr Ranieri’s friend or has his number you should call him and explain to him that for a team to win the European Cup it has to beat many teams from many countries.
“I did not win the cup playing against 20 Portuguese teams. I played and beat a team from his own country, Italy, from your country and the one he was working in, England.
“And to win the Uefa Cup that was the same kind of thing.”
There was more of the same, delivered with absolute conviction and confidence.
When Mourinho was finished, most of the journalists in the room got on the phone to their bosses to tell them to hold the back page and at least a couple inside.
Those of us not on deadline thought: ‘This is going to fun.’
Absolute gold. A star was born.
Inside Jose's first press conference
PIPPA HANCOCK was the Chelsea press officer who organised the logistics of Jose Mourinho’s legendary first press conference in June 2004.
Now a clinical hypnotherapist, Hancock remembers well what an impression the charismatic Mourinho made and how it boded well for what was to come.
When I joined Chelsea in 2002, I was a temp working in the marketing department. There wasn’t even a proper press office.
Two years later I was setting up this press conference.
In that time Chelsea had become an international story because Roman Abramovich had bought the club. That meant a lot more media interest. Everything doubled.
A year later, Jose arrived.
Normally we would have done a press conference at Harlington, the old training ground, with the planes going over.
But there was a lot of interest and clearly enough buzz for us to move it to Stamford Bridge.
We did it in one of the bigger function rooms in the West Stand.
Even then it was packed.
I wasn’t expecting the press conference to make as many waves as it did. But with Jose’s personality and aura, you expected it to be good. You know when someone walks in the room and you know they’re there – he’s that kind of person.
Before the press conference, he visited the Chelsea TV offices and introduced himself to literally everyone. Every single member of staff, he shook their hand.
Behind what you saw, there was a person who took a real interest in every part of the club and everyone who worked there.
We had had Claudio Ranieri, who didn’t talk to any of us. He was a nice guy but I never had a single conversation with him in the two years I worked with him.
This was like a breath of fresh air.
Before the event he came into the room and looked around. Then he was standing with Helen Wood and Simon Greenberg, who had been brought in to the comms department that summer, but he broke the circle and came over to me and Brian [Pullman, who still works at press conferences and on matchdays after 56 years at the club].
He said, ‘Hey, can you talk me through what’s happening today?’
I remember smiling about the “Special One” comment. You thought, ‘He’s got a little bit of humour about him’.
It wasn’t the kind of press conference I was used to with Ranieri. He had funny sayings as well but for six months we had the ‘dead man walking’ situation. It was refreshing to hear something different, something more positive.
After that, we were looking forward to the season even more. The way he was organised, the way he conducted that press conference, the things that he said…you just got the feeling it was going to be a good time with him.
It brought that spark back. Everything started to feel better around the club.
I remember having the conversation after some of the headlines from the press conference were “The Arrogant One”. I don’t think arrogant is a bad word if you back it up – and he did.
In the end, I left the club shortly before Jose.
I remember coming back to the stadium to catch up with old friends, he heard I was there, and said to go and see him.
I thought he had the team meeting and didn’t want to disturb him. So he came to me.
He said how well I looked and I replied, as a joke: ‘That’s what happens when you leave.’
And the next day he did!
POSTSCRIPT
I have to be honest and say that I don’t remember whether this happened immediately after the famous press conference, or later in the summer after the Euros.
Either way, at some point the Sunday newspaper reporters had a more intimate Q&A with Mourinho.
With a smaller audience, he was less bombastic, more thoughtful, yet still gave good copy.
Among the things he said was that, because of the speed at which he had left Porto and the ill-feeling it had caused with some people, he did not have a photograph of himself with the European Cup
Myself and a much more senior guy from the Sunday Times both had the same idea, and a few days later gave staff in Chelsea’s press department just such a photo – in my case, framed pretty cheaply (but on expenses, naturally).
Not long afterwards, I received an email directly to my work inbox. In it, Mourinho thanked me for the gift and said it looked good in his office at the training ground.
I should have definitely made more of that “in” with the new Chelsea boss. Others who struck up a good personal rapport with him certainly did, and Mourinho would often use them to put his points across in a more subtle way. No direct quotes, no fingerprints.
But on that otherwise normal June Wednesday 20 years ago, he was shooting from the hip.
