Mourinho must start sharing the spotlight

Paul McGrath reflects on the aftermath of Heysel and questions Jose Mourinho's temperament

Spent the middle of the week watching European football. It's funny but I still get a little kick out of seeing Liverpool win. Sentimental, I think. When I came into football with Manchester United we always did well against Liverpool but they always seemed to win three trophies a year and we seemed to win nothing. Seeing them do well brings me back and makes me feel things haven't changed that much.

The memories of Heysel came back too. It's hard all these years later to imagine how much football has changed since then. I played before and after Heysel and that night brought reality home to a lot of us. I don't think we ever noticed when we were playing what was going on behind the fences and cages which surrounded the pitch. There was always the banter and the chanting and sometimes the odd skirmish in grounds and we took it for granted in a way, we just played on. We never thought it could get that way.

The shock of Heysel took a long time to absorb into the game in England. We never knew that people saw the English game as different. I remember walking out in places like the San Siro and it was so intimidating. I never suffered from nerves but places like that were just frightening. You had to walk out through a sort of cage and the fans were right on top of you, you had this feeling that if the crowd had a will they could get to you if they wanted to.

There were games which just went on and you knew something was going on on the terraces. (Funny enough Lansdowne Road was the only time we ever got taken off the pitch). We sort of assumed it was the same everywhere so Heysel was a shock because of the images of what happened that night and then realising not long afterwards when they banned all English clubs from Europe that we were all seen in the same way.

Everyone has their own opinion on the disappearance of the terraces. Maybe Heysel should have put an end to any arguments but for me the game lost something when the terraces went. I never stood on the Stretford End but I remember very early when I started with United being brought up there on a sunny afternoon, right up to the back corner and us standing there looking down over Old Trafford. You could imagine Saturday afternoon and the place full of people. It was amazing.

I've sat there on the Stretford End since I retired but I still can't imagine what it would have been like with everyone standing, swaying together, singing and chanting. The terraces attracted hardened football people, people who were the core of the game. Some of them still go but I think a lot of them got pushed out.

The game needs more of a mix. There needs to be areas for families and for kids in a ground, places where you can go knowing they won't be subjected to swearing and abuse. To me, though, football also has to be for the group of lads who meet up on a Saturday morning and pay cash through a turnstile.

Everything that happened as a result of Heysel made football a different game. Maybe that was inevitable. Nowhere has changed as much as the club I've always loved since I was a kid, Chelsea.

I enjoyed Chelsea right up to the end on Wednesday night. Well almost. There was a twist in the plot which makes the sequel a bit more interesting.

Bayern Munich's Michael Ballack did it well. Winning the the penalty and taking the penalty. Carvalho half touched him. Ballack went down like he'd been shot. If you asked most strikers in England they'd all give it a go in the same circumstances. It gives a different slant but I think if Chelsea score a goal in Munich it's all over.

They're capable of scoring there. I saw Bayern against Arsenal and they looked like the complete German team. Even on Wednesday, Bayern played well enough but for a while Chelsea cut them up. Andy Gray on Sky was talking about Didier Drogba not doing so well. I thought he did the business. He genuinely tries to get on the end of most things. He's big and quick and he's the sort of player any centre half hates to mark. He makes such a nuisance of himself that I like to see him in the team.

The worry for Chelsea at this stage is that defence. With Wayne Bridge and Paulo Ferreira gone the goals are starting to seep. I don't think William Gallas on the left works out. He's a quality player but I don't like to see him out there. There's a natural balance when Bridge is playing there (or Ashley Cole next year! )

Glen Johnson, I haven't warmed to. I know he's young and he's learning the trade but I think he has a dangerous hot streak in him. I thought when he tried to chest it down in his own area on Wednesday he didn't really know what he wanted to do. He's a nice player when he's going forward but a lot of the time he's the one making the snap tackle in the box and risking giving away a penalty.

I've seen him in the English under-21 side and he's the same, a little too wound up. For the bigger games I think Jose Mourinho will be looking at him closely. He needs a lot more experience to be called one of the big boys.

As for Mourinho, I thought the thing was ridiculous, all round. Mourinho has to take some of the responsibility as well. I love his cockiness but certain things which went on, certain accusations which he thinks he can make and then retract . . . I think his arrival has been great for the Premiership but he has to make sure now the focus goes back on to his team. He's becoming bigger than the team.

In the papers on Thursday there was almost as much space devoted to Mourinho not being there as there was to the game. You don't need that. His team do the talking.

I think it was shrewd enough of him to stay away from Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Being there, being in the stand would have made him a sideshow. The whole business needs the chance to cool down. Staying away was the smart thing to do. He has a staff there who could run with the baton and they did.

Hopefully, Wednesday is the beginning of the end of his time in the centre. I don't know if at this stage Mourinho feels he is intentionally deflecting the attention away from the lads. If he is I'm not sure it's a good thing or a necessary thing.

That sort of management style can be a slight distraction. Sometimes it deflects the pressure but a lot of this stuff has been happening when the pressure is off. I don't think players want their manager reacting to everything. It makes you worried about his temperament.

It's time to get out of the picture. Jose Mourinho should be sharing the limelight, not hogging it. So far there doesn't seem to have been any damage done where it matters.

The dressingroom seems happy. The players are so behind him. You listen to Frank Lampard, John Terry, Duffer (Damien Duff) talk about Mourinho and they love him. If there's cracks they first appear between the lines of what players say and do. After the games, though, looking at the Chelsea celebrations you can see a genuine closeness between players and manager.

I won't be putting any money on Chelsea going all the way but only because I still think AC Milan are favourites. People said they were dull on Wednesday but I saw two great set-pieces come off and a team that knows what they need to do.

Jaap Stam's goal was magnificent. Stam must be having a chuckle to himself at the moment. He's playing brilliantly and enjoying it. He should still be having a cracking career with Manchester United. That's football. Nobody is infallible.

Things change all the time.