The “ridiculous” decision to fire Jose Mourinho from Tottenham less than a week before the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City three seasons ago has drawn criticism from the former team.
Six days prior to their 1-0 loss in the April 2021 final, Tottenham fired Mourinho, their 17-month manager.
Speaking with his former Chelsea player John Obi Mikel about his time at Tottenham, Chelsea, and Manchester United on the Obi One podcast, Mourinho stated that the timing of his firing by Tottenham was still the most inexplicable decision he had ever had to make while working for a Premier League team.
Tottenham Hotspur
“The most absurd one was getting fired two days before a final by a club with an empty trophy room,” he remarked. Come on, that’s the one that was.
“In fifty years, Tottenham has never triumphed. I can’t recall when. I was unable to complete the final two days before it was scheduled. It’s the one with the bad odor.
“I had a plan, but it doesn’t always work out. But the truth is, I’ve won every time I’ve gone to Wembley with Chelsea. I made three trips there with Man United and came out on top twice.
So, it was a solid record. It was a stadium and atmosphere that I was very good at controlling because you can’t go to these big matches and feel like the stadium is too big; you have to feel comfortable.”
Mourinho, who declined to acknowledge the team’s 2008 League Cup victory, feels Tottenham could have defeated Pep Guardiola’s team after defeating them 2-0 in November of the previous year, but he does not guarantee that Tottenham would have defeated City had they stayed with him.
“I would be a fool right now to say we would have won because the final was against Man City, but I had the experience to try and help the team.”
“But we had defeated them 2-0 at our stadium a few weeks (five months) earlier, so the mood was upbeat. But things are as they are.
Manchester United
Mourinho stated that he was once charged with “bullying” for replacing a United player during a halftime in a match.
After leading United for two and a half years while the team was mired in toxicity, the Portuguese was fired after winning the League Cup and the Europa League in his first season at Old Trafford in 2016–17.
“I switched players at halftime while I was at Manchester United. He continued, “I changed and was accused of bullying,” withholding the player’s identity.
He was on the bench at Stamford Bridge with (Nemanja) Matic. I start him at minute 45 and end him at minute 70. That is coaching and education. That would be going all out to win. I was forced to alter.
“I laugh at these times, but they are different now. You have to be a different dad than your own father was to you, even just to be a father. You must adapt to the way the world is.
I used to speak negatively to these guys! I was really hurt when I accidentally kicked the massage table with my shin one day. Though the guys were staring at me, I wanted to cry. I had to bite my finger in order to stop thinking, “I broke my shin.”
Mourinho attempted to offload Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba from United, but the Old Trafford administration vetoed the move. The former Real Madrid coach felt he would have been better off working with Richard Arnold, the executive vice-chairman who succeeded Ed Woodward, because they had a tense relationship. Arnold resigned as CEO of United, the company said last month.
“They still have an amazing CEO, Richard Arnold, who I would have loved to have had during my time there, but he is probably leaving now,” Mourinho remarked.
“I would have loved to have had him on my side during my time there, but the club wasn’t easy. I had him as a commercial director, not a CEO. I gave it all, so I don’t have any regrets.
“Man United supporters are aware of my devotion to the team and that I gave everything I had.” I went there once with Sky, and as I was speaking from the box, the entire stadium turned to me and began to sing and applaud.
Chelsea
Although Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne “were just kids who couldn’t wait” for opportunities, Mourinho claims he did not want either player to leave Stamford Bridge.
After moving from Chelsea to Wolfsburg in 2014, De Bruyne joined Manchester City for £55 million eighteen months later. During his time there, the team won five Premier League titles as well as the European Cup. After spending time on loan at Chelsea and Fiorentina, Salah moved to Roma in 2016. A year later, he returned to England and joined Liverpool, where he went on to win the Premier League and the Champions League.
Despite the fact that both players have cemented themselves as two of the greatest in the modern Premier League era, Mourinho has no regrets about the circumstances surrounding their departure from Chelsea.
He remarked, “To be honest, they left because they wanted to.” They didn’t want to wait, so they left. History demonstrates that their choice was wise because they have achieved high standards in their careers. However, young people occasionally make snap decisions like that because they lack the patience or the ability to wait patiently for the right opportunity. Their career may occasionally take a bad turn.
“When people say I let Salah go, I say exactly the opposite,” Mourinho stated in reference to Salah. Salah was purchased by me. It was me who suggested purchasing that man. He was on his way from Basel to Liverpool, and in an attempt to force him to come to Chelsea, I started a fight.
Then there’s the part where you have to wait or perform in order to be a Chelsea player. He desired to take out a loan right away rather than wait. And Chelsea eventually made the decision to sell. It wasn’t my decision to sell that he went to Fiorentina and Roma. I suggested that if he feels the need to play every minute of every game, then let him go on loan.
Although De Bruyne was adamant about leaving, Mourinho stated that he wanted to keep the player.
“I told the club that I wanted him with me and that I didn’t want him out on loan.” He stayed with me and was a starter in the Premier League from the start of the season.
“After that, he didn’t play in our European Super Cup match against Bayern in Prague. Then he wants to go the following day.
“We drew 0-0 with Manchester United in our second Premier League match of the season at Old Trafford. He played a few minutes while sitting on the bench, but it wasn’t enough, so he wanted to go.
“Go and let someone else come if you wish to leave Chelsea. Their careers claim they were correct, but it wasn’t my fault—they were just impatient children. Other guys will probably claim that I shoved them out, but not them.
