Giallorossi Writing was on the wall for Jose as roman holiday turned sour
The first manager to deliver European Cups to Porto and Inter Milan in the Champions League.
The first Chelsea boss to win the Premier League.
The first manager in Italy to win the treble of Champions League, Serie A and the Coppa Italia.
The first boss in Spain to hit the 100 points mark in a La Liga season.
The first manager to win a major European competition with four different clubs.
Unbeaten
The first boss to win a European trophy with Roma.
The first manager to reach 95 points in the Premier League.
The first manager to go nine years unbeaten at home.
The first boss to have 100 Champions
League games in charge by 49.
Those firsts were all highs in the career of Mourinho. On Sunday, he endured something that felt like a first, but was certainly a low.
Having been red carded in each of Roma’s previous two games,
Mourinho was suspended for the visit to the San Siro to take on
AC Milan.
It’s been a dismal season for the Giallorossi, and they duly slumped to a 3-1 defeat. Mourinho might have thought he was out of the firing line due to his ban but, when his image flashed up on the big screen, it was booed loudly by visiting fans.
Roma bowed out of the Coppa Italia last week to bitter local rivals Lazio and languish in ninth place in Serie A, in serious danger of missing out on European football next season.
Mourinho’s contract was due to run out in June. Few expected him to get another one. He won’t even get that far as the axe fell on Tuesday.
Where does that leave him? Where does Mourinho go from there?
He turns 61 this month, no longer a young gun. Of the managers in the Premier League, only Roy Hodgson of Fulham is older.
Age
Across Europe’s top five leagues, the average age of managers is 48.
So he is a veteran, and there are plenty who think that his focus on defensive, containing football means he is yesterday’s man, in all respects. Look at Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou. Even though they lost Harry Kane in the summer, they are just five points off top spot in the Premier League. Only for a nightmare run of injuries, they might well be clear at the top.