It was with surprise, shock and disbelief that I read the news of Juan Mata’s departure to a rival club, Manchester United. The day before, I had read the news on Daily Mail (DM), but I thought DM was, as usual, spreading a rumour; immediately, I went to BBC’s football site, and gave a sigh of relief as there was no such news.
You can imagine my shock, when I decided to take a ‘stroll’ to BBC’s sport site this afternoon, and I discovered the news was already among the stale news. This just about soiled my day.
Before Jose Mourinho came back to Chelsea, this season, Juan Mata had been voted player of the year, for 2 consecutive seasons, by his Chelsea team mates, so selling such a bundle of talent and skills appeared to be pure madness, yet there wasn’t much visible protest from the fans.
Like a BBC columnist stated, if Rafa Benitez, the former Coach, who the fans merely tolerated, had sold Mata, there” would have been mutiny and marches along the King's Road”, but the ‘Loved One’ took that decision.
The Columnist went on to say that “Mourinho's word is law and accepted on trust. He is the untouchable one.” The fans would simply hope he has taken the right decision as he had won a PERMANENT PLACE in their hearts after making several right decisions for them and also making Chelsea a club that contended and won the top spot in the English Premier League (EPL).
Despite my groaning, it suddenly occurred to me that being the best player the seasons the club performed poorly (the last two seasons), might just have made Juan a ‘local champion’ of some sort, not worthy of a space in Mourinho’s EPL-winning team.
LESSONS
- Winning the trust of people, overtime, is very important. In fact, it would cover for the times when you might take a few wrong decisions. Earning the trust of friends and loved ones might take time, but it would act as an umbrella in the rainy day.
Chelsea fans would have had Rafa’s head, if he had tried what Mourinho tried, but with Mourinho, they had and still have complete confidence in his decisions, with no one chewing his head over a few questionable ones.
- Because someone is known as the star somewhere doesn’t necessarily mean they really are that good; they may actually be unable to measure up to a higher standard when such is demanded from them.
