And people often wonder why so many players and managers choose to keep schtum in press conferences.
If you’re online today, listening to the radio, watching Sky Sports’ rolling news or pick up a newspaper, you’ll see and hear about Jose Mourinho’s “DISASTER” in Manchester.
You may link it to his angry spat with Antonio Conte, his 42% possession diatribe after the 0-0 draw with Liverpool, the 4-0 humiliation against Chelsea or the fact that his best defender is out for the next two months with a ligament injury.
You may see Mourinho and “DISASTER” and that’ll do. Interest piqued.
#Backpages: Mourinho: My life is a disaster! pic.twitter.com/JcnsCHnfNJ
— Radio & Social Media News Content (@AudioPodcasts) October 25, 2016
In reality, the Manchester United boss was lamenting the impending unease of empty nest syndrome. Aged 53 and with children at, or near, adulthood, Mourinho has been left in a quandary about where to lay his hat at the end of a tough day at Carrington/Old Trafford.
Asked how he was settling in Manchester, during Tuesday’s EFL Cup press briefing, Mourinho was open an honest. He commented:
“For me it’s a bit of a disaster because I want sometimes to walk a little bit and I can’t. I just want to cross the bridge and go for a restaurant. I can’t, so it is really bad.
“Buy a house? I do not know, I do not know. The reality is that my daughter will be 20 next week, my son will be 17 in a couple of months.
“They are very stable. University in London. Football in London. Friends. So they are in an age where they can’t chase me like they did before. So for the first time the family lives in a different way. We try to feel it, we try to see the evolution of our feelings and see how we cope with the situation.”
Mourinho told the assembled journalists not to worry too much about him as he is well looked after by hotel staff, his many sponsors and he has apps so ‘I can ask for food to also be delivered’.
One has to feel for Mourinho.
You can just picture him chatting to the front desk staff about how his favourite Beatles album is ‘The Best of The Beatles’ and bringing an extra big plate down for the morning breakfast.
A disaster? Maybe. Still, nothing to do with football… or Marcos Rojo.
Colm Parkinson chats to Kerry GAA legend, and author, Kieran Donaghy in a special edition of The GAA Hour. Listen below or subscribe on iTunes
