AS Roma sacked manager Jose Mourinho following a poor run of form. They have just one win in their last six league games, sitting 9th in the Serie A — 22 points behind league leaders Inter Milan.
Coupled with lots of issues off the pitch, the 60-year-old was unable to turn fortunes around for the struggling Giallorossi and got fired.
FootballOrbit looks at why the “Special One” was sacked by the Italian capital club.
Glorious beginning
Jose Mourinho joined Roma in 2021 and instantly started reviving the club.
He endeared himself to Roma fans in his first season, winning the Europa Conference League — the club’s first continental silverware in 60 years, which also ended a 14-year trophy drought.
It was also the first ever UEFA competition trophy in the club’s history.
Moreso, he took them to the Europa League final the following season, in which they suffered an agonising penalty shootout defeat to Sevilla.
Roma reached as many UEFA club competition finals during Jose Mourinho’s 138 games in charge as they had in the club’s previous 94 years of existence (2).
The beginning of the end…
Roma had made two consecutive 6th-place finishes in Serie A, which saw them miss out on playing in the UEFA Champions League on both occasions.
There were hopes that this season will see them secure a return to Europe’s premier club competition, but the first five months have been nothing short of disastrous.
Mourinho’s infamous third-season struggles once again caught up with him!
Off-field problems
Most of what contributed to the exit of the former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham boss happened outside the football pitch. They include:
Injuries
Roma have been hit hard by injuries this season, as much as NINE players (including starman Paulo Dybala) were missing through injuries in their last match against AC Milan — which they lost and resulted in Mourinho’s dismissal.
Financial Fair Play and inability to spend heavily in the transfer market
The club had also earlier breached UEFA’s FFP rules and were put under a settlement agreement, which restricted their spending.
As a result, they weren’t able to sign all the players that the manager demanded for.
Roma spent £128m since Jose was appointed in 2021. £113m of which was spent in the first summer window with Jose and he won them the Conference League plus a following Europa league final.
Instead of building on that, Roma spent only £15m in the last TWO years. The financial situation at Roma, as well as other Italian clubs, is horrible.
A bunch of loans and free transfers was definitely going to hold the club back. Many believe that if Mou had been handed more financial resources, he will have been more successful.
Indiscipline
Mourinho regularly courted controversy, he was publicly criticised for his treatment of referee Anthony Taylor after last season’s Europa League final.
Furthermore, his ill-discipline continued in the first half of the current campaign, with multiple touchline bans issued.
Poor performances and results
Apart from off-the-field issues, the team was also terrible on the pitch, regularly putting in abysmal performances and results.
Roma have won just one of their last six Serie A games and were recently knocked out of the Coppa Italia by city rivals Lazio, where Mourinho was sent off.
The Giallorossi’s 3-1 defeat to AC Milan in their last match was their 7th loss from 20 Serie A games so far this season — which saw them drop to ninth in the table.
Their points tally of 29 is the fewest the club have had after 20 Serie A games since the 2002/03 season (27).
Also, Mourinho had the worst points average (1.61) of any AS Roma coach to have taken charge of 50 or more matches in the three-points-for-a-win era.
Furthermore, he was heading for three straight seasons finishing outside of the top five in the league, the club’s worst run in three years.
The Portuguese manager — whose contract would have expired in the summer — was a fan-favourite at the Stadio Olimpico, but the board lost patience with him due to lack of results on the pitch.
In total, Mou managed Roma for 138 games, won 68, drew 31 and lost 39. He had a 49.28% win rate with Roma across all competitions.
Mourinho’s replacement
Club legend, Daniele de Rossi, has been appointed as Mourinho’s successor on an interim basis .
Roma belief the still have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League, with only five points separating them and 4th-placed Fiorentina.
In his 18-year playing career at the club, de Rossi made 616 appearances and scored 63 goals for the Giallorossi in all competitions — ranking second in the club’s all-time appearance record.
He won the Coppa Italia twice (2007 and 2008) along with one Supercoppa in 2007.
He was capped 117 times by Italy, represented the Azzurri in 8 major international competitions, and won the FIFA World Cup in 2006.
After retiring from football, De Rossi joined the Italian national team’s coaching staff, where he won Euro 2021, before taking over as head coach of SPAL last season.
What next for Jose Mourinho?
Jose Mourinho was visibly emotional as he bid farewell to supporters after his shock sacking at Roma.
His legacy at the club will be remembered forever.
Being a top class manager, he might not stay unemployed for too long, though. Most likely, his next job will be in Saudi Arabia or at a national team.
