UK Edition
Can Jose Mourinho beat second season syndrome to continue his extraordinary title-winning record?
With controversy a close second, trophies have been the most reliably consistent aspect of Jose Mourinho's managerial career.
Ever since he took over at Porto his trophy record has been astonishing: from taking the Portuguese side to an astounding 2004 Champions League triumph to winning two - not three, Jose - trophies in his first season at Manchester United, he has won everywhere.
One particular trend that stands out as the most impressive. In every one of his five reigns as manager of a major club - Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan and Real Madrid - Mourinho has won the league title in his second season. That makes United's upcoming campaign particularly interesting.
Clearly, in each post he has held, Mourinho's teams have aged well. Even when he has won the league in his first season, retaining the title is arguably even more difficult and requires serious mental strength among a squad as well as improvement on the field.
A difficult second season? Mourinho doesn't know what that is.
But this second season might just be his biggest challenge yet: taking Manchester United from sixth place to a title challenge in one year, while Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all struggle for supremacy in the transfer market arms race, and Tottenham aren't exactly pushovers, either.
A delve into the records reveals that second season syndrome really does exist among managers in the major European leagues.
Research from bwin shows that over the past decade 191 managers have taken charge of a club in the big five European leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1) and still been in that position for the following campaign. Of those, only 71, or not much more than a third, won more points per game in their second season. That is, the vast majority have struggled to repeat their first season's achievements.
Moreover, of the 14 managers who won the title in their second season, half had also won it in their first - suggesting Chelsea's Antonio Conte might have a better chance of winning the title this season - while five of the other seven had finished second in their first season. In other words, 12 of the 14 second-season title-winning managers had finished second or higher in their debut campaign.
Mourinho himself is one of the two managers to go from third or lower to champions in the space of one season, doing so when he won the title with Chelsea in 2014/15. Meanwhile, Felix Magath improved from a fifth-placed finish to first with Wolfsburg in 2008/09. Nobody has done what Mourinho would need to do next season, and go from sixth to first in a year.
But more often than not, a second season really is more difficult than the first.
With the Premier League title race as open ever and teams looking to outspend everyone else to clear a path to glory in a way that has never before been seen, it may well be that this season provides a unique ending.
Nonetheless, it will take something remarkable for Jose Mourinho to continue his exceptional second-season record.