Mourinho keen to forget job speculation
Jose Mourinho is happy to focus solely on footballing matters having clarified his Chelsea future with the club’s board, revealing: “I opened my mind, I opened my heart and told them I wanted to stay.”
The Portuguese saw speculation over his future effectively ended last week when chief executive Peter Kenyon moved to draw a line under a long-running saga.
Rumours of an alleged bust-up with billionaire owner Roman Abramovich and a denied approach to former Germany boss Jurgen Klinsmann had left Mourinho’s position shrouded in speculation.
However, after seeing his side fail to take advantage of Manchester United’s inability to beat Middlesbrough on Saturday evening by drawing 0-0 at Newcastle on Sunday before looking ahead to the Champions League semi-final first-leg with Liverpool tomorrow, the manager was happy to talk about the resolution of his situation and acknowledge his feeling for the club.
He said: “Of course it is more than a job for me. Maybe the country is special, maybe the country’s football is special.
“Chelsea is my first club in this country and I do not think it would be easy for me in this country to leave Chelsea and go next door because we have become part of Chelsea history with the first title for 50 years, the connection with the supporters, the feeling with the supporters, everything together.
“I like the club, I like the players very, very much, I like the way I work with Peter Kenyon – I think he is top and the way we work together pleases me very, very much.”
Mourinho revealed his commitment to the job adding: “I am not saying it was easy, easy, easy, but I am not saying it was difficult, difficult, difficult.
“I have a job to do and I was always focused on the job. Now you think about the future, that is normal.
“But it helped me that I opened my mind, I opened my heart and told them I wanted to stay. I was only focused on my job.
“For the board to say they wanted me to stay and the story was over, it was important. It is good, it feels good.
“Now we can work together for the future. If any story comes again from the media, for me it is not a problem.
“What mattered for me is they wanted me to stay and my decision was made. I was not thinking much about my future or another club. At that moment I thought nothing because I knew I would be at Chelsea.”
Mourinho’s attention will now turn to the clash with Liverpool at Stamford Bridge and a selection headache.
Ricardo Carvalho missed the trip to St James’ through injury and emergency central defender Michael Essien is suspended.
In addition, Michael Ballack, the man whose extra-time goal booked his side’s place in the FA Cup final, limped off before the break after finding himself on the wrong end of a no-holds-barred challenge from Titus Bramble and is a doubt.
