A quick look at Wikipedia shows that March 9, 2004 wasn't a particularly newsworthy day. Your basic news diet of death, minor terrorist events and political maneuvering. The Beltway Sniper, John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death on that day if that's your kind of thing.
For Jose Mourinho however, March 9, 2004 was the day he entered football's A-list. It was the day he guided his team to a shock draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford taking an unfancied Porto team past the-then English champions. Costinha scored a last minute goal to take Porto through 3-2 on aggregate. Before this, Manchester United had been going through on away goals. His exuberant celebration- running down the touchline, pumping his fists- brought him to global attention.
If the result had gone with the way everyone expected it to go, there would probably be no cult of the Special One. In England, where he is most loved, he would probably just be another crazy foreign manager with a penchant for good interviews. Possibly the hipster's choice. He would be a Latin Jurgen Klopp.
However, it was not to be. Fate had other plans for Mourinho. Incidentally, March 9, 2004 was probably the last time the majority of Arsenal fans ever rooted for him. At the time, Manchester United were our rivals and any misfortune that befell them was met with glee.
If you look at the narrative that followed, we would probably have taken a United victory. However we feasted and grew drunk on our excellent season. While there was some bitterness in going out of the Champions League, and the FA Cup semi-final, winning the league unbeaten (and becoming Champions at White Hart Lane to boot) ensured that we weren't too bothered about that Mourinho chap. We had Le Professeur. We had a team composed of 5 or 6 World Class players, and promising youngsters coming up. All was well at Highbury.
The coming of Mourinho to England signalled the end of those good times. His brutal, effective teams destroyed all before them. This is a man who popularised the Makelele role in football. His sides played football that was the antithesis of what Arsenal were doing (before we slipped into parody of ourselves). It saw a change in tactics. Football in England became more defensive. Frequently we had no answer. Wenger and the team would whine about the increased physicality and deep defenses, which probably led to the dumb 'don't like up them' tag that has been affixed to us.
His 'voyeur' comments and his tapping up of Ashley Cole didn't endear him to Arsenal fans either. Then there was the dominance. Mourinho seemed to have the measure of Wenger. Whatever the reasons, Mourinho engenders a feeling of antipathy and though they will be loathe to admit it, a fair bit fear in Arsenal fans.
Next season was supposed to be our big chance. With the top 3 teams changing their managers, and Spurs and Liverpool possibly improving their squads in the summer, it was looking like an open title race- one that we could have benefitted from assuming we had a good summer. The appearance of Mourinho has to have cast a doubt in our minds. But should it?
Mourinho comes back to a markedly different premier league than it was in 2004. In 2004, Chelsea had the most money to spend, not just on transfers but on wages. There was no Manchester City. Outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona, who had their own projects anyway, there was nowhere really for the next big things to go to other than Chelsea.
Not only did Chelsea buy the biggest talents- Drogba, Essien. They also bought players on a level below that like Shaun Wright-Phillips for no reason except maybe to keep them from playing for other competitors. Wright-Phillips is a case in point. The links to Arsenal were there because of his dad. There was talk of him replacing Ljungberg and getting the number 8 jersey. All of a sudden Chelsea came in and offered more money than we could even fathom offering and SWP was a Chelsea player. Maybe we dodged a bullet but there's no denying that Chelsea's transfer policy of stockpiling great players made things really difficult.
This is not the case today. Not only are Chelsea not the only rich team in England, they are no longer the only rich team in Europe. PSG, Monaco and Anzhi can all offer comparable wages. Ditto the Spanish Giants, though probably wincing a lot more. And the likes of Bayern and Manchester United still make a lot of money and in the case of Bayern aren't afraid to spend it. The 25-man squad rule also means Chelsea can't stockpile players like they did in the first Era of Jose.
Then there's the whole aura about the team. Mourinho introduced Chelsea to success, but its fair to say they got used to it and kicked on in his absence. A double in 2010, the Champions League in 2012, the Europa League in 2013. These players are winners. Lampard and Terry aren't wide-eyed youths anymore. Where do they go from here? Will his sometimes abrasive personality work, especially when rumour has it that Terry was reponsible for Jose leaving initially? Only time will tell.
All I know is Jose Mourinho won't have it so easy this time. So fear not.
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