Don’t buy into all this respect and “love” from Jose Mourinho to the rest of his counterparts from the Premier League. He’s been away for quite a while so it’s natural that all of his past feuds are forgotten, but as the season begins and progresses, the Chelsea manager will obviously find a way to sour his relationships with any manager that stands in his club’s way or simply fits into the mold of motivating his team.
It seems like the British media is already trying to make something out of Moyes and Mourinho, although chances are there’s nothing there, yet. The whole Wayne Rooney saga is obviously something that can “help” in deteriorating the conversation between the two, but both Mourinho and Moyes insist that anything that’s been said has no personal innuendos attached, and it’s all business and respect.
Jose Mourinho is a tremendous manager. He has done really well in the Premier League. Like me, he started doing his coaching badges in Scotland and whilst I wouldn’t say I know him that well, I do know him. I remember when he lost his job I wrote him a letter.
So, for people to say there is any feud is wrong. Of course, you are going to find two really competitive managers. When our teams play we will both be highly committed to make sure our clubs win. But I admire him for how well he has done as a manager.
As for Wenger? He won’t be a part of the title race, unless he manages to land Luis Suarez, and even then it is doubtful. But Mourinho and Chelsea represent a lot of things Wenger keeps complaining about. He did back then, and he will once more if Arsenal are faced with another season of seeing fourth place as an achievement. Last time around, Mourinho called Wenger a Voyeur for sticking his nose into others business.
Now? A nice guy.
When you are not in the same league and when you are not playing against each other, it is easier to know people, it is easier to go deeper. It is easy to speak about football, he’s a very nice guy. I respect him a lot and I will show my respect always. In football sometimes even if you are friends and respect each other, you say something the other doesn’t like and you react, but at the end of the day I respect him a lot and I have the feeling that he is the same in relation to me. I wouldn’t bet on one single problem between us.
Before the season begins, love is in the air. Once it starts? Mourinho will wait for the first opportunity he has to gain some sort of advantage in the mental wars between the managers, and if Chelsea prove they’ll be in the title race for the long run this season, expect things to look a lot less friendly between himself, Moyes, Wenger and probably Pellegrini as well a bit further down the road.