After defeating Atletico Madrid to put his Real Madrid side within three good performances of winning its first Copa del Rey since 1993, Jose Mourinho said two very interesting things in the postmatch news conference.
First, he would only confirm that "I'll stay at the club 'til the end of the season and then … we'll see." And when asked about his relationship with Madrid director general Jorge Valdano, he answered: "No comment."
So it is no longer merely speculation, but on the record. Mourinho is considering that this might be his only season at the Bernabeu.
He doesn't want it to be that way.
Mourinho hasn't made any irrevocable decisions, of course, but he is sufficiently angry at Madrid's treatment of him that, despite there being no obvious club to tempt him away just at the moment, he might allow one of his dream jobs to last less than 12 months.
He feels a lack of support from above about refereeing issues, the mauling he took from Sporting's Manuel Preciado, his requests for an additional striker to be signed, his request that Pepe be given a new contract and, above all, Jorge Valdano's sniping at him in the media.
For it to have reached this stage is a commentary on the asinine and inadequate way in which Real Madrid is being run.
Here are five clear reasons those in power at the Bernabeu -- namely president Florentino Perez and Valdano -- must take stock, accept their errors and try to back the man they appointed, knowing fully well what he was like, before they lose the perfect coach.
1. In football, tomorrow never comes -- it's about the here and now
While there are two subsidiary reasons for Madrid's unwillingness to buy the striker Mourinho has been demanding since July (overall debt and its unhappiness with Mourinho's request for Hugo Almeida in this transfer window), it is principally because the club is saving for the big purchase of Fernando Llorente in the summer.
But the Cup, the Champions League and La Liga are here to be won right now.
Real Madrid faces the threat of a third season without a trophy. Florentino Perez is now approaching four and a half trophy-less years as Real Madrid president, split across two reigns.
Mourinho told Real it was short one striker in the summer. The club ignored him.
Gonzalo Higuain is out for a significant period, and that equals the loss of a guy who over the past two and a half seasons is averaging 22 goals per term. Meanwhile, Barcelona just closed its books on the first half of the season with an all-time Spanish scoring record.
Anyone who can't see that Real Madrid needs an extra goal supply right now is not only shortsighted, but also plain stupid.
2. Mourinho is currently more important to Real Madrid than Florentino and Jorge Valdano put together
Florentino and Valdano are at risk of becoming the Laurel and Hardy of the footballing world.
Last season's Champions League final was contested by a handful of players -- Walter Samuel, Esteban Cambiasso, Samuel Eto'o, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben -- who were signed by Florentino and then discarded by either him or Valdano, only for them to demonstrate their class and trophy-hunger at other clubs.
It is Laurel and Hardy-esque to routinely buy long and sell short in the transfer market, losing millions and your credibility in the process. But that's what these guys are doing right now.
Florentino, having been president for approximately seven of the past 10 years, has only produced youth team players who either succeed elsewhere (Negredo, Mata) or need to be bought back after showing their worth somewhere else (Arbeloa, Granero).
At the club right now, Iker Casillas, who made his debut in 1999, is the only "canterano" (Madrid youth product) who has made it to the first team and stayed there.
Yet in Mourinho, Madrid signed a guy who has not only proved he can win trophies, but who also promised at the start of the season that he would develop a "footballing philosophy" from top to bottom so that youth talent would be developed similarly to Barcelona's prodigious La Masia system. If the powers that be drive him out, they lose that -- and it's back to the drawing board. Plus, FC Barcelona didn't put Messi, Xavi and Iniesta on the Ballon D'Or podium by going through 10 coaches in seven and a half years, each time heralding a new opinion on youth development and its importance, as Madrid has done.
3. Mourinho is the right man to wage war on Barcelona
The Special One inherited a losing Real Madrid team and a squad that was inadequate and imbalanced. So the overwhelming nature of the 5-0 Clasico defeat was far from being entirely his fault.
And I can say with confidence that while the Barca players don't fear him, they feel almost universal respect and wariness for the Portuguese Man o' War.
With Chelsea, Mourinho regularly beat or reduced to stalemate one of the best Barcelona sides in living memory, and one that was good enough to conquer both Spain and Europe. With Inter Milan, he nullified Barca, out-coached Pep Guardiola tactically and proved that if you are faced with a brilliant footballing side, your players need to work harder, to be better briefed and to play with burning inspiration.
If Madrid is to achieve that, then it needs Mourinho.
4. The cup with the big ears is his specialty
The European Cup is what gave Real Madrid its fabled status. Without it, Los Blancos are just another club. It is approaching seven years since Madrid even reached a quarterfinal of the Champions League, during which time Mourinho has won it twice.
At face value this year, Barcelona is the favorite to win the competition. But this isn't like La Liga or the Copa del Rey. Others will produce better attempts to haul down Guardiola's side -- Madrid is not as isolated in the fight against excellence as it is domestically.
It is not a vintage year around Europe and, should someone else catch Barcelona on a bad day, Madrid shouldn't be petrified at the prospect of facing Chelsea, Milan, Arsenal or even Inter and Manchester United.
This is a winnable tournament. Back Mourinho now, win it and argue in the summer. Better still, show Valdano the door.
5. Mourinho is already doing an excellent job
Barcelona's record points and goals at the halfway stage of any La Liga season in history tells the tale of what a challenge Mourinho and Real Madrid face -- four points behind Pep and the boys.
Yet despite the Catalan club's brilliance, and even despite the 5-0 humiliation at Camp Nou in November, Real Madrid was only two points off equaling the record-breakers' tally at the halfway stage before the surprise draw at Almeria on Jan. 16.
This despite Mourinho being new to the club, having signed several new young players and having to cope with the internal sniping that brought him to the drastic point, on Thursday night, of winning 4-1 over two games against bitter city rivals Atletico, only to then hint that his time at the Bernabeu might be up sooner than later.
All around Europe, people are laughing in disbelief. Like or loathe Jose, you know what you are getting when you sign him up. So for Madrid to start regretting now that Mourinho is devious, insistent, media-friendly and hellishly annoying when he doesn't get his way is simply ridiculous.
Graham Hunter
