The Bet It Drives podcast returns with “The Special One Special,” featuring José Mourinho alongside Yevhen Krazhan, CSO at GR8_TECH and host of the show, filmed through the streets of Madrid.
Mourinho is back at Real Madrid as head coach and, early in “The Special One Special,” explains what brought him back and why some opportunities require little explanation.
“Real Madrid is Real Madrid,” Mourinho says during the ride.
The conversation then moves beyond Madrid to leadership, ambition and the demands of winning at the highest level. Mourinho discusses why there are no miracles in football, why ambitious leaders need realistic targets and why success is not simply about having the most talented people in the room.
He also challenges the idea that leadership comes from status, arguing that players do not follow someone simply because they are older, more famous, or have “manager” written next to their name. Instead, they follow someone they believe can help them and someone they can trust.
“Every day I’m learning. I’m learning from the difficult moments. I’m learning from the people I work with, especially the players,” Mourinho says during the ride. “To win, we need to work together. We need to play for each other, we need to sacrifice for each other… In the end, there is always a relation between what you achieve and what you give to achieve.”
The episode also examines Mourinho’s approach to coaching elite players, including how he creates a team, gives players freedom and works with different personalities. Other topics include lessons from university, his definition of a real superstar, football as a 24/7 commitment, and the rules he believes should and should not be broken.
Mourinho also discusses the limits of managerial control, including opponents’ tactics, player confidence, superstar egos, dressing-room chemistry, and press conferences. The conversation touches on his more than 2,600 press conferences, moments that went viral, the price of winning, his “Special One” wine confession and what part of fame he would remove from his life.
“There are very few people in sport whose name already represents a way of thinking, and José is one of them,” said Krazhan, CSO at GR8_TECH and host of Bet It Drives. “We wanted to understand what happens inside the mind of someone who has spent more than 20 years being expected to win: how he builds trust, handles pressure, manages exceptional people, and decides when to follow the plan and when to throw it away.”
The Special One Special is available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.