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THERE’s one thing you have to say about José Mourinho, he’s far more interesting than many of his peers. When he arrived at Chelsea from Porto in 2004, his opening gambit was deliberately misunderstood by almost everyone. He was attempting to explain that his passport to the Chelsea job was winning the Champions League with Porto and that, because of that landmark success, he was not a run-of-the-mill manager, but he was “A special one”, not THE special one. Netflix have given Mourinho the full star treatment with their three-part series on the Real Madrid manager. The 2026-27 season could yet signal the return to prominence of one of the most talked-about coaches of all time, a man who divides opinion almost as much as Donald Trump. The Netflix production opens with Mourinho’s first two seasons with Chelsea, which really was a unique time for the underachieving London club. Not everyone appreciated the Mourinho style, but in an era dominated by Manchester United and Arsenal, he knew Chelsea had to be different in order to stake their claim to serious honours. His side’s backbone included Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, all of which now rank among the best players in the club’s history. Terry summed up the team’s loyalty to Mourinho in that ground-breaking year. “ I would leave the pitch in a coffin for him,” said the Chelsea captain. Mourinho, to quote the club’s Peter Kenyon, was a new breed of coach and he defended his methods when they were criticised by opponents. His relationship with Arsene Wenger was more than a little tense. Wenger didn’t like the way Chelsea were “buying the title” and of course, feared the status quo was being challenged. The title was easily won in 2005 with a 12-point margin and a year later, retained with another 90-plus point season. But in 2005-06, Mourinho was more fractious and increasingly, he felt “the world wanted us to lose”. He was called “the enemy of football” by some critics and he responded to Wenger’s outbursts by calling the Arsenal manager “a voyeur”. Looking back, Mourinho knows he was verbally aggressive and that he would do almost anything to win. “I’m not nice,” he said. Even now, the likes of Lampard are staggered that in his early days at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho had details of a training session of forthcoming opponents. His career, including the outbursts, the clashes and the controversies, is well documented, but still, after almost two and a half decades, Mourinho is in demand. In 2026-27, he returned to Real Madrid, which may yet require an addendum to the Netflix story. They have done him proud and reminded us that once upon a time, he represented the future.