José Mourinho: Instagram's must-follow coach

Mourinho had already amassed more than one million followers before he moved away from the photo and video sharing platform in May 2018.

But his eventual return in 2020 was emphatic, opening up a side to the legendary Portuguese coach that hadn't been seen before.

Since then, Mourinho has collected more than 2.4m followers, inspired a New York Times op-ed titled "What Is José Mourinho Telling Us on Instagram?" and delivered a stream of dry-humoured posts that make him a must-follow.

Mourinho initially described his Instagram renaissance as a pragmatic one.

"I’m still not an Instagram man in my nature," he told Sky Sports previously.

“I have to be honest, I was asked by my sponsors to do it. They felt that when I closed my account a few years ago we had a few million followers and they weren’t happy. So now I’m doing bit by bit, quite funny. It's no problem."

No problem at all by the looks of it as Mourinho has struck that magic social media formula of being authentic, unique and, at times, odd.

Take the 'Jose Mourinho eating popcorn on a plane' photo for example...

Or the 'Jose Mourinho annoyed on a bus' post...

Then there's the 'Jose Mourinho points out goalposts error' one...

And who could forget the somehow mesmerising video of the new Roma boss towelling down a fresh set of wheels with the caption: "When you play with a new pair of shoes 😁"...

It's funny how soon you can become transfixed by a man stretched out reading Hristo Stoichkov's autobiography, and Mourinho's Instagram is a further extension of his overriding appeal.

For years, people have wondered what's going on inside his incredible football brain as he's outpointed opposition and claimed 25 trophies over the course of an illustrious coaching career.

That desire to see what makes Mourinho tick is slightly revealed in his social output but in the same breath his posts also fuel the myth and, as highlighted by Rory Smith's piece in the New York Times, Mourinho is now an unlikely digital expert.

"It turns out that Mourinho is something of a natural at Instagram," wrote Smith.

"His early contributions were limited: a half-dozen posts in the first four months since he reactivated his account, all but one of them for the benefit of one or another of his sponsors.

"Since June, though, he has used it more and more frequently, and to better and better effect. Of his 65 posts through [to the time of writing], only 12 appeared to be fulfilling some sort of commercial demand. Eight others are likely to be images taken from professional photographers and repurposed for his account.

"There are five dedicated to causes close to his heart, particularly the United Nations World Food Program.

"All the rest — 14 videos, 26 still images — are personal, if not taken by Mourinho then taken at his behest. He will, regularly, hand his phone to whichever member of the Spurs coaching team or club staff is closest at hand and ask that they take a picture for his feed."

The case in point for the latter can be found in Mourinho's now iconic post that showed Tottenham players on their mobile phones in the dressing room after a game.

In a perfectly succinct four-worded piece of social commentary - and superbly timed click of the camera - Mourinho shared: "Sign of the times"

Again, this was authentic. This was Mourinho putting "my salt and pepper on it."

“The phone one after the Burnley game, it just brings me back to my beginning as an assistant coach where my boss, Louis van Gaal, was telling me, ‘I don’t want players on their phones'," he told former Spurs player Jermaine Jenas on BBC MOTDx.

“Twenty years later, we're in a situation where after the game every player is [on their phone], it’s normal that they are and I’m also [on it] too.

“As coaches, we last more than players so we get different generations of players. One of our qualities has to be to adapt to them and adapt to the new times. So it was a funny post!”

You can say that again, Jose, and if you haven't already followed Mourinho on Instagram then you can do so here: @josemourinho

You won't regret it.