From his first taste of success with Porto FC to his tempestuous second stint at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho has earned some of the highest honours in his field. After starting out as a translator for Sir Bobby Robson in CP Portugal, he moved to Porto FC and then Barcelona before he got his first managerial appointment at Benfica followed by Uníão de Leiria.
But it wasn’t until his stint with Porto FC in 2002 that he really entered the big leagues. After winning the treble in Portugal, he moved to Chelsea in 2004. He helped the London club to their first league title in 50 years before winning a smattering of other domestic trophies.
After two and a half seasons there, he moved to Inter Milan where it was much of the same yet again. Another treble and Mourinho was now at Real Madrid in 2010. After a handful of domestic title victories in Spain, he was back at his former club in London.
After another league title there, the 53-year-old now finds himself at the helm of one of the biggest clubs in the world – Manchester United. However, in his considerably short and illustrious career, there are many jobs that evaded the former Real Madrid manager.
Wires were crossed and bridges were burnt as Mourinho lost his chance to land coveted managerial positions. Here’s a look back at the five jobs Mourinho missed out on:
#5 England
It is common knowledge that the former Porto boss has never been keen on a national job but the thought of being England’s manager ahead of the draw for the 2010 World Cup had him reconsidering his stance. It was 2007 and he was without a club after having left Chelsea quite unceremoniously and the idea of reuniting with John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole had him intrigued as he came very close to taking over from Fabio Capello.
However, the FA were too slow to approach him with any concrete terms and by the time they got around to it, Mourinho already had a very attractive offer from Inter Milan. It wasn’t just the FA’s incompetency that deterred him.
According to the Portuguese himself, it was his wife Matilde who also discouraged him from taking charge of England. She felt that her illustrious husband needed more involvement with his team and players than a national job could offer and was, therefore, a bad fit for him.
#4 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur tried to get Jose Mourinho not once, but twice. The first time was in 2007 when the Portuguese left Chelsea unexpectedly after a rift with owner Roman Abramovich. Spurs, their London rivals were desperate to sign the ‘Special One’ but his contract with Chelsea stipulated he couldn’t manage a club in England for the next two years.
Daniel Levy, chairman of Spurs was willing to match Mourinho’s wages and pay him a healthy compensation to break the terms of his contract but failed.
Levy renewed his interest in signing him again in 2012 when they were looking to replace their manager Harry Redknapp. Mourinho had become fed up of the criticism directed towards him at Real Madrid and was looking for a way out. Alas, the timing was not right. While Spurs were looking for an immediate replacement, Mourinho couldn’t leave Spain until the end of the campaign.
#3 Manchester United
Mourinho may have been appointed as manager of Manchester United this season but he’s had his eye on this particular job for quite some time. While he was never delusional enough to think United would fire Sir Alex Ferguson in his favour, he was desperate for the job after the Scotsman’s retirement.
According to Spanish reporter Diego Torres, the former Inter Milan boss had hoped he’d be in the running for the job considering his relationship with Ferguson and agent, Jorge Mendes.
However, the powers-that-be at Old Trafford weren’t too keen on him citing his turbulent management style and went with David Moyes instead. In his book, Preparense para perder (Get Ready to Lose), Torres writes that Mourinho was beside himself when he lost out to Moyes saying, “But he’s won nothing”.
The Special One even went so far as to say the insubordination of some of the Madrid players cost him the job.
#2 Liverpool
Before Mourinho came to England as the manager of Chelsea, he had his eyes set on managing Liverpool. According to former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, the bosses at Anfield were torn between him and Rafa Benitez back in 2004. However, the Reds decided to go with Benitez after his La Liga and UEFA Cup victory with Valencia. In September this year, Murphy went into details about the whole incident.
He said, “When Benitez was appointed at Liverpool, it was between him and Mourinho. I know that for a fact. Mourinho wanted the Liverpool job massively … I know Mourinho was massively disappointed.”
Maybe that’s why the Special One has always had a difficult relationship with Benitez and the club as a whole. Mourinho has been visibly antagonistic towards Benitez and the Reds and the snub back in 2004 could be the reason behind it.
#1 Barcelona
Before Jose Mourinho could go about earning the title of the Special One, he was a translator at Barcelona under Sir Bobby Robson and then Louis van Gaal. But according to Barcelona legend Xavi, he was more than that.
Speaking with ESPN in 2015, he said: “He was excellent in his three years at Barca. They said he was a translator. Rubbish. He was the assistant coach, someone who understood the philosophy of Barca and who shared many of the same characteristics of Van Gaal. He was very respected by the players. He trained us sometimes alone at Barca B and he was excellent.”
Xavi was, of course talking about the late 90s when Mourinho was still in the good books of the Barca bosses. The relationship didn’t sour until 2008 when they were on the lookout for a manager and slighted their interest in favour of signing Pep Guardiola.
The Special One met with Johann Cruyff, an advisor to Barcelona, but despite his elaborate plans for the club, failed to impress the Dutch legend. His refusal to fall in line with the Barcelona way of football and cut back on his confrontational behaviour perhaps cost Mourinho the biggest appointment of his career.
