JOSE MOURINHO told Alex Ferguson there was no way he would ever take over from him at Manchester United. Mourinho ended his six-year Premier League exile when he breezed back into Chelsea for the second coming of the Special One. The 50-year-old was tipped to take the Old Trafford job as news leaked Fergie was retiring and Mourinho was being axed by Real Madrid. But the Portuguese coach insisted: “I’d have turned down every job in the world for Chelsea. “Of course I told Sir Alex I wanted to return to Stamford Bridge.” And Mourinho revealed he was bowled over by the trust put in him when told by Ferguson he was walking away from Old Trafford. He added: “I knew Ferguson was retiring months ago and I’m happy with his trust as it was big news. “I imagine just a small circle of people around him knew about his decision and it was a responsibility for me to know what he planned. “He told me his plan as we’re friends. And because he’s a friend, I told him the club I wanted to coach in England was Chelsea again.” Mourinho won back-to-back Prem titles during his three-year stay at Stamford Bridge but left under a cloud after accusations of rows with owner Roman Abramovich. He was accused of playing route one football — but his trophy haul meant he was regarded among the world’s best bosses. Mourinho’s determination to stay in an elite group has meant he has never been afraid to ring changes if players do not meet his standards. After signing his new four-year deal at Chelsea, Mourinho insisted he would underline just what he expected from his players from the most senior to the new recruits. He added: “Some of the lads will have already heard what I’ll say when I report for my job at the club next month and they’ll hear it again. “It’s something I’ll always say on the first day. It is: If you’re a top pro, if you’re not selfish, if you put the club in front of yourself and if you’re here to work 100 per cent for me, your fellow players and the club, then we’ll have a great relationship. “But if you’re selfish, if you think about yourself and don’t care about the club, the image, the fans then we’re in big trouble.” And Mourinho left no one in any doubt if players do not toe the club line, then they’ll soon find themselves booted out the door. He explained his tough stance: “Sometimes you have a couple of guys not too keen to accept these kind of rules. “This is where you have problematic relationships and the club in that moment either supports the problematic player or the manager. “If the club supports the manager, the two little guys — gone, easy.” Stats will tell you that when a manager returns to a former club, the odds are stacked in favour of a failure but Mourinho is confident he can buck the trend. And he said: “The club knows me, I know the club. I don’t think this should work negatively, I think this should be a plus not a minus.” Mourinho has rejected claims Abramovich interfered in team affairs in his first spell at the Bridge. The Portuguese also denied the Russian went over his head to sign Andriy Shevchenko in 2006. Mourinho added: “Never, never during my time did he try to interfere in the basic things of the manager. “We wanted to buy Samuel Eto’o from Barcelona. Abramovich did everything to bring Eto’o. “In the end, Barcelona said: ‘We don’t sell, forget it’. “After that we went to other options and got to Shevchenko, and I was happy with Shevchenko.” Source:The Sun
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:31:46 +0000
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