I have never voted for Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho as Premier League Manager of the Month - and it's a compliment to him
- Jose Mourinho has only won Manager of the Month three times at Chelsea
- Mourinho won the Premier League twice without being awarded the gong
- His teams are so good, the bar is high for him to make exceptional results
Confession time - I have never voted for Jose Mourinho as Barclays Manager of the Month.
I joined the panel, which is a cross-section of media, administrators, ex-players and fans based overseas and here in the UK, last summer.
Votes are normally submitted electronically but there are three opportunities to meet, discuss football and vote in-person each season. The main criteria is performance, but behaviour and bringing the game into disrepute should also be considered.
Jose Mourinho has won the Premier League for the second time without winning Manager of the Month
Nigel Pearson won the latest Manager of the Month, meaning Mourinho will not take the award once this season
Mourinho's Chelsea teams are always so impressive, it's difficult for them to surprise by winning
The Chelsea boss usually features among the four-man shortlist provided by the organisers each month because it based purely on simple statistics - wins, losses and goals scored - and Mourinho's side have cruised to the Premier League title, but you can select any of the 20 top-flight managers if you like.
Personally, I tend to vote to reward exceptional performance in that given month.
A manager who has stopped a dismal run of form and changed his club's fortunes around, or a boss whose side have fared well in a particularly difficult run of matches.
I also try to look beyond the legion of strikers who typically dominate any votes of this nature and pick out defenders or goalkeepers whose performances are not as simple to appraise as just looking at the 'goals scored' column.
Last month I voted for Nigel Pearson as Manager of the Month for April after four vital victories on the trot took Leicester City out of the relegation zone and picked John Terry after his stellar displays for Chelsea, for example.
Pearson (right) led Leicester to four wins in April, bolstering their Premier League survival chances
Mourinho (right) has only won Manager of the Month three times in a little over five seasons at Chelsea
Mourinho's last award for Manager of the Month at the helm of Chelsea came in April 2007
I think this is why Mourinho has won so few Manager of the Month awards.
His sides are always very, very good, so the bar is set very high for an 'exceptional' sequence of results. You expect Chelsea to win, more often than not, and it is therefore little surprise when they do. It's a compliment to him, really.
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