‘Mourinho won trophies 100 years ago’
Carlo Garganese
- 6 May 2022 18:00 BST
- 3 min read
SPAL president and famous American lawyer Joe Tacopina has launched a withering attack on Roma coach Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho led Roma to the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday thanks to a 1-0 win over Leicester.
The Portuguese, though, has not impressed former Roma vice president Joe Tacopina, who says the achievements of the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter boss are all ancient history.
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"I was saying to myself be politically correct Joe when you asked that because I do not like Jose Mourinho. I'll take my coach at Venezia Dionisi who is at Sassuolo now, any day of the week,” Tacopina told The Italian Football Podcast.
"Look, I know he did something really special and great 100 years ago, and I don't know what really he's won in the last decade and it's not even that.
"I know he's a good coach but not a coach I appreciate because here's a guy who when things go bad the team is not good enough, the club didn't buy him enough players, the referees are always against Roma, the pitch sucks, my second team is not good enough to compete, it's never a reflection in the mirror. It's never: ‘I have to change.’
He considers himself to be at a different level and everyone else has to come up to his level and he shouldn't come down
- Joe Tacopina"Anyone who names himself ‘The Special One’… maybe you need to check yourself with that! He considers himself to be at a different level and everyone else has to come up to his level and he shouldn't come down.
“He’s just not my type of coach. I don't know him as a person, maybe he's a great guy, I don't like what I see and I don't like how he's constantly blaming everyone else. To me that is a sign of weakness.”
Roma deserve more respect
Tacopina says that Roma’s owners deserve more respect than they are being given by Mourinho, who claimed his squad was not good enough after a European loss to Bodo/Glimt earlier in the season.
“The Friedkins have put in a lot of money and doing a lot of things to try to re-establish Roma as one of the top teams in Italy. When a coach is attacking them for not giving him the proper players, if that's how he really feels, he should go into Mr Friedkin’s office and have that conversation there and not in the press,” he added.
“To me that is a sign of insecurity and weakness, but you know he's not my sort of coach. Give me Max Allegri any day. There are coaches out there: Paolo Zanetti the Venezia coach who was shockingly fired who I think will be one of the best coaches in Italy, Dionisi who I had at Venezia who I think is terrific coach. There are a lot of great coaches out there.
“I had Pippo Inzaghi as a coach but his brother Simone has put himself out there as one of the top coaches out there. I don't see any of those guys doing what Mourinho does and that is what sets them apart for me.”
