If for no other reason that former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is one of the sporting ‘sphere’s Total Quote Machines, I can understand why some portion of the UK press lobbied for him to get the England job that went to Fabio Capello. When sportswriters go to heaven, they’re graced with nothing but Mourinho, Ozzie Guillen and Stan Van Gundy press conferences. Well, that and decent catering. From the Telegraph’s Charlie Caroe :
Former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has warned his old team to expect no favours should he meet them in the Champions League next season.
He said: “I hope to play them next season in the Champions League. If I play them in the Champions League, I want to go there and kill them – that’s my message.”
“I still feel Chelsea is a part of me, I’ll have Chelsea in my heart forever. I left and for five months you couldn’t get a bad word from me in relation to the club and you cannot do it in the future.”
Mourinho also claimed that relations with his previous employers were healthy and that he was in regular contact with the club.
“I think it was last week that I spoke with people from the club. I was speaking with Mr Abramovich and Peter Kenyon because we still keep in touch.
“I was telling them I wish them always good, I wish them always to succeed, I wish them always to win.”
However, Mourinho wasn’t so complimentary about his successor Avram Grant: “I feel nothing for him, I feel everything for the club, but not for him personally.”