#may the intention be intimidating someone affecting the team dynamics or creating a certain reputation

[kvaradonaa]

thoughts on the pairing of mourinho and abramovich?

Uhh, I was afraid to answer this question at first, but then I remembered I am followed by only hot and intelligent people who don't need to be shown a huge ass "THIS IS BAD" sign to understand that something is, in fact, bad. In that case, I might as well answer.

(But if I get another anon in my ask box telling me "this ship is russian propaganda", I am blocking. You are seriously insulting me by insinuating that I could ever commit what's a criminal offence according to my country's law by spreading such statements. You might find whatever I write distasteful, unnecessary or insensitive as you please, but don't come making ridiculous accusations on me.)

Either way, back to the RPF thing. I think they make up for a really interesting dynamics. See, Jose was probably easily the only person built to survive in Chelsea of that era. Remember when Scolari said that whoever agreed to coach Chelsea, would go through hell? But Jose seems built to survive all the intimidation tactics like arriving at the training centre in a fucking helicopter to scold the staff (really!). He clearly knew there was no other like him, he tolerated bullshit from no one and damn, does he breathe drama 😂. I could see some weird tension going on, not gonna lie. Mourinho was probably the only person who spoke like that to Abramovich ever since that fucking loans-for-shares deal that made him filthy rich and equally influential. But Jose was just, not built to care. He was the special one and he was here to do his job his fucking way. I can imagine a mixture of anger and fascination coming from someone like Abramovich there.

And obviously, as a resident Sheva fucker, I gotta insert him in this story. Maybe even more than him. I had thoughts before about the weird tangled web of dynamics between Chelsea's two strikers, the coach and the club owner. Media tried to antagonise Sheva and Drogba. Well, from Sheva's side, he was kind of an asshole and difficult to work with. Even if the issue on that line was overblown, Sheva did actually see Drogba getting mercilessly bullied by fans, went out and said basically "Well, I don't dive. Never did and never will. And I know that English fans don't like it!" Yeah, shut up 😂. Mourinho obviously wanted Drogba in the club very much, he loved him as a player and as a person. On the other hand, he never asked for Sheva in the team. I can imagine Sheva, the star striker, the Ballon d'Or winner, the attention whore, taking it really badly. Weird jealous antics. Well, he did cry to other people about Mourinho "mistreating him", even if he was himself claiming that everything was fine. A list of people who accidentally outed him with this include Kakha Kaladze and tennis player Andriy Medvedev.

How does it all matter to the dynamics between Mourinho and Abramovich? Well, it later on became really clear that not only Sheva's transfer was entirely Abramovich's idea, but they were also friends, privately. When still playing for Chelsea, Sheva pretended that there was no personal relationship between them, but afterwards, it pretty much became widely known. Sheva was often blamed for Mourinho getting the sacked, but apparently, a couple of days before, it was John Terry who went to talk with the boss. So, who knows... But, Abramovich did want to hire Avram Grant as Sheva's personal coach initially, and Mourinho refused to accept it. Later, Grant went on to coach the team. Damn, that's some level of drama only Chelsea could provide 😭.

Another Sheva related antics, regarding Jose and Roman Abramovich? One time, Abramovich went into the locker room after Mourinho had left, and started giving his own instructions, contradictory to Mourinho's. He spoke in Russian, as he always did in those situations. I honestly think it was a part of intimidation tactics too. Once I knew someone who spoke one language with her ex boyfriend (his native, hers third), but when she broke up, she did so in English so that "he didn't have an upper hand". Speaking your native language does give you more power in expressing self. Not to mention that listening to him yell in a foreign language, then waiting for the translation, added some extra stress for everyone involved (John Obi Mikel once described the experience as such basically). But, oh no, this time he didn't hire an actual interpreter. He had Sheva translate his instructions, making the gap between Sheva and his teammates even bigger, putting him in the opposite position of theirs. Sheva, who surely did not speak English much better (perhaps even worse) than him. I can imagine Mourinho completely losing it as such disregard for his job and such disruption of the team dynamics.

But, well, in the end, Mourinho did get hired again. And won them trophies again. Perhaps he really was the right fit for Chelsea.