Folk are talking about Mourinho going to Man Utd and then it will be a given that he will immediately start winning trophies. Of course that could happen, that has been the pattern of things before but it is No Way a given.

 

The PL is now a lot more competitive and the pressures to win will be as huge as ever and we know Jose won't be able to change his ways when things don't go his way and he'll throw his toys out of the pram which won't go down well with the Utd hierarchy. Sure Jose & Utd will have the ability to attract some big name signings and maybe this current period out of the game will have given him chance to reflect on where he went so badly wrong, but I honestly don't see him being able to win things at Utd at a canter as he has in the past.

 

Time will tell and as much have I have happy and fond memories of the Jose years, I will enjoy beating Utd all the more should he be their Manager.

Because Mourinho has won trophies everywhere. He will get an endless pot and is a master tactician.

Regarding the Premier League it's only more competitive because the quality is poor. Put any of Mourinhos Teams from his first spell, Invincibles or some Utd teams in this league and it would nearly be over already.

England are close to losing another CL place so that shows how the quality has dipped. Leicester top, City spending loads but struggling to keep up. Arsenal playing there normal season but could be good enough to win the league then there's Chelsea and Liverpool lol. That's why the league is more competitive.

In the league, with the fans, with the board forcing Ryan Giggs on him, with Ed Woodward f**king up every piece of transfer business.

There are a lot of things that can not go his way, especially as this is a very weak squad he could potentially inherit yes it is expensive but it is full of a lot of average at best players.

Utd don't need too many players for Mourinho to make them into a title winning team. The only threat will be City next year. I actually think Mourinho will wan Giggs as an assistant. He likes people or have been around the club like Steve Clarke at Chelsea.

How often are things not going to go his way? If theyre willing to spend 100m for Moyes, when is Jose not going to get his way?

 

Every game when there is a refereeing decision that doesn't go his way or players fail to carry out his instructions.

 

Because Mourinho has won trophies everywhere. He will get an endless pot and is a master tactician.

Regarding the Premier League it's only more competitive because the quality is poor. Put any of Mourinhos Teams from his first spell, Invincibles or some Utd teams in this league and it would nearly be over already.

England are close to losing another CL place so that shows how the quality has dipped. Leicester top, City spending loads but struggling to keep up. Arsenal playing there normal season but could be good enough to win the league then there's Chelsea and Liverpool lol. That's why the league is more competitive.

 

I disagree. There is some real quality in the PL right now but teams have just become less consistent and the quality is now more evenly distributed - like Mahrez at Leicester, Payet at West ham, Ali at Spurs etc. I agree, you don't have one dominant force like you did with Chelsea for a few seasons, Arsenal with their invincibles and Utd under Fergie, but I would argue it's all the more enjoyable without that usually monopoly. IMO Mourinho going back to Utd won't mean a return of that - the game has moved on.

Every game when there is a refereeing decision that doesn't go his way or players fail to carry out his instructions.

 

 

I disagree. There is some real quality in the PL right now but teams have just become less consistent and the quality is now more evenly distributed - like Mahrez at Leicester, Payet at West ham, Ali at Spurs etc. I agree, you don't have one dominant force like you did with Chelsea for a few seasons, Arsenal with their invincibles and Utd under Fergie, but I would argue it's all the more enjoyable without that usually monopoly. IMO Mourinho going back to Utd won't mean a return of that - the game has moved on.

Yes more enjoyable but your picking out individual players like Mahrez, Payet and Ali who all at the end of the day are in there first seasons.

You really think the quality of the premier league hasn't dropped? So the first team that Moruinho won with which reached record points and only conceded 15 goals wouldn't walk this league. The year when 3 teams got into the champion league semi finals wouldn't happen now because the quality is poor. It's not just about 1 dominant force, but the years when there was 2 teams going for the title like Arsenal and Utd or Chelsea and Utd.

It's pretty obvious teams have evened out but that's due to the quality of the top teams being less. Also City not having a defence and Chelsea being dreadful.

"I remember playing a match in Russia," Jose Mourinho says. "It must have been -10˚C, so cold that some of the players were crying. We thought that one of the linesmen had died…"

 

GQ is in Arjeplog, a one horse town in the far north of Sweden whose horses swell in number every winter as the car industry decamps to inflict a brutal cold weather testing regimen on still-secret new models. The last time we were here, the temperature plunged to a bracing -27˚C; today it’s a positively balmy -4˚C.

Jaguar is signing off its widely anticipated new cross-over, the F-Pace, and Jose is here to try it. If he’s trying to escape the intense scrutiny about his next move, the edge of the Arctic Circle is certainly a good place to do it. Speculation is somewhere beyond rife that he’s off to Manchester United, and with Pep Guardiola confirmed as Manuel Pellegrini’s successor at Manchester City, it sets up a monumental battle between two old foes.

 

This is the first interview he’s granted since he parted company with Chelsea. I’ve been warned that direct questions on the subject will lead to a prolonged Portuguese silence, but there will still be tantalising clues about his future. Plus, there’s a highly significant new Jaguar to drive, across an endless icy vista. "Look at the nature," Mourinho says. "My football world involves thousands of people, and we travel to the biggest cities. So to come here, it's an empty place, but it’s so full of so many things. I just love it. I know it’s very cold, I know that I would not survive outside for many hours here, but the experience is magnificent, the beauty is fantastic. For people in my world, a few days in a place like this is amazing."

The test team’s work doesn't begin until the ice is 50cm thick, and most of the work is gruellingly repetitive. But there’s also a new electronic chassis system to try – ADSR – which meters out grip with incredible accuracy even when it’s so slippery you can’t even stand. And if you turn everything off, the F-Pace reveals itself as arguably the sportiest SUV ever made.

Mourinho is being instructed by a Finnish rally driver called Tommi Karrinaho, who is non-plussed at the prospect of coaching arguably the world’s most famous coach in the art of drifting. Watching the great man at work, it’s clear that Mourinho is not someone who sees any merit in losing control, even for fun. "Well, he’s a very sensible fellow," Tommi tells me afterwards. "He starts slowly, which is entirely right, and he is listening carefully to everything I tell him. I’m always very mindful of whether my message is getting through, and with him it definitely is. Getting him to go over the limit and let go a little bit is the next step."

 

"The car responds very well to every situation. Great responses, very stable, great fun," Mourinho says succinctly. As well as a Jaguar F-type and Range Rover, he owns a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and Aston Martin Rapide, but says he has no burning desire to collect cars. He is, however, a self-confessed Anglophile, and dreamt of owning a Jaguar long before his stellar management career brought them firmly into his orbit. As GQ sits down to talk, all traces of the often Saturnine media figure evaporate. When Mourinho is on, he is on. And football, it turns out, is definitely on the agenda.

You’re a big fan of London. Why?

"When my kids were younger, we could move a lot, experience different countries and in my case different clubs, different football. But there was a moment where they needed some stability: so we made a decision three years ago to move back to London, and we manage my professional life around that. It’s an amazing place to live, amazing for them to study and search for their future, and for the family to be together."

 

So you’re staying in the UK?

"At this moment I don’t have a job, and I don’t know where football will take me, because in football you never know. But for sure for sure for sure, as a family, our home will still be England, our home will be in London. But obviously I am ready to move. As a professional, I am ready to move, especially because football in London for me, in terms of clubs… I think it is clear that I have to move."

It's noble that your decision is at least partly down to your family’s needs. What else motivates you?

"I experimented with English, Italian and Spanish football, three of the top football sides in the world. I always say I need competition – I need competition every week. In Spain I was at an amazing club but I had four matches a year – Barcelona v Real Madrid, Real Madrid v Barcelona – and after that you win 4-0, 5-0, 5-1, 6-1…"

So it became too easy?

"Easy to win matches but difficult to win the league, because you are competing against a team that wins and wins and wins like you do, because there are two monsters together. So in the end I was champion in Spain with 100 points, and I lost the league in Spain with 91 points. Whereas in England you win leagues with 75, maybe less, so I need competition."

Are you enjoying the down time?

"No, I am not enjoying it. I can have everything I love at the same time. I can have my family, I can have my friends, I can have my quiet life, which I also like, and I can have my football… I can have everything together and I don’t need to give up on one of them. To be fully happy I need everything, so I go back to football. I think it’s my natural habitat. I have worked since I can remember, and as a manager since 2000. I stopped when I left Chelsea in 2007, for a few months, and now is the second time I stop in 15 or 16 years, so it is not a drama. But for sure, I will be back soon."

How do you cope with the pressure?

"Privacy is difficult to have, unless I come here for a holiday. But really, football is not pressure for me – it is a privilege. I cope because it’s easy to cope with something you like very, very much. That is why sometimes I don’t understand when players don't enjoy their professional life. This is the kind of job were you are very well-paid, but at the same time you live the dreams you had as a kid. I think a 90-minute match is more pressure for the people that love us, the people outside. It’s why I sometimes have some conflicts with people who don’t share the same philosophy. You are in a sport to compete, you want to win, you hate to lose, you win once, so you want to win twice… When you are tired you can go home, and give up your place to someone else."

 

What’s more difficult: winning for the first time, or repeating the feat?

"It depends. I always think you need new challenges, but there are different ways of getting new challenges. For example, if you are in a club that wins, if you want to win again you have to create instability in the winners. And to create instability in the winners you have to make them doubt, you have to buy new players, you have to make them feel not in their comfort zone. There is a normal tendency to go to your comfort zone. If you don’t react, if you believe that just because you won in one year that you are going to win again, it’s very difficult."

Have you learnt everything there is to learn in football?

"Nooooo! I have always to learn. Even in football, which is an area in which I feel I am an expert, I am never perfect and I will always learn. Sometimes in my work, and also in private life, maybe people think I am not humble. But I am so humble, and I am always ready to learn from people who know more than me."

Yes more enjoyable but your picking out individual players like Mahrez, Payet and Ali who all at the end of the day are in there first seasons.

You really think the quality of the premier league hasn't dropped? So the first team that Moruinho won with which reached record points and only conceded 15 goals wouldn't walk this league. The year when 3 teams got into the champion league semi finals wouldn't happen now because the quality is poor. It's not just about 1 dominant force, but the years when there was 2 teams going for the title like Arsenal and Utd or Chelsea and Utd.

It's pretty obvious teams have evened out but that's due to the quality of the top teams being less. Also City not having a defence and Chelsea being dreadful.

 

Yeah you are probably right in that the TOP sides now are not as good as the top sides back then. But I think it will be hard to assemble the same sort of squads as Mourinho, Fergie and Wenger did in the past as the smaller clubs have more Sky money now to compete and sign decent players as we have seen this season. 

Yeah you are probably right in that the TOP sides now are not as good as the top sides back then. But I think it will be hard to assemble the same sort of squads as Mourinho, Fergie and Wenger did in the past as the smaller clubs have more Sky money now to compete and sign decent players as we have seen this season.

Yeah your right, just got to look at Stoke and the money they have spent. I just don't want Arsenal to win the league lol. I honestly don't think there any better than any other season, playing for 4th might just get them the title in this weird season.

Be interesting to see the squad Pep puts together at City next year. Think this is Arsenals one and only chance to win the league for a good while again.

In the league, with the fans, with the board forcing Ryan Giggs on him, with Ed Woodward f**king up every piece of transfer business.

There are a lot of things that can not go his way, especially as this is a very weak squad he could potentially inherit yes it is expensive but it is full of a lot of average at best players.

Not saying everything is going to come up Jose but if theyre hiring him the club are going to back him with everything they can. He'll get everything he wants, what he can control he'll have his way

Not saying everything is going to come up Jose but if theyre hiring him the club are going to back him with everything they can. He'll get everything he wants, what he can control he'll have his way

Agree with what you are saying but for how long? Bottomline is the Glazers are in it for the money, and they have bankrolled both Moyes & LVG incredibly. It will come a time they will cut back on their spending.

Hypothetically they back him with £200m this summer, he comes 2nd & they back him with another £100m+ the following summer; if he wins the league I reckon he might find himself back in the situation he was here where they might scale back on spending. He would then be expected to build something which we all know he struggles with. I just cant see a scenario where UTD keeps spending indefinitely; it is still a business & they owners are in it for the money.

How often are things not going to go his way? If theyre willing to spend 100m for Moyes, when is Jose not going to get his way?

Moyes got 100mil? Or it was just paper-talk?.

Since we are making assumptions about the future, can I say Pep going to City is also going to end badly for Utd?.

Not if they sign Jose and give him massive budget to spend over the summer. I think if that happens it could end up badly for City.

Agree with what you are saying but for how long? Bottomline is the Glazers are in it for the money, and they have bankrolled both Moyes & LVG incredibly. It will come a time they will cut back on their spending.

Hypothetically they back him with £200m this summer, he comes 2nd & they back him with another £100m+ the following summer; if he wins the league I reckon he might find himself back in the situation he was here where they might scale back on spending. He would then be expected to build something which we all know he struggles with. I just cant see a scenario where UTD keeps spending indefinitely; it is still a business & they owners are in it for the money.

For how long is the key. United print money, 100m every season is no problem for them. The issues Jose ran into here arent necessarily going to be problems there. I cant see it not working out for either party

Not if they sign Jose and give him massive budget to spend over the summer. I think if that happens it could end up badly for City.

We both know Sheik loves to show off his 'toy' and would spend any amount to have it perfected.

We both know Sheik loves to show off his 'toy' and would spend any amount to have it perfected.

 

 

Do you think he and Roman could be twins who were parted at birth?

Do you think he and Roman could be twins who were parted at birth?[/quote

Or the Kane and Abel mini series.

Do you think he and Roman could be twins who were parted at birth?

No ma'am. Could've have agreed if one wasn't born in Russia and doesn't view his possessions as plaything but as his sweet lost love 'Anastasia'.

No ma'am. Could've have agreed if one wasn't born in Russia and doesn't view his possessions as plaything but as his sweet lost love 'Anastasia'.

 

 

You have just won my undying respect for writing "could've"! 

You have just won my undying respect for writing "could've"!

Typos and all but thanks ma'am,. Really honoured :) (oops, a 'u' in there).

Typos and all but thanks ma'am,. Really honoured :) (oops, a 'u' in there).

 

 

Are you American?  

You have just won my undying respect for writing "could've"!

Bit of contracted punctuation and you're anyone's ;)

Are you American?

New Zealander

You have just won my undying respect for writing "could've"! 

But he wrote could've have!

New Zealander

 Another kiwi blue, that's rare. Keep seeing scousers, gooners etc.

 

example

https://www.yellowfever.co.nz/categories/english-and-other-british-lower-league-football-discussion/topics

Bit of contracted punctuation and you're anyone's ;)

No, it's because it's such a pleasant surprise not to see "could OF"!