Mourinho to England: Thanks, But No Thanks

By: Daryl | December 10th, 2007

Jose Mourinho says no to England After getting everyone’s hopes up, Jose Mourinho has done the inevitable and decided he doesn’t fancy being England manager after all. The English press were fully behind Mourinho getting the job (maybe a little too much) and the self-styled Special One even had England fans excited with his rumoured blueprint for Club England which would have involved finishing the Burton-on-Trent national training centre and replacing the star-player culture with a system where players are selected according to what they contribute. Basically it was everything England needed, but now it’s not going to happen.

Without revealing the reason for his saw-that-coming change of heart, Mourinho delivered this statement via his agent Jorge Medes:

After Steve McClaren left the England football team, my representatives maintained contact with the FA. In that sense, I had myself useful discussions with Brian Barwick and Trevor where we exchanged ideas to evaluate the entire situation about the England squad and set the goals in case of real invitation being addressed to me.

After deep and serious thinking, I decided to exclude myself from being England manager despite it being a fantastic position for me. I’m sure FA will hire a great manager, one able to place the team back where it belongs. I reiterate my respect for English football and, after three good years in England, I firmly believe that the England squad will soon be back to their usual great results.

Seems that maybe the FA didn’t go for his ideas, possibly because the idea of “Club England” placed power in the hands of the manager rather than the FA themselves (which has worked so very well recently.)

Or, maybe it’s true that Mourinho was just using the England job as a bargaining tool all along, waiting for an opportunity to arise at AC Milan or Barcelona or somewhere else where he can be involved on a day to day basis.

My feeling is that Mourinho would have been absolutely the right choice for England. It takes a big personality to handle the egos of the players and the bloodthirsty English tabloids and maintain the belief that you know what you’re doing. But on the other hand the England job was probably a bad choice for Mourinho, career wise.

After years of success, maybe the worst thing he could have done for his career was to risk his reputation on such a poisoned chalice. Too often England managers begin the job with golden reputations and get spat out the other end as shadows of their former selves. I’m thinking Graham Taylor, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan, Sven… Mourinho probably doesn’t want to add his name to that list. Seems Jose Mourinho is too smart to take the England job, which is why the FA should offer him every last penny they’ve got and beg him to reconsider.

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Category: England, World Football

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Brian

The thing is, we'll never know what his motives were, because whether he was interested in the job or not, there's really no scenario in which he wouldn't want to keep his name in the papers for a few weeks and maximize the attention, right?

After all, England so obviously preferring them to whomever they'll eventually hire only makes Mourinho look unattainable and brilliant. And now, if England fall short, he'll be a sort of sweet what if in the minds of their supporters.

You have to hand it to him—he's gotten the most publicity he possibly could have gotten while being almost completely inscrutable. He's got a knack for it.
Laurie

I think he just wanted to keep people talking about him for as long as possible.
Joe

The England job would've be a big step backward for Mourinho. I'm surprised he considered it as long as he did.
Martha

After deep and serious thinking -- does he do any other kind?

(And thank Christ. Now he can go to Italy, where he and his drama belong.)