Tweet
<H1>What more can I wish for at Chelsea? </H1>
<SPAN class=storyby>Interview by Henry Winter</SPAN>
<DIV style="FLOAT: left"><SPAN class=filed>Last Updated: <SPAN style="COLOR: #000">1:02am GMT</SPAN>08/12/2006</SPAN></DIV><DIV class=pspagexofy>Page 1 of 13</DIV><DIV class=cl></DIV><P class=small>
<SPAN class=subh2>Premier League is 'best in the world' says Jose Mourinho in an extended session of questions and answers.</SPAN> <P class=story>Q: Does failure as a player drive you as a manager?<P class=story>A: I was not a top player, but I could have been better. I was not better because I don't need football at the time. When I made 18 my birthday gift was a car. At 18, I was going to university every day in my car. No public buses. No Underground. I had money to go out with my girlfriend (who is now my wife). If I want money to go on a weekend holiday, I had money. My father was a football man and I had money. I had a good life. So I was not the kind of person who was hungry to succeed to change my life.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=158 align=right border=0 hspace="0"><TBODY><TR><TD width=8></TD><TD width=150><CENTER>
</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=story>I was asked by a Portuguese friend yesterday what I do with my money now. I do nothing special. He said to me: "Don't you want a big car? Don't you want something special you dream about?" I dream of nothing. The only thing I dream about is to succeed as a football manager, and I follow that dream.<P class=story>Q: Where did you get your hunger for management?<P class=story>A: As a player I was not stupid. I could understand I would never reach the top. When I was an assistant manager and I was feeling the qualities I would need to be a manager myself, I was thinking I can do it. Year after year I was feeling I was preparing for that.<P class=story>Q: Could you burn out?<P class=story>A: No, no, no. Football doesn't make me old. There is no relation between football and white hairs or losing weight. I enjoy football very much. What I need is sometimes one day off. For me that is perfect. I'm not saying I like the stress. I like my life. I like big matches. The only thing I don't like is that hour before the game where you have nothing to do. There is one hour where the players are having massage, changing, studying the size of their studs. They are doing these things to prepare for the game where I do nothing.<P class=story>I do not find football stressful. I do not get nervous. When I get the teamsheet I try to understand who they have on the bench. What they are going to do if they're winning. What they're going to do if they're losing and they try to change the result. I try to anticipate the situation the maximum I can. I try to read my players' body language to see if they're ready for it, if they are calm, extra-motivated, or need a word. The night after the game I just cannot sleep.<P class=story>Q: Is there stress in being in charge of Chelsea?<P class=story>A: Maybe I am guilty of that, because it was 'just arrive and win'.<P class=story>Q: Are medical problems, heart problems, a concern?<P class=story>A: You cannot say never. Imagine the next game — I could have a heart problem. I don't think the game will kill me, but you never know. During the game I'm so focused and enjoying so much the good things, the negative things, trying to change things, that I don't feel it. Maybe one day a referee kills me with a bad decision [laughs]. The only thing that really makes me mad is that.<P class=story>Q: What about your future? Will you leave in a big explosion?<P class=story>A: This is the first time I'm in a club for the third year. I was at Benfica a couple of months, Leiria couple of months. In Porto 2½ years. This is different. The project is different
<SPAN class=storyby>Interview by Henry Winter</SPAN>
<DIV style="FLOAT: left"><SPAN class=filed>Last Updated: <SPAN style="COLOR: #000">1:02am GMT</SPAN>08/12/2006</SPAN></DIV><DIV class=pspagexofy>Page 1 of 13</DIV><DIV class=cl></DIV><P class=small>
<SPAN class=subh2>Premier League is 'best in the world' says Jose Mourinho in an extended session of questions and answers.</SPAN> <P class=story>Q: Does failure as a player drive you as a manager?<P class=story>A: I was not a top player, but I could have been better. I was not better because I don't need football at the time. When I made 18 my birthday gift was a car. At 18, I was going to university every day in my car. No public buses. No Underground. I had money to go out with my girlfriend (who is now my wife). If I want money to go on a weekend holiday, I had money. My father was a football man and I had money. I had a good life. So I was not the kind of person who was hungry to succeed to change my life.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=158 align=right border=0 hspace="0"><TBODY><TR><TD width=8></TD><TD width=150><CENTER>
</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=story>I was asked by a Portuguese friend yesterday what I do with my money now. I do nothing special. He said to me: "Don't you want a big car? Don't you want something special you dream about?" I dream of nothing. The only thing I dream about is to succeed as a football manager, and I follow that dream.<P class=story>Q: Where did you get your hunger for management?<P class=story>A: As a player I was not stupid. I could understand I would never reach the top. When I was an assistant manager and I was feeling the qualities I would need to be a manager myself, I was thinking I can do it. Year after year I was feeling I was preparing for that.<P class=story>Q: Could you burn out?<P class=story>A: No, no, no. Football doesn't make me old. There is no relation between football and white hairs or losing weight. I enjoy football very much. What I need is sometimes one day off. For me that is perfect. I'm not saying I like the stress. I like my life. I like big matches. The only thing I don't like is that hour before the game where you have nothing to do. There is one hour where the players are having massage, changing, studying the size of their studs. They are doing these things to prepare for the game where I do nothing.<P class=story>I do not find football stressful. I do not get nervous. When I get the teamsheet I try to understand who they have on the bench. What they are going to do if they're winning. What they're going to do if they're losing and they try to change the result. I try to anticipate the situation the maximum I can. I try to read my players' body language to see if they're ready for it, if they are calm, extra-motivated, or need a word. The night after the game I just cannot sleep.<P class=story>Q: Is there stress in being in charge of Chelsea?<P class=story>A: Maybe I am guilty of that, because it was 'just arrive and win'.<P class=story>Q: Are medical problems, heart problems, a concern?<P class=story>A: You cannot say never. Imagine the next game — I could have a heart problem. I don't think the game will kill me, but you never know. During the game I'm so focused and enjoying so much the good things, the negative things, trying to change things, that I don't feel it. Maybe one day a referee kills me with a bad decision [laughs]. The only thing that really makes me mad is that.<P class=story>Q: What about your future? Will you leave in a big explosion?<P class=story>A: This is the first time I'm in a club for the third year. I was at Benfica a couple of months, Leiria couple of months. In Porto 2½ years. This is different. The project is different
Comment