EXTENSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOSE MOURINHO.

Jose Mourinho is featured in today's London Evening Standard speaking of his life in London, his family, his love for the City, for Chelsea and his intentions of staying here. After reading this interview you can forget any talk of Chelsea not being contenders for the Premier League title this season. If I were you, I would bet on Chelsea to be right up there challenging in May.

Mourinho on Chelsea:

“I’m not here thinking about my next move because I don’t want to have a next move. “I will have a next move if and when Chelsea decides it’s time for that.

I’m not chasing new experiences, trying to find where I like it more, where I can make new things for my career — no. It’s a completely different perspective.

I’m here to stay. I belong to Chelsea, Chelsea belong to me. I gave a lot to Chelsea in the past but they also gave a lot to me. This is a different professional relationship.”

Mourinho on the decision to come back to England:

“More than one year ago, even before I decided to stay in  Madrid for one or two more years, our decision was made. We wanted to go to England next because we feel it’s the best for all four, as a family and me as a professional.

In this moment there is a lot of maturity in the family. I have a 17-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy. In the beginning of my career it was not so difficult for them to move but they have entered into an age where moving is not easy.

There was lots of communication and they knew for them that London would be fantastic. A university career is a target for my daughter, my wife just loves the city to live in. We kept our house from last time and, although we tried to hide it, we came lots of times.

The success I had in my career gave me the possibility to choose my  destiny. When I made the decision I didn’t know if Chelsea would be available and if the door would be open but when it did, the picture was perfect for me.”

Mourinho on living in London:

“I’m not a person with a big social life. I just want the simple things in life but even the simple things I lost in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

I think London is the only place in Europe where I can keep these little things of life. I can go to school and wait for my son and daughter and the parents feel me as another parent.

I can go to walk on Sloane Street or Old Bond Street and if somebody disturbs me it is not an English person for sure. It’s some tourist that sees me and they can’t control themselves. The English person is much more polite and respectful in relation to the private life of the person.

I can go to a restaurant, I can go to a cab and the driver be an Arsenal or Tottenham supporter and he enjoys speaking with me. This is not possible in Italy and Spain! I also like the number of clubs in London. The way we have this in London during the week is fantastic. After that you go to the weekend, you play the derbies and everything changes but during the week people live with the different colours in the same city and everything is normal.”

Mourinho on his motivation:

“Lots of things drive me. First of all I want to enjoy my life and football is part of that. My wife knows that, my kids know that. From them there is not one bit of talk that one day you have to retire. It’s the opposite. Sometimes in a funny way they imagine me as an old man still being a manager. They know I want to do it for a long time. I love the day-to-day of football, more than that I love the game, more than that I love the big game.

People used to say that Michael  Schumacher — and as I talk about this, it’s about being respectful of the person — couldn’t live without Formula One. He couldn’t live without the race, the adrenalin impulse. So when he’s not driving, he is jumping from helicopters and skiing. Now I have brought his name into the picture, I want to say how I hope in the next few days he’s safe. But maybe with me it’s the same in football. Football is an important part of my life. I always want to do it at the top. I don’t want to do it where one day I relax, go to an easy job or a country where my club is the best by far, without any kind of problem.

If I want to relax one day a national team is the best job but, no, I want to be where I am.”

Mourinho on the new Chelsea challenge:

“I’m enjoying this challenge. It’s a different challenge from before. The other one was to win for the first time, there was the impact of a new foreign owner that was something new in English football and world football. Now it is a different perspective.

I have different people at different stages of their careers in my hands. You never know how they will react.

I didn’t know where John, Frank, Ashley and the other senior players were. I didn’t know if I could recover their their motivation to play at the top, their understanding of the importance they have in the squad, in the club, even if they’re not the players that can play 50-60 games a season any more.

The new players have come from different countries and all of them are young people. Willian never played at a top European club; Andre Schurrle came from a club [Bayer Leverkusen] not fighting for titles; it’s Oscar’s second season but physically he’s still getting used to English football.

Many people told me Chelsea supporters will expect me to do the same as before. I was never worried about that. I was sure about people’s trust.

In the same way people know I built a Chelsea team that lasted seven-eight years and was in place to fight for titles even after my departure, I know that I’m going to do the same [this time].

People trust me and I like that feeling. People know I am one of them so they know that my happiness in the good moments is more than a normal manager and my sadness is more, too.”

Mourinho on challenging for titles this season:

“We are there and fighting for the top positions, we will see if we can fight for the title.

It’s important we do because it accelerates the development of the players, it brings to their lives something new, to have the responsibility of having to win every game.

Normally I’d say the second and third seasons together are the best ones. But it is Chelsea’s mentality, my DNA, to try to challenge now.”

What a fantastic interview! What do you think?

Carefree & KTBFFH!