MOURINHO PINING FOR PREMIER LEAGUE

Jose not enjoying life in Italy

MOURINHO: Misses the Premier League

28/11/2009

JOSE MOURINHO feels unloved, unwanted and unappreciated and cannot wait to return to the place he now regards as his spiritual football home - the Premier League.

Since leaving Chelsea and taking over at Inter Milan, Mourinho has pined for the passion and intensity of English football.

In Italy he has faced a running battle with the pundits and purists and feels he has not been given the credit for steering Inter to the Serie A title.

And although he is on course to retain the championship, there are questions about whether he will see out the remaining 18 moths of his contract - especially if his team fails to reach the Champions League knockout phase.

Now he is vowing to return to England as outspoken and outrageous as ever and that will alert Liverpool where Rafael Benitez's future remains constantly under threat.

Or Manchester United where Sir Alex Ferguson's reign cannot continue for many more years.

Mourinho loves to be loved and the adoration he earned at Stamford Bridge has left him yearning fpor more of the same.

In an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Record, he said: "I prefer to enjoy the capacity and health that God has given me to live to the limit the passion I have for high-level football.

"That's what I experienced in England and will continue to experience when I return to England or maybe have a new opportunity in Spain.

"It's true that I still say what I think. I call it honesty, authenticity, being up-front. In this respect I've not changed anything. I've always been like that.

MOURINHO: Irritated in Italy

"What's changed is that I reveal less in the press. But in what I say, I'm as sincere as before. I haven't got one foot forward and the other behind me. I always go with my chest forward.

"That's how I started, and that's how I'll end up.

"There's a group of good coaches from whom the best stand out. I don't exclude myself from that."

Italy does not share his gift for self-promotion. He is regarded as a troublesome outsider by his peers and an irritant by the media.

Mourinho said: "The case of coaches is symptomatic. There are 20 of us in Serie A - 18 are Italian, one is half Italian and half Brazilian (AC Milan's Leonardo) and the other is a foreigner.

"When they vote for the coach of the year in a month's time, voted for by the coaches themselves, it doesn't seem that I'll win. Perhaps I'll even be last.

"Perhaps I'll have to vote for myself to get a vote. It can't even be two votes any more, because Walter Zenga, who is an Inter man and my friend, left Palermo."

He admits he feels under pressure and knows it will increase if Inter fail to make it past the Champions League group stage

He said "It's down to results above all. If we're winning, it lessens the criticism, but if we lose a game they're on top of you.

"There's recognition, but criticism continues. It's our duty to transform the constant nagging we get from outside not into a destabilising effect but into motivation for the team. I don't drown.

"That's what we do from the first day we start work."

Incomprehensible

Mourinho cannot even find an escape from the criticism back in his Portuguese homeland.

If anything it is even worse and he has no plans to go home til the tail end of his career.

He said: "In a country which isn't exactly huge, where they should be proud of those few people who reach excellence in the world, there are incomprehensible decisions and attitudes.

"I find it hard to take it in when people phone me disgusted by things they've heard from people with responsibility. Established people contact me to say they watch Inter's games on Portuguese TV with the volume turned off.

"I believe it, because it's not just two or three people who say it, it's a lot more.

"I see how in Italy they celebrate the victories of Ancelotti's Chelsea, how they deeply regret Mr Trapattoni's misfortune in missing a World Cup in such an incredible way in Paris.

"And how they find cause for happiness with the victories of Capello's England. I've seen here the privilege, passion and affection with which Ancelotti, Trapattoni and Capello are treated.

"When I compare that attitude with what happens to me in my country, sometimes I stop and think, sometimes I just laugh. The difference is absurd.

"I'm not thinking of returning to Portugal. Portuguese football doesn't motivate me, nor living in Portugal.

"The Portuguese national team, yes, but only when I'm old and if the Federation wants me. It won't be in my 60s, but in my 70s, a bit like Mr Trapattoni is doing now with Ireland."

For now Mourinho has only one destination in mind. The Premier League should brace itself for his return.

Your comments

This article has 19 comments

hi morinho .i knew that u wnt 2 be the coach of man utd.as a fan of man utd i will welcome u. bcoz i never seen such an intresting personality in futbol world

By hashim zahid.. Posted December 1 2009 at 7:07 PM.

Football is about personalities and entertainment, and the EPL is the best there is. Losing Jose Mourhino to Serie A was a terrible loss and the EPL was much the poorer for it.

I would watch and support any team that Mourhino manages in the EPL. The sooner he returns, the better.

By PmKim.. Posted November 30 2009 at 12:29 PM.

Unlike actor Hugh Grant who has once said on "Larry King Live" that he's not one to blow his own trumpet, Mourinho is very fond of doing what Hugh Grant does not do -- blowing his own trumpet and very frequently too !

Perhaps this is his way of trying to land a big job In England. I think he won't succeed though.

By chuckoboy.. Posted November 29 2009 at 12:25 PM.

we want to se if u are a real coach,so come and start from down like in new castle or portsmouth.

By evans.. Posted November 29 2009 at 11:33 AM.

I'm a City fan and I really hope Man City will bring in Jose or Hiddik. Hughes has no respect from his players and they don't work for him.

Please get rid of him before more South American talent goes though the door not liking hughes! A manager like Hinnink or Jose will bring man City in the lime-light where they wanna be and bring players in. Nothing againt Hughes but he belongs with a smaller team, Man City are reaching high and need someone big.

pls be quick Jose and Hiddink won't be around for ever and wanna try for Europe this year! Will be nice to see both of them in the prem!

............Hiddink pls Mr Sheik! He has great knowledge and precance and plays good football. Hopefully it will stop Robino going (tho it maybe too late now). And a new Manager can slim down that ridiculas over big team. no wonder they are not gelling do we really need 20 strikers? give half our squad to Pompy in Jan.

I have a feeling we will get Jose and Hiddink will go to L'Pool! Them 2 in the with the great managers like Venger, Fergison and Rednapp will make the Prem more fun then with Boring old Hughes and Benitez

By Simeon.. Posted November 29 2009 at 11:07 AM.

mourinho wont go to utd. utd will get either david moyes or o neil. chelsea are doing fine at the min and spurs have harry. liverpool cant sack rafa as it would cost too much and he wont leave because he knows the money he is owed. cant see him going to city due the fact its a gamble to ruin his reputation as i dont think hughes has brought tallent into the city side. city are still very avarage. you wont see him in the prem for atleast another 3 years

By jamie.. Posted November 29 2009 at 10:57 AM.

All the pointers are he;ll be at Man City before the season is up

By Deano.. Posted November 29 2009 at 10:50 AM.

Fan let Jose Mourinho come back to premiership but not my team ARSENAL.

By Shehu Ayeni.. Posted November 29 2009 at 10:28 AM.

Hi Jose, its high time you come back to England and
start all over again.i particularly miss u and would appreciate it if u can join the Premier league and show the stuff you are made of.
Looking forward to seeing you soon.
GOOD LUCK JOSE.

By anthony akadri.. Posted November 29 2009 at 10:27 AM.

Come on yanks please get Jose as soon as possible before he goes anywhere else at the end of the season. It'll be the best and only thing you've ever done for us. Rafa has had his 5 years and his side is looking stale and they don't wont to play for him any more not since pre-season. Surelly even the most hardent fan can see that. Everyone knows we haven't got the money 4 or 5 other epl teams have but at least jose would buy 1 or 2 excellent players for his 20 million pound unlike Rafa's frustrating 5 or 6 players that would struggle in the championship. Though i do believe Rafa's a better tactician, i have no doubt Jose would bring us the title that we all crave and him and his ssshhh finger would soon be forgiven.

By Hewie.. Posted November 29 2009 at 10:01 AM.

His boring style of football is not suited to Man Utd so I doubt he will go there. Also Utd will want someone who will be in it for the long haul, rather like SAF. Martin O'Neil fits the bill in this regard, although his boring style of football may not suit Utd either.

By jon.. Posted November 29 2009 at 9:17 AM.

It is already written that he will take over at Utd when SAF retires, no way he takes the liverfool or City job to jepordise the greatest mangers position in world football..He will bide his time for SAF to retire then he will be ready to come back to the Prem and keep Utd where they belong, On top..

By Ric Bische.. Posted November 29 2009 at 4:26 AM.

come back to chelsea

By kojo.. Posted November 29 2009 at 3:15 AM.

its not rocket science jose wants out before he gets the sack from inter his job was to go there and win the champions league and he knows he cant do it just like he couldnt at chelsea and now he is touting himself around for jobs you have to laugh at this clown when the crunch comes he cant deliver even avram grant did better than him by takeing chelsea to the final and allmost winning it had terry not lost he nerve when he bottled it grant and chelsea would have made history

By tony,kent.. Posted November 29 2009 at 3:13 AM.

please the owners of man city please sack hughes and get a real manager in who the player will respect and then city might get in the top 4 but with hughes they wont and be lucky to get top 6 the way they are leaking goals

By kev.... Posted November 29 2009 at 1:06 AM.

if you dont feel loved there why not come back home where you are appreciated.

By Alfred.. Posted November 29 2009 at 12:51 AM.

mourinho why dont you stop talking and come back to Premiership, Chelsea fan would love to see you there

By eddie.. Posted November 29 2009 at 12:06 AM.

Jose Mourinho is one of the best coach in the world,but inter performance in the last uefa championship was nothing to write home about. inter should go for great mid fielders, capable of holding balls and distributing it upfront.
My advise for mourinho is to come back to Premiership. Chelsea is the Lord choosen team for now.

By Jacob Ndu.. Posted November 28 2009 at 11:33 PM.

hey mourinho come and manage tottenham in like 6years

By martin putt.. Posted November 28 2009 at 11:30 PM.

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