Saturday 19 December 2015 19:07, UK
Charlie Nicholas believes Jose Mourinho may struggle to manage a top club in Europe again due to his damaged reputation.
Despite leading Chelsea to the Premier League title last season, Mourinho was sacked on Thursday afternoon, but a statement released by his agents says the Portuguese manager will not be taking a sabbatical and wishes to return to management immediately.
Mourinho has already been linked with a return to Real Madrid but Nicholas believes the Portugese - who left amid apparent "palpable discord between manager and players," according to the club's technical director Michael Emenalo - may find it more difficult to now land a top job.
"As much as he is absolutely fantastic at what he does, I think he's getting damaged now because of his reputation," Nicholas - speaking before Chelsea's 3-1 win over Sunderland - told Soccer Saturday.
"I'm not sure Manchester City will be jumping through hoops to go and get him the way they might have done two or three years ago. Has he got longevity? At the moment everybody's talking about Guardiola [getting the Man City job].
A lot of people will be interested in Jose Mourinho, absolutely guarantee that, but it may not be the high profile jobs that were there before.
"A lot of people will be interested in Jose Mourinho, absolutely guarantee that, but it may not be the high profile jobs that were there before."
Nicholas does feel if Mourinho was given more time in charge he could have surpassed Sir Alex Ferguson as one of the all-time managerial greats, but his disruptive influence in the dressing room is what has led to his sacking.
He explained: "It would be ridiculous to consider sacking, who in terms of his stay at Chelsea, could have taken over from Sir Alex Ferguson to become the greatest manager in our lifetime because he's such a winner.
"There are a lot of things that I don't like but he brings you success and because of that he could have been the great one. But what he brings in, disrupts and creates, is not a healthy situation.
"The constant bickering of Arsene Wenger this season - Wenger actually won the battle by saying very little - because he [Mourinho] lost where he was going, he lost his focus."
Also speaking on Soccer Saturday, Phil Thompson spoke about a lack of legacy at Chelsea for Mourinho despite his considerable success at the club.
"The same thing he's done at every club is he has won a trophy, that's about it. I don't think he leaves anything," he said.
"I don't think he leaves discipline, and I don't think he leaves a youth policy. He comes in and is very focused on one thing, to try and win trophies. He's done it and he'll claim that he's been successful. What I've learned from people is they like to leave a legacy, a team with youngsters who come through, see things develop at football clubs.
"Jose's never done that, no matter where he's been, no matter what country he's been to. He always seems to leave on a bad note."
