Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Manchester City on Monday was the biggest win in Jose Mourinho’s second tenure as the Blues’ manager, and he has Billy McCulloch to thank for it.
We’re neither trying to be funny nor factually correct in saying so.
Mourinho didn’t address his players before the crucial game. Instead, he let Chelsea masseur McCulloch give the pregame pep talk. It seemed to work, as Chelsea players performed well and won the game.
“I didn’t speak to the team — I am serious! It was Billy the masseur who spoke to them,” Mourinho said, according to Sky Sports. “He was screaming so much in his Scottish accent, going ‘grrr, grrr, grrr,’ that I didn’t understand, but the players were clapping, so they must have got it!
“The last time I spoke to them was at lunchtime. It was Billy’s team talk, I’m telling you. Billy was fantastic. I didn’t understand, but it looks like the players did.”
While McCulloch’s rousing address sounds like something out of Braveheart, it’s a far cry from his regular dual role as Chelsea’s masseur and court jester. After news of McCulloch’s pregame talk broke, a Chelsea TV video of McCulloch telling jokes and clowning around at Chelsea’s practice facility started doing the rounds on the Internet. McCulloch isn’t exactly William Wallace in the video.
See “Braveheart” Billy McCulloch joke around in the video below.
Click here to read about Mourinho’s changing role after Chelsea’s victory over Manchester City>>
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