Jose Mourinho still remains very much an acquired taste, and there are as many players that love him as hate him.
The Special One will always be remembered by Chelsea fans for an imperious first spell at Stamford Bridge, less so his return.
However, there was never any doubt whatsoever he was a winner.
For all the theatrics, bluff and bluster, he had the ammunition to back up the gun-slinging.
To that end, he had to be an exacting manager in all facets, and that will have worked for some players and not others.
Andre Schurrle was one who clearly didn’t appreciate the Portuguese’s manner, which may go some way to explaining his poor form whilst at the Blues.
“He’s a brutal guy,” he said to German presenter Joko Winterscheidt and cited by the Daily Mirror.
“I always thought to myself: What does he do anyway? Why does he treat me like this? Why does he do this to people?
“In retrospect, I realise what he wanted and what resources he was working with. At the time, I couldn’t really deal with the things he wanted from me because of all the harshness and the psychological pressure.
“Back then, it was extremely difficult. I would often drive home after conversations with him and just thought I couldn’t do it anymore. What could I do? He was building up such extreme pressure.
“It was often the case that I played from the start and then he’d replace me at half time.
“Then, in the next game, I wasn’t in the squad and I was in the stands. I couldn’t understand that at the time and I lost my self-esteem. My ego was hurt.
“Then I started thinking about what might be going through his mind. Sometimes during training I had the feeling that he was only looking at me, even if that probably wasn’t the case.”
Schurrle’s revelations are bound to ignite the argument of how best to treat footballers.
It’s often contended that some players work better with the ‘arm around the shoulder’ treatment rather than a more bullish style of management.
As we saw with Paul Pogba latterly when Mourinho was in charge of Man United, there’s always going to be one player that he fixes in his sights.
That player’s strength of character will arguably be best shown in those moments.
The question is whether Mourinho’s style is a little old hat now, or when trying to keep a group of men under your total control, if the best way to do so is by belittling, bullying and haranguing.