Will Mourinho get the p*ss taken out of him for doing a classic Rodgers?

Nooruddean Choudry

You’ve got to feel for Brendan Rodgers.

It seems that no matter what he says or does, he just gets the piss ripped out of him by everyone. The 43-year-old was unveiled as the new manager of Celtic recently, and the first reaction of many was to mock, mainly for his assertion that Celtic are one of the biggest clubs in the world.

https://twitter.com/farquharforever/status/734794758439239683

The former Liverpool man is definitely a character, and sometimes his exuberance and surety can lend itself to mockery. He is clearly very into self-improvement in every aspect of his life – be it footballing knowledge, losing weight, whitening his teeth, altering his complexion, or even boxing.

But it is hard to deny that the David Brent comparisons are not for nothing. It is something about the way he speaks with such evangelical authority on the game, and his seeming desperation to be taken seriously as a footballing visionary. Alas it can often have the opposite effect.

https://twitter.com/jmgrhm/status/734813504700571648

One of the many things that supporters everywhere mock him for is perceived delusions of grandeur. This was perhaps most obvious when a scene from Channel Five’s Being: Liverpool showed the then Anfield boss to have a painting of himself adorning his own living quarters.

Despite explaining that the artwork was in fact a gift from a charity, it did not stop everyone laughing at the fact that he had his own face proudly decorating his walls. Surely Rodgers was the only top-flight manager capable of such unintentionally risible behaviour.

This is in Brendan Rodgers's house. HIS OWN HOUSE. IT'S A PAINTING OF HIMSELF. IN HIS OWN HOUSE.

I give up. pic.twitter.com/AahO7YjO

— Joe Mulrooney (@joeymuller) September 8, 2012

…well not really. Because the man currently being hailed as the Messiah of Manchester is guilty of exactly the same offence. That’s right, the urbane and cultured Jose Mourinho also has the gall to shamelessly hang his own likeness in his abode.

We know this because his wife Matilde Mourinho posted the following image of Jose’s London office on Twitter on Friday morning. The focus of the photo was the United shirt draped over his chair, but a very obvious Mourinho painting was looking down on the scene with trademark disdain.

https://twitter.com/MourinhoMatilde/status/736114322963869696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Will the new Old Trafford boss get the piss taken out of him in the same way Brendan so mercilessly did? Of course not, because he is the great Jose Mourinho, whilst Rodgers is perceived as the biggest punchline in the game – gleaming white teeth and all.