The mind game meets its match

JOHN LENNON had Jose Mourinho bang to rights years ago: “We’re playing those mind games together/Pushing barriers, planting seeds/Playing the mind guerrilla/Chanting the mantra peace on earth/We all been playing mind games forever”.

Well, okay, the peace on earth bit might be a little wide of the mark, I’ll grant you that, but otherwise, Winston O’Boogie was right on the money even if, at the time, probably only his Mama, Papa and Action Man fully appreciated that 10-year-old Jose was indeed a special one.

But from the time we first became aware of him in these parts, bounding up the touchline at Old Trafford like an overjoyed puppy, Mourinho and mind games have become synonymous in the popular prints.