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Chelsea announced on Tuesday the death of 86-year-old John Mortimore, who coached Benfica in the 1970s and 1980s. Southampton, the club of which he was president, also shared a note of regret. The English coach coached Benfica for five seasons, but at different times: between 1976 and 1979, then between 1985 and 1987.
He was champion in the 1976/77 season and also in the 1986/87, winning two Portuguese Cups and one Super Cup. At the service of the Reds he has a record of 139 wins, 42 draws and 22 defeats in 203 games.
Mortimore, a coach without a great resume who replaced champion Mário Wilson, is seen on his first visit to Luz as a whim of then-president Borges Coutinho. The start is unstable, with the first win only on matchday four, against Academico de Viseu, after a significant defeat in Alvalade (3-0) and two draws against SC Braga (2-2) and Estoril (1 – 1 ). Given the poor results, the incarnated even organize an Extraordinary General Assembly to empower the management to hire foreign players, a request denied by the members. Benfica lost in Setúbal and dropped to thirteenth place, but from there they achieved an amazing recovery, with 22 wins and two draws, one of them against Beira-Mar de … Eusébio, and won the title (the third championship) nine points ahead of Sporting. At the other events, he is not as successful. He is again eliminated by the lions from the Cup 3-0 and in the European Cup he is eliminated by Dynamo Dresden in the first round (2-0 and 0-0).
In the second season, the Águilas failed to win any title, something that had not happened since 1974, despite the hiring of Humberto Coelho, who was returning from PSG, Diamantino, Rui Lopes and Celso. The benfiquista tetra is avoided by a reborn FC Porto at the hands of José Maria Pedroto and Pinto da Costa, without the reds losing the game and after leading at the end of the first round. They beat Sporting in a match marked by a serious injury to Jordão and the history of the lost slope of Vítor Batista, but they tied with Belenenses and Varzim and were overtaken by the dragons. In the Cup he is once again eliminated by Sporting, and in Europe, in the quarterfinals, Liverpool is too strong, with a double victory: 1-2 at Luz, 4-1 at Anfield.
The third season is again a desert, without titles. Three defeats in the first five days complicate the accounts of Mortimore, who only sees some joy in the matches with Sporting, first of all because of the historic 5-0, the best result in derbies since 1946. In the Cup, the executioner is time is SC Braga, in the last 32. In the UEFA Cup they lost to Borussia M’Gladbach, who would end up winning the trophy in extra time (0-0, 2-0 ap). He is replaced the following season by Mário Wilson, and the Reds finally have the green light to hire foreigners.
In the first season of the second season, the 1985/86 season, Mortimore was not champion again – he lost the title on the penultimate day and in Luz – but he won the Cup and the Super Cup. The fateful match is a derby against Sporting, with Morato and Manuel Fernandes giving the lions victory 2-1. FC Porto is ahead of the championship by winning in Setúbal with a goal from Paulo Futre: there is a punctual equality, but the dragons have an advantage in the direct confrontation. In the last round, the Reds lost without the punished Mortimore in Bessa and confirmed the Blue and White match. In the Cup final, Belenenses won 2-0, with goals from Nunes and Rui Águas. And in the Super Cup, two-handed, manages to maintain a 0-0 in Antas after Diamantino overtook the eagles in Luz. Already a goal from Dukla suffered at home (2-1, after 1-0 in Prague), Eliminates Benfica in the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners’ Cup.
Mortimore’s second champion title comes the following season. But nothing predicted it. In the Cup Winners’ Cup, he is eliminated in the round of 16 by Bordeaux, and the Super Cup is lost to FC Porto in a match in which Paulo Futre becomes the great figure, with two goals in Luz (2-4, after 1 – 1 in Antas)). On December 14, Alvalade visits and the result is overwhelming: 7-1, with poker by Manuel Fernandes. However, the Englishman manages to straighten the team. Next, there are two important victories, against SC Braga (2-1) and FC Porto (3-1), still tied at Póvoa de Varzim (0-0), but shortly after they have five consecutive victories. There are no shortage of problems, such as three consecutive draws against Académica, Portimonense and Belenenses, but they are offset by a win against Sporting shortly after. He is champion with three points of advantage over FC Porto and he takes revenge on Sporting, in Jamor, in the Cup final, with an encore from Diamantino.
In Luz, Ebbe Skovdahl succeeded him, he left for Betis in Seville and returned for the third time, in 1988/89, to Portugal, but to coach Belenenses.
Former midfielder for Chelsea, where he played six seasons, and for Queens Park Rangers, began his coaching career in Greece, at Ethnikos (1971/72), and returned to England to coach Portsmouth the following season, replacing Benfica as President’s bet. Borges Coutinho.
Considered a strict coach and with a special focus on the physical preparation of the players, John Mortimore is a historical name of Portuguese football and Benfica.
