Jose Mourinho is a name that certainly divides opinion among fans of the Premier League.

When the self-confessed 'Special One' arrived on English shores in 2004, he effortlessly broke Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson's duopoly, romping to the title with Chelsea in record-breaking fashion.

He would enjoy a lot of success with the Blues before being controversially sacked and moving over to Italy to coach Inter Milan, where he won a famous treble.

Real Madrid were next, before returning to Chelsea and lifting the Premier League trophy yet again.

However, he was sacked the season after, before joining Manchester United where, yet again, his tactics and presence have divided opinion.

Critics have questioned whether his style of football is appropriate for the club, often labelling him as 'negative'.

Is it a fair analogy of the man? Well, respected TV presenter Gary Lineker certainly thinks otherwise.

LINEKER ARGUES MOURINHO'S CASE

In fact, he has leapt to the defence of Mourinho, laying out exactly why he is one of the finest managers in world football.

“We have a contrast with Mourinho and Guardiola’s methods and that is why everyone has been so captivated by this rivalry for so long now,” he said to Planet Football.

“Mourinho has a more old school outlook on how to play the game. Keep things tight, hit teams hard on the break – and there is nothing wrong with the way he goes about it.

“They are perfectly sensible tactics and his teams are solid, tough to beat and win a lot of trophies. He uses three or four free players and the rest need to be solid, but this is not a negative style of football.

“There is a perception about Mourinho that he promotes negative or defensive football and people find it hard to look beyond that, which I think is unfair.

“United have played some really good flowing football from what I have seen. Mourinho is developing a team at United and we are seeing it come together piece by piece.

“It’s just that City have the bulk of a team that have been there for many years and you can see the fluidity they have is better because of that understanding built up over time.”

Not often you here such a detailed argument to support calls for Mourinho's style to be the right one, but it is so hard to disagree with Lineker.