“Park the bus.” I don’t know how far back in soccer history the term goes, but the first time I remember noting it was in regards to Jose Mourinho‘s Inter Milan side in 2010.

I believe it referred specifically to Mourinho’s tactics in the second leg of the 2010 Champions League semifinals versus Barcelona. Inter held a surprise 3-1 lead after the first leg, and did little or no attacking in the second leg, at Barcelona, choosing instead to “park the bus” (as in “team bus”) in front of goal and let one of the great Barcelona teams flail away in frustration.

Barcelona got one goal, but Mourinho’s “bus” tactics meant Inter won 3-2 on aggregate, on the way to winning the final over Bayern Munich, 2-0.

The second half of the English Premier League season has been a lot about Mourinho’s Chelsea side and “bus parking”, too.

Nine of Chelsea’s past 13 league games, going back to January 31, have ended with neither side scoring more than one goal.

It made for a run of results that led to Chelsea clinching its first title since 2006, during Mourinho’s first tenure in London.

It also was dreary to watch. Which Mourinho says he doesn’t care about.

When Chelsea clinched the league title with a (what else?) 1-0 home victory over Crystal Palace, two days ago, it was very much an “end justifies the means” season for Mourinho and the club.

At The National, we love the concept of Jose Mourinho. Him saying just about anything will produce more online hits than nearly anything else in a given day.

And he is prone to saying pretty much anything that pops into his head. A year ago, he referred to Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger as a “specialist in failure”. This season he said the league and its officials were treating Chelsea unfairly, which was ridiculous but led to clicks.

Mourinho continues to be successful, but the “Special One” nickname he gave himself isn’t heard much anymore. Not when you play the sort of dreary, defensive soccer Chelsea played, especially in the second half of the season.

He does have a fairly remarkable record, though.

He has won league championships in the second season at each of his five coaching stops that lasted at least two seasons: Porto in 2004, Chelsea in 2006, Inter in 2010, Real Madrid in 2012, Chelsea again in 2015.

(He also won titles in his first year at Porto, Chelsea and Inter.)

So, he wins more than a little, especially league titles, and he clearly knows what he is doing.

He is, however, something like the Floyd Mayweather Jr, of boxing, as an English writer put it over the weekend. That is, his brilliance is undeniable, it’s just that most of us don’t want to watch it.

His tactics? Defense first … living on counter-attacks and opposition mistakes … playing dreary and negative soccer much of the time.

It is odd, certainly, that a man whose teams are often nearly unwatchable should be such a live wire at press conferences.

It is then that he often goes over to the attack, a significant departure from his team’s “parry first, second and third” style of play.

It made England best team a side only a Chelsea-loving fan could love.