The sacking of football manager and self-proclaimed “Special One” José Mourinho by Chelsea FC this week inspired many great headlines. For me the Belfast Newsletter’s “Special one to average Joe” was a personal favourite, but love him or hate him Mourinho is anything but average.

Until this week Jose’s career has really only known success. He has won everything there is to win in Europe: with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

Now shunned by the club he loves, Mourinho reaches a crossroads. As opposed to maintaining a winning narrative and perception of being better than the rest, he must redeem himself.

He might be special, but no one is indispensable.

Despite leading Chelsea to winning the Premier League last season, this year him and the club have been surrounded by drama and distraction.

The public outburst and subsequent legal battle with club doctor Eva Carneiro is well documented. Soon after this incident the players stopped performing and the club currently sits just above the league relegation zone.

Long established team players that Mourinho used to rely on, loyal and influential in the dressing room – the likes of Didier Drogba and Petr Chech – had already moved on.

José says he wants to return to management immediately. Few doubt he will succeed again, but his next move must be a wise one.

Watching José’s demise, some might actually identify with his unhappy season and abrupt exit from Stamford Bridge and draw parallels with their own lives, even careers or positions of employment.

On his downward spiral his irritations with events and surroundings were obvious but in the end the buck stopped with him, the manager, and things just weren’t working out.

In life and in employment specifically, finding a narrative, a sense of purpose and good people can be keys to motivation and positive performance. After success last summer, Chelsea seemed to lose this and fell away.

It’s important to be happy, to get the environment or job right, and also the context and narrative in which one operates.

Jose’s relationships with players at different clubs brought him success; when these broke down at Chelsea the team’s performance and results suffered.

With a CV like Mourinho’s he won’t be out of work for long, and to be successful again he’ll know to surround himself with special individuals and relationships.

With every failure comes an opportunity, and José likes to prove his critics wrong. Bouncing back from defeat and finding a new narrative, his story looks set to become a lot more interesting.