Former Real Madrid striker Michael Owen admitted that he does not understand the decision of the club management to appoint Jose Mourinho to the managerial position at all.
According to him, the Portuguese has not demonstrated anything impressive in his last teams, and given his past stay at the "Bernabeu", this move seems strange to say the least. The Englishman's critical analysis and sharp comments about the Portuguese tactician were spread in the sports media.
"This is a rather unexpected appointment for me. He has not achieved any outstanding results in his last clubs. He has already worked at Real Madrid. That surprised me. To be honest, I am not particularly enthusiastic about it. We will see what happens next. Barcelona are in good form at the moment, so he has a difficult job ahead of him. But at the end of the day, this is Real Madrid. The club has a lot of money, a lot of great players, a great stadium and a great team. It's a fantastic job, so I don't blame him for taking it. I admit I was surprised that Real Madrid decided to give him the job," Owen said.
Asked if the "royal club" were prepared to ignore the beautiful game in the name of titles after two seasons without any trophies, the former striker was adamant that such logic was wrong. "In a way, yes. But there are many other coaches who can also win. And what has Jose Mourinho won in the last five years? Even his first stint at Real Madrid wasn't particularly impressive. So you can't just put Mourinho in charge and think that winning is guaranteed, and still put up with all the nonsense that comes with that - the hysteria and all that. There's no guarantee that the team will win with him. Maybe that was the case 15 years ago. But now, to appoint him and say, "Okay, we're willing to put up with all his antics, but we're going to win," doesn't seem obvious. If wins were guaranteed, then I would understand that logic. But I don't think there is such a guarantee right now," Owen concluded.