Real deal: Jose MourinhoOnly at Real Madrid are new managers hit with the ‘Are you fearing the sack?’ question on their first day at work — but Jose Mourinho had come well prepared.
The man previously known as ‘The Special One’ had said he wanted to become the first ever ‘Grand Slam coach’ in the build-up to Monday’s presentation and yesterday, having signed a four-year deal , he spoke of toppling Barcelona to become the first manager to win the league in Spain, England and Italy.
‘The word “fear” is not in my footballing dictionary,’ he said.
‘I am a coach with a lot of self-esteem. And I don’t think about being sacked.
‘Four years is enough to win and build a team with identity and a future.
‘No coach or player has ever won all three of the top leagues and I want to be the first person to do it.
(Carlo) Ancelotti, (Fabio) Capello, (Ruud) Van Nistelrooy, (David) Beckham and others have won two of the big leagues but no one has won three. I would like to be the first to do the Grand Slam of Spain, Italy and England.’
Winning Real’s 10th European Cup would also make him the first manager to win the European Cup with three different clubs and is clearly the priority of his new president, Florentino Perez, as it was for his previous employer Massimo Moratti. Mourinho said:
‘The president was showing me the European Cups that the club has won in the past and he was saying he misses the moment when the trophy is presented. I told him, “That moment happened to me one week ago and I miss it already”.
'I want it again and they want it again. We want the same thing.’
He made references to his two European Cup final triumphs and his UEFA Cup win with Porto, as he defended himself against accusations of being a defensive coach.
‘I have played three finals,’ he said.
Mourinho moment: Jose and Inter president Massimo Moratti after the club's Champions League win ‘We have won them all and scored eight goals in the process — eight goals in three European finals. When you repeat a lie many times intelligent people still recognise it as a lie and fortunately for me there are presidents intelligent enough to trust me.’
Perez has trusted Mourinho against advice that his occasionally explosive personality will clash with Real’s conservative history. There is a fine line now to be walked between giving into the way the club has always been run and forcing the changes that will halt its recent footballing decline.
‘I am Jose Mourinho and I will not change,’ he reminded everyone, but he also spoke with humility about Raul, who no longer justifies selection but as a club legend needs to be handled with care.
‘I have not done anything for Real Madrid,’ said Mourinho.
‘I am not written in the history of the club but Raul is. Anyone who is not in the history of the club should respect someone who is.’
From the heart: Jose Mourinho Respecting Raul and rubbing up Barcelona the wrong way will help endear him to his new supporters. At one point he asked sporting director Jorge Valdano if the fixture calendar would allow Madrid to play Barcelona in the first game of the new season.
‘We played Manchester Untied at the start when I was Chelsea boss,’ he recalled.
‘I would like to play Barca first. I will not even have to motivate my players.’
Valdano is another political game Mourinho will have to play carefully. Yesterday he made a good start. The Argentine began yesterday’s press conference by delivering an apology of sorts for comments he made three years ago about the man he now finds himself having to work with.
In May 2007, he referred to the football served up by Mourinho as ‘s*** on a stick’ and wrote in his column in Marca: ‘Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players to win matches.’
Yesterday he said: ‘I once spoke of Jose in an aggressive manner. Jose answered me in the same aggressive manner but we sorted it out three years ago when we did not know we would ever be working together.’
One-nil to the Special One then... or the ‘Grand Slam Coach’ as he wants people to be calling him by the end of next season.
One is the highest profile coach in the world, the other is the highest profile footballer.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN TWO KING-SIZED EGOS COLLIDE?
Just how will Jose Mourinho get on with Cristiano Ronaldo?
They have not always seen eye-to-eye, with the pair taking part in a public bout of name calling in 2007.
King of thew egos: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo Is the dressing room big enough for the both of them — and their egos?
Mourinho and Ronaldo share the same agent, Jorge Mendes, and so you would think there will be some harmony...
It will be fascinating to watch it all unfold in the cauldron of Madrid
source: dailymail
