Mourinho was signed by Italian club Roma just 15 days after being sacked by Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
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Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has opened up about how he took the hot seat in Roma, just days after being sacked by Tottenham Hotspur. Mourinho was let go in April by the London club and 15 days later, he was employed by Roma. The Serie A club had then announced that he would be taking over from Paolo Fonseca at the end of the season. As far as the London club is concerned, Ryan Mason took interim charge of Spurs, but they are yet to find a suitable replacement for the 58-year-old Portuguese.
Opening up about his move to Roma, the former Real Madrid manager told GQ Portugal, “They [the owners] really wanted me. It was almost instantly, me leaving Tottenham in the morning and Roma calling me in the afternoon. They wanted me a lot and were objective. Something I had already felt throughout my years in Italy was the Italian passion when it comes to football, specifically around Roma, a club that has won no trophies in 20 years.”
“These are new owners, who have a very humble approach in a way that they recognised this was a new chapter in their amazing professional lives, a chapter in which they needed help from someone with a broad experience. They were very honest and straightforward, and I immediately felt this passion I have for my work. So I didn’t have to think too much about it, because they really touched me with their approach. I really liked it.”
Mourinho has a vast experience in leading football clubs across Europe. Starting with Portugal, he has predominantly managed teams in English Premier League. He had two separate tenures with Chelsea and one each with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The Portuguese has also managed Spanish giants Real Madrid.
The latest appointment will be his second job in Italy. Earlier, he was the manager of Inter Milan, helping the club reach unprecedented heights during his time at San Siro. Mourinho, who has won the Premier League three times with the Blues, opened up about the negotiation process when becoming a club’s new manager.
“I make mistakes sometimes, I haven’t always chosen the right project, or I may have been misled about the path of some projects,” he added. “I’ve made mistakes or I’ve been led in a dishonest way into accepting what I shouldn’t have, but in the end it’s all the same.
“Lately I’ve been having very different projects to before. I went to Manchester United in a phase of transition, not to say decay. I went to Tottenham who don’t have a history of success.”
The Portuguese manager, who has won two Champions Leagues in his career, is ready for another “mission impossible”. “Now I go to Roma with new owners, but I immediately felt this empathy with the owners, the director and they straight away reignited the fire and passion I have for my job,” he added.
“So here I go on another mission impossible. I say impossible because people tend to look at me and in their eyes there’s only one way to measure success, which is that I have to win. I always say that if I were to come to Portugal to coach Belenenses or Gil Vicente, if I didn’t win, then I wouldn’t call it a success.”
