The Mourinho Thread

[Fulham Broadway 16,923]

On R 5 last night - ''I want to return to Chelsea one day, thats for sure''

Here are the highlights of that interview:
SPOONY: I'm used to calling the top man at a football club 'the manager', but you're head coach at Real Madrid. Do you like being a manager or do you prefer to be called coach?
MOURINHO: In my relationship with my players I had everything. I had the traditional Portuguese 'Mr', I had 'the guv', I had 'the boss', 'coach' and 'Jose'.

SPOONY: Which is your favourite?
MOURINHO: You know, 'the guv' was the one I took. I think it was Damien Duff, the first one to call me that, and I took a few weeks to understand the dimension. What matters for me is that it remains forever. Even today Frank Lampard and John Terry call me 'boss' and I'm not the boss anymore.
SPOONY: When we see you on the touchline or in a press conference, it would very much appear that those things don't matter to you. But sitting here speaking to you now, you hold these things very dear and close to you.
MOURINHO: These are the things that matter for me. I read a book from one of the most important coaches in the history of university sports, John Wooden, a basketball coach at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles), and one of the things he says is that the most important thing in all of this is 'the man'. The human relation. The best coach is the one who puts in everything.
SPOONY: Is winning everything?
MOURINHO: No, winning is not everything. But winning is more important than any one of us. Sometimes you have the feeling during the match that a player cannot improve, and you can read the situation - he didn't start well, but he has the conditions to finish well - but sometimes you feel immediately the team started bad, the players are bad, and you have to make some changes.
If the result goes completely against you, you have to take some decisions and some risks and everyone's afraid of that.
SPOONY: You hold Sir Alex Ferguson in very high regard?


Sir Alex on Mourinho in 2009


"I got on very well with him at Chelsea and I think it was a loss to the game when he went. I actually enjoyed watching him on the television. I thought he was good. He was cocky and confident but it was good for the game. Right away he came in and said, 'I'm the Special One', and we all thought, 'Who is this?' and his team thought, 'We'd better win here'. He came to Chelsea and made that declaration himself. Don't forget he was self-anointed. People then sat up but his achievements are there to be recognised."
MOURINHO: Of course. My first contact with him was not one to forget because Porto beat Manchester United in the Champions League. After the match he was knocking on our dressing room door with Gary Neville, and they wanted to congratulate our dressing room.
So that was a moment when I understood that when the win is deserved, you have to respect the winners and you have to know to enjoy a little bit the happiness of the others.
It happened with Bayern Munich last season when we (Real Madrid) lost the semi-final on penalties, and at the end of the match it was not a drama for me.
I was also in their dressing room. I remember that day of Porto-Man United, and it was the start of my relationship with the greatest manager of British football.
SPOONY: Would you go back to Chelsea?
MOURINHO: I will go where people really want me. But I have to repeat always this: I'm with Real Madrid, I very much want to be, I have a new contract, I'm not thinking about leaving.
The day I leave is when I want to go. But yes, I want to go back one day, that's for sure.
SPOONY: People always say Barcelona are the greatest club side that we've ever seen in this generation, yet Real Madrid won La Liga. You must be proud?
MOURINHO: We won, and we won with nine points difference. They didn't win, and they didn't win because they had a bad season, because sometimes big teams have a bad season where they lose points.
They had 91 points, and with 91 points you are the champion of every Liga. The point is, Real Madrid had 100 points. We beat every record in the league in Spain and so we won because we were tremendous, because we've had an incredible season.
SPOONY: What drives you? What keeps you so motivated?
MOURINHO: The club above everything. When I go to a club, I wear the shirt, I feel the shirt like my first one or my last one, I feel the fans as part of myself, I create internal links with fans.
I become immediately one of them, and I feel that I am one of them with a privileged position to fight for the club and to try to bring to all of them happiness.
SPOONY: Is this what happens when there's a potential problem between yourself and an owner, in that they don't always see it from the fans' point of view?
MOURINHO: You go through my career since day one until now and I've never had problems with clubs and owners.
At Chelsea, I didn't want to stay and let things go into a direction where we were all feeling it was not the best direction.
We felt that was the best decision, because in this moment we are friends. There are no problems between me and Roman (Abramovich, Chelsea owner).


Mourinho's trophy haul

Porto (2002-04): Primera Liga (2003, 2004), Champions League (2004), Uefa Cup (2003), Portuguese Cup (2003), Portuguese Super Cup (2003).
Chelsea (2004-07): Premier League (2005, 2006), FA Cup (2007), League Cup (2005, 2007), Community Shield (2005).
Inter (2008-10): Serie A (2009, 2010), Champions League (2010), Coppa Italia (2010), Italian Super Cup (2008).
Real Madrid (2010 to date): La Liga (2012), Copa del Rey (2011).
When people know me they understand that if sometimes I'm not an easy person to work with it's because I fight for my people, for the best conditions for the players and I fight for the club and I fight for the fans, and I become a fan.
SPOONY: Sir Bobby Robson is a national treasure in the UK and you were his right-hand man. How much did you learn from him?
MOURINHO: I was lucky. I was lucky because he took me in when I was really young. I spent something like five years with Sir Bobby, and of course he was very important for me.
But again, if you ask me to say the most important things with Sir Bobby and why did I learn a lot, I keep the person. I forget everything about football and I keep the person.
SPOONY: You've signed a new contract until 2016 at Real Madrid, but the accusation in the past is that you're just about winning trophies, and not bothered about young players coming through. So what is your master plan for Real Madrid?
MOURINHO: You know, first of all the challenge was to come here and to win, and to stop that domination of Barcelona in the Spanish league. We did it, and I could say 'job done', but we want not to win in an isolated way - we want to keep winning.
Real Madrid was the biggest club of the last century because of results, and we want Real Madrid to go in the same direction in the 21st century.
SPOONY: And just before I let you go, do you see yourself one day managing an international side? Would you manage an international side that wasn't Portugal?
MOURINHO: In this moment I don't see it because it's a completely different kind of job. In the club we play 60 matches a season, in an international team we play maybe 10, so it's a job I don't want to have in this moment.
But it's a job that makes people full of pride, especially if you do it with your own country, and I will do it with Portugal because I think Portuguese people wouldn't understand if I do it with another country. I don't imagine myself in the World Cup playing against Portugal.
SPOONY: Managing England against Portugal in the semi-finals
MOURINHO: It would be dramatic

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

But yes, I want to go back one day, that's for sure.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Yep, if mourinho ever wants to come back, just pick up the phone, i would have him back in a heartbeat.. With RDM alongside of course...

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Are we sure he didn't mean return to the league instead of Chelsea?

[gary gordon 1,777]

Buy the time he comes back the old era will be well and truly gone. It won't be the same.. Those days of a young Frank, John and Didier hanging off him.. Oh the memories...

[butchercoat 60]

It wouldn't be the same but ....it would be great....but Roberto is our manager now and he, I think, will be rebuilding a team for the next 5-8 years.

[Rambo 1,729]

I would welcome Jose back with open arms, but not anytime soon. RDM deserves a long term spell at Chelsea and I know the word "stability" is taboo around here but I hope that's what we're getting out of Roberto at the helm.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Mourinho will probably come back in 10 or 15 years.

[Tomo 21,733]

He will be the best manager ever by the time he retires, there really is no body like him, the confidence he bring's to team's, the assurance he gave our fans.

If the worse happens and RDM gets sacked, then Jose has to return. Im usually against second coming's and have been against a Jose 2nd coming for a long time, but the more i think about it, the more i would want it if Roman pulled the plug on RDM.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

Im caught between a rock and hard place! :cry:

[Muzchap 8,966]

It wouldn't be the same but ....it would be great....but Roberto is our manager now and he, I think, will be rebuilding a team for the next 5-8 years.

As much as I want to believe this, I see 1 season and Pep coming in...

[didierforever 7,349]

he will be back one day and i will wait for him...

[Ollie 4,400]

I still remember the day he left, i even remember being at work texting everyone saying "WTF?!"

No matter the situation, i'll always want him back here, i'd welcome him back tomorrow if i could. As i see it tho, we're building for 2 years until Robbie's contract is up then Pep will take over and make our players the best team in the world. After Pep is bored again, making us so good that we can't go any further, someone else can have a go, maybe Franco. I don't think Jose will be our manager again but i'd love him to be part of the club again, even tho in my mind, he will always be part of the club anyway.

[Jase 43,479]

Would definitely welcome Jose back in a heartbeat any day, any week, any time of the year. What happened 5 years ago should never have happened and it will be painful to watch IF he goes to another English club. Think he still has some unfinished business here at the club.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Are we sure he didn't mean return to the league instead of Chelsea?

Can you really imagine him at any other club if he does return to England? It would so out of character for him to manage Manu for example.

[Jase 43,479]

Can you really imagine him at any other club if he does return to England? It would so out of character for him to manage Manu for example.

Why wouldn't he though? Say if Mancini doesn't do well at City, he might be hired to replace him at the Etihad. And that is seriously a dangerous combination.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Why wouldn't he though? Say if Mancini doesn't do well at City, he might be hired to replace him at the Etihad. And that is seriously a dangerous combination.

I just think it would be out of character for him. Jose is someone who is very passionate in what he does, he becomes a fan of the team and an instant club legend. I mean do you imagine SAF managing Chelsea?

[Jase 43,479]

I just think it would be out of character for him. Jose is someone who is very passionate in what he does, he becomes a fan of the team and an instant club legend. I mean do you imagine SAF managing Chelsea?

Nope but I can definitely see him managing another English club, sadly. Plenty out there would take him in as their manager if Roman doesn't want him back and especially when he has been making noise about coming back to England.