The Confidence Coach's Sports Psychology Articles
On The Couch With Dr. Martin - 442's Resident Sports Psychology Expert
The Confidence Coach's monthly Sports Psychology Article in 442 magazine. This article examines the leadership qualities of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and his understanding of the psychology of sport. Everytime that people discover I am a sports psychologist, they ask, 'What makes Jose Mourinho tick?'
Do They Know The Way To Ban Jose?
It's the Champions League quarter final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich and Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, is banned by UEFA from communicating with his players. His attack upon the integrity of referee Anders Frisk has incurred the wrath of the European governing body. So, was Mourinho's outburst a strategy designed to divert pressure from his team or a demonstration of a super-sized ego caroming out of control? The phone-ins are demanding answers from the nations sports psychologists.
His attack on Frisk was entirely in keeping with what he had done on previous occasions. Like Sir Alex Ferguson and other successful managers, Mourinho knows the value of antagonism as a tool to sustain, what is known in sports psychology parlance as 'the group is everything' ethos.
And he includes everyone at the club in the 'group' and expects full support from all of them. It is a mantra that he has used throughout his coaching career.
Classic Sport Psychology...
Being bullied by authority enables him to assume, and revel in, the role of David against Goliath; thus he refuses UEFA demands, such as mandatory press interviews. Seemingly comfortable in the role of victim and man of the people he draws support from his team. It's classic sports psychology.
Witness Didier Drogba gathering the flock around the manager after the winning goal against West Bromwich Albion. Mourinho resisted for a moment, then accepted the embraces. Interestingly, he disdains the usual quasi-respect title like 'gaffer' or 'boss' demanded by British managers and prefers informality, thus cementing a powerful and equal bond between himself and his players.
The Psychology Of Leadership...
Often, Mourinho may have no idea how his behaviour will be received but it is fundamental to his modus operandi that those who are perceived as his betters - Frank Rijkaard, UEFA, The FA, Arsenal, etc - are challenged at all times. He is a man who understands, instinctively, the relationship between cause and effect in his claustrophobic world. He gets the psychology of sport. The psychology of leadership.
Mourinho seems to need antagonism and antipathy to shore up his sense of self and, like many people with the same needs, will often withdraw and become recalcitrant when the flames start licking at his door.
But he knows that out of the smouldering embers of conflict, hard resilient edges are forged. And, crucially, psychological edge sustains winners through the challenges they encounter as they climb ever higher up Mt. Success.
It's the notion of everyone being against you. It brings the beleaguered family closer together. It enhances camaraderie. It's a small war. They are the enemy. We are wronged. In adversity it is core values which sustain the tribe. It's sports psychology at it's most primal.
When pressured, Mourinho always references back to his family, an area in which he is safe and unchallengable. This is his emotional fortress built on unshifting sands. It protects and fortifies him.
The Sports Psychology Summary...
Leading managers know that that it is hard to sustain anger for long periods of time. The key is to pick the moments throughout the season when a psychological booster shot is needed and to create a perceived enemy that, perhaps unwittingly, aids the game of mental warfare.
Mourinho is secure enough to take the enemy's best shots, whilst his team, inured against the vicissitudes of the front-line assault, deliver for their leader. Being popular is never the true leader's key priority; being a winner is.