Mourinho wants another 20 years at the top
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has claimed he wants to continue working at the highest level of the game until he passes his 70th birthday.
Mourinho’s one-time mentors Sir Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal have enjoyed lengthy careers at the top of the game and the Portuguese clearly has his eye on following in their footsteps.
“For me, the situation is clear. I want to work 15 or 20 more years at the top,” Mourinho said. “When you reach the top, you want to stay at the top. That’s normal.
“If during this time, I do well enough to stay in a top level club, I will. If I don’t do well enough, and my market changes and I only have smaller clubs waiting for me, I will.
“I don’t think anyone likes to change from big to smaller, and from big expectations and projects to small ones. But I repeat, I want to work if I’m physically and mentally strong enough, which I expect to be, for another 15 to 20 years.”
Mourinho went on to reject the argument that he has enjoyed a comfortable coaching career as he has worked for clubs with big financial resources.
He put his career at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid into this perspective: “Every club I went to was a big club, but not the best, not the one with most resources, not the one in the best conditions to win.
“Every time I had big challenges, more challenging, in a certain way, than working in a small team.
“Every job is difficult. Every job has some expectations. When you are at a small club wanting to stay in a division, it’s a hard job.
“When you are in mid-table and the ambition is to finish top six and in a European position, it’s difficult too.
“Every job has specific difficulties, but I don’t think being a football manager is an easy job for anyone.”
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