It might honestly be one of the most used quotes in modern football, but Jose Mourinho’s rant about how Manchester United consistently being bad since Sir Alex Ferguson left was “Football Heritage” might be one of the most important rants in the history of the Special One and maybe even in the modern game.
And here’s a link to watch it and football’s greatest showman (apologies to Mario Balotelli, but this man is the OG) go at it. And yes, I will shamelessly use any excuse to link this, but, well, it’s also the inspiration of this article.
Because it really sets an example for how we should think about clubs, even storied ones, falling below their standard year after year. A lot of us who follow football and are active online don’t have as much of a Rolodex (and have we ever seen a literal Rolodex?) of football data in our brains to know of all the giants that crumbled into dust, but the Bundesliga, thankfully, has given us plenty of examples of extremes like Schalke, Hamburg, and now potentially Wolfsburg being rendered asunder by mismanagement.
If you blame Cristiano Ronaldo, you really don’t get it
Manchester United are still relevant, though far from European powers in anything but name, but they aren’t alone. Because over in Italy, Juventus are actually an even “worse” example of Football Heritage.
Juventus literally won nine Serie A titles in a row. Nine. They were Champions League title contenders, and widely seen as one big star away from getting over the hump. And somehow, they signed literally THE superstar in world football, taking Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid in 2018 when he was the best player on the planet, the reigning Champions League winner, and the guy who killed Juventus with the greatest goal ever scored in the Champions League.
There are people who still think Cristiano was the reason why Juventus went downhill, but the thing is, Cristiano was the only thing keeping them afloat. It’s hard to say that a player who became the fastest ever in Serie A to 100 goals was a flop when Alvaro Morata was the starting striker, Sami Khedira and Aaron Ramsey were playing meaningful minutes in the 2020s, and Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci’s bodies decided to play against the Old Lady.
Years of bad signings, bloated free agent contracts, and chasing big names instead of actually building a project caught up to Juve. Signings like Douglas Costa, Gonzalo Higuain, and all the ones mentioned before became alabatrosses.
Juventus aren’t even contenders anymore
Juve were so busy swinging corrupt deals and looking for something called “Plusvalenza”, which is basically a fancy way of saying they were getting advice on running a club from Daniel freaking Levy, that they didn’t realize they were building a squad of crap players. And so it’s no wonder why Juve went from winning Serie A every year to barely, just barely, even qualifying for the Champions League.
Now, Juve are so far out of the title race that nobody considers them actual contenders, and more people around the world would rather tune into Como – a team nobody ever heard of when Juve last won the Serie A title in 2020.
That’s how fast things change, and now it has been six seasons since the Bianconeri won the Scudetto, which is unprecedented. They are literally more likely to finish outside the top four than win the league, as Inter Milan are regularly lapping them by around 20 points.
Football Heritage is born out of organizational incompetence, years of not knowing what the heck you are doing, and a focus on signing “value” players who actually just plain stink. Juventus aren’t developing their own talents (Kenan Yildiz, incidentally, was from Bayern Munich’s academy in a reverse Kingsley Coman move), they aren’t winning games, they play boring football year after year, and they go for mediocrity they know like Randal Kolo Muani rather than doing what, say, Como does and signing players they scout around an idea of football. And until Juve do that, they will keep being mediocre and sign known names for that immediate Dopamine, which, like anyone on a Dopamine rush, just ends up in disappointment while you lie there in a pool of your own excrement. At least, that’s what it looks like Juve are doing whenever they play in Serie A these days.
Purveyor of footy since the 90s. Favor the Premier League and old school Serie A with a touch of Bundesliga. More than a touch. Professional writer for 20 years, covering every sport but now focused on the Premier League and world football. You won’t be able to guess my favorite team.