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| Ex-Chelsea Coach José Mourinho has spoken to the Portuguese sports paper he used to write a column for and cleared up some of the raging speculation about leaving the London club. He talked about leaving The Blues, coming back home and not needing to take any time off after his surprising exit from Stamford Bridge… “I think that we all have reasons to be happy – I wasn’t fired and I didn’t ask to be fired. We arrived at an agreement that was good for everybody. At the end of least season I had good options to take up but I had given my word and I stayed”, he explained to Record reporter Miguel Pedro Vieira in London. “The club could also have sent me packing at the end of last season but they didn’t, [although] I can’t say I’m content in stopping my work now”, he added, going on to explain that he did shed tears as he left. “Yes, I cried too [after being told that some players had wept and asked if he had as well] as I often used to say that I had one family at home and another at work.” “I always had a loving relationship with the players and with the fans. But it’s going to be like that for the next ten years. I won’t forget them and they won’t forget me. Now the club isn’t a solid block; there were fractures. Perhaps we all have our parcel of guilt, maybe this [his leaving] was really the best solution”, he mused. “I’m a man of war in competition but a man of peace when I’m out of it. That’s why I want peace. I’m going to try to forget the bad things and remember the good things, which are interminable. The human side is the more difficult side for me. In sporting terms I risked by saying that I was special, but now believe that there are many people who would second that. I think that I will continue to be special” an unbowed Mourinho stressed. “It’s not important to go into what went wrong. I don’t want to hurt anybody nor talk about things in more detail. I want to be remembered as somebody who entered into the history of Chelsea and English football and I’m not the type who hangs his dirty washing to dry in public.” He did express one regret about his departure from Chelsea. “It’s a real shame that we couldn’t celebrate 100 matches without losing at home. I got to 99. I would have been justice to have been able to get there but I’m sure that in a new club that will be possible”, he promised, opening the door on his thoughts about his future. “I should spend about another fortnight in London and decide what to do with my home, my car, bank accounts. After that I have various friends, dinners, the kids still at school. There’s no big rush”, he said with relaxed good humour. “Every morning you’ll be able to see me running close to Chelsea Harbour because I don’t want to get fat…” “After that there are various things to do. I’m going to the United States to take part in a football clinic, then I’m recording an advert for a Malaysian bank, and after all that I’d like to spend some time with my family. I also want to learn another language. Maybe German or Italian, but also French. I want to be ready for all countries as I’m not tired and I don’t need a rest.” “The telephone has been ringing a lot, more than usual, because few people had the number before. Colleagues, friends and acquaintances who I haven’t talked to for ages…even referees, but clubs? No, they know to call my agent Jorge Mendes. He knows full well what I do want and what I don’t want.” “Right now I’ll relax for a few days as the last time I did that was when I left Benfica [in 2001 after nine games in charge and a row with the newly-elected President]. After Leiria [União de Leiria; the modest Portuguese club where he showcased his abilities to bring the best out of players] I didn’t even have a week, and when I left FC Porto for Chelsea I also didn’t. It’s been six years without a break because a Coach doesn’t stop for holidays.” As to whether he would stay in England, perhaps to coach the national side, Mourinho was adamant. “No, I want a new experience. I adore English football and won’t change my mind because of one referee or another or the hostility of the press. It’s a question of philosophy. The other Coaches [Wenger? Ferguson?] are supporting me at this time, and they were good to me.” “I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying here [due to the fact that would mean replacing one of them?]. I want to come back later on, for the atmosphere, but not in the near future. By the way, I’m not even going to the stadiums to see the games so that nobody can say that I want to be here or there…” “The only club that I’m going to see will be from my birth town; Vitória de Setúbal [who are playing Sporting Clube at the José Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on Sunday 23rd of September and then his old club União de Leiria next weekend]”, the Portuguese tactician added, although he didn’t give a date for a stopover in Portugal. He then went on to talk of what he’d like next. “It can’t be Portugal as I’ve won everything there already – apart form the Taça de Liga (League Cup) and that’s because I didn’t play it. Nor the Selecção Naccional (a.k.a. Selecção das Quinas; Portugal’s national side) for the next few years anyway, although I’d never turn my back on it.” “It has to be a big club, with responsibilities, with pressure and with objectives. It has to be serious, somebody big in Europe. It doesn’t even have to be a champion club, but a club that is playing the Champions for the first time; or that hasn’t won a title for a while; or that wants to rise to another level; or that wants to stay on top...” When asked if he thought he could adapt himself to Italian, German or Spanish football, Mourinho was characteristically frank. “I don’t know. I can’t speak for Italy or Germany, because I don’t know them. In Spain I have experience at Barça. Italy and Germany are question marks to me. My future will be what it has to be, but I’ll try to be as happy as when I came here [London] or went to FC Porto”, he ended. |