The timing couldn't have been better. Or more surreal.

On Thursday night, hours after being sacked by Chelsea, there was Jose Mourinho appearing on a prerecorded British TV talk show discussing which Premier League manager he sends Christmas cards to. Among other things.

At one point, the host Clare Balding asks, 'What are the things that give you peace, that make you feel alive?' Quick as you like, Jose gets in there with the gag.

“In this moment, to win a match”, he says with a wink and a wry smile and the studio audience erupts with laughter and applause and melts just a little bit.

Under the lights, sitting there as the high-profile guest of honor, you'd forgive Mourinho for feeling special, beloved, adored. Just the way he likes it.

But when it goes the other way, he's never quite been able to handle it.

It said much about Mourinho's state of mind over the last while that he kept such a fluffy appointment when his soccer team were mired in a state of blind panic.

One would have imagined he'd be bunkered down with his staff, brow furrowed, forensically dissecting video analysis or training-ground footage. Instead, he's curled up on a comfy couch, discussing who's made his naughty and nice lists.

But, there's good reason for it.

He's known for a long time that it was an un-winnable war. He knows his own quirks and the way he operates and when his usual routine wasn't working anymore, when the hard questions were being asked, he decided against holding a mirror to himself. Instead, and quite inevitably, he blamed others, dug a hole and buried his head in the sand.

It goes back to his first management stint with Benfica, when he stepped in to replace Jupp Heynckes. He oversaw a decent run of form, went to ask for a new contract and was turned down. So, he resigned. Compromise? What's that? The ego had landed.

There's more than a hint of the infantile about Mourinho – his epitaph will include references to the litany of trophies won but also to that time he stuck his finger in the eye of then-Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova during an infamous, heated El Clasico.

In his previous stint at Chelsea, he walked when things got tough. But as he learned shortly after departing England, things were a lot harder elsewhere. In Italy, they cared little about the media manipulation, the mind games, the paranoia. They didn't particularly like him. In turn, he didn't like them much either, venting at the country's press for what he deemed 'intellectual prostitution', whatever that is. He won a lot while at Inter Milan but he needed a lot more than silverware. He needed devotion.

In Madrid, he became something else. He was on edge, cold, cynical and suspicious of everyone and everything. It was easy to pit good versus evil when Pep Guardiola's Barcelona were busy reinventing soccer. Mourinho couldn't handle it. And when the players began to vocalize their concerns, an already tense atmosphere escalated with the bizarre, intense accusations of an increasingly-volatile Mourinho who claimed there was a mole within the squad, feeding information to others in an effort to sabotage his grand plans.

This time around it was supposed to be different but instead, we're left with something that's gone before. It will feel strange for Mourinho, who expected more from the club and the players. But perhaps that's the biggest issue of all.

While he wanted the attitudes of his squad to change, he was content with his own staying the same. Yet, his behaviour since the start of the campaign has been unpredictable, beginning with the humiliating and perception-altering on-field clash he had with Dr Eva Carneiro, who ran onto the pitch to tend to Eden Hazard in the final few moments of Chelsea's opening Premier League clash with Swansea. Mourinho verbally abused her, castigated her and then embarrassed her and a colleague Jon Fearn in his post-match interviews.

From there, it's been a rapid decline. When Chelsea failed to sign John Stones from Everton, it gave Mourinho further ammunition. He needed new players and they weren't being delivered.

There was his treatment of certain players – namely John Terry, Nemanja Matic, Eden Hazard and Diego Costa. Terry and Matic both suffered through cringe-worthy substitutions though have bounced back accordingly – a sign of their respect and appreciation for Mourinho. But the latter duo have struggled spectacularly. The Belgian, such a magnificent performer over the last two seasons, has failed to score for Chelsea this term. Costa meanwhile, is a pale imitation of the fierce, intimidating brute who tore top-flight defences to shreds in his debut campaign. Now, he's that guy who throws a training bib in disgust when he's not brought on as a substitute.

When everything was broken, Mourinho lost his way. There were similarities to the final days at Real Madrid, even mention of a mole within the squad. And like his time in Spain, players began to distrust him and his methods. For someone who craves appreciation, it was the final straw.

It will be intriguing to see where he goes next. It's hard to see him making another return to the Premier League, especially with Manchester United having outlined so clearly that his personality went against what they believed in.

Though it's hard to feel much sympathy for Mourinho, there will be a stark realisation for him in the coming days: that as much as he wanted a legacy from his latest management role, he only really managed notoriety...again.

And in amongst all the trophies and the success, that's sure to irk even the most self-assured of men.

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