Jose Mourinho claims ‘time was not given’ at Man United and expects to stay at Spurs ‘for a long time’

The Portuguese believes his project at Spurs is “accelerating”, having guided them to top spot this season

Jose Mourinho insists he cannot create miracles (Getty)

Jose Mourinho says that Manchester United was the one job in his career where he needed “time and time was not given”, having been dismissed “at the middle of the process”. The Portuguese thinks the project at Tottenham Hotspur has been “accelerating”, and that he sees himself “staying for a long time”.

Mourinho had been talking about the differences between his side and the Liverpool team they play on Wednesday, pointing out how the champions are the result of “1,894 days of work” under Jurgen Klopp, compared to his 390 at Tottenham. When it was pointed out to Mourinho he had never actually stayed in a job that long, he argued that was mostly down to the different nature of the clubs he’s been at.

The Spurs boss argued he achieved success in all of them straight away - bar United, where different decisions had to be taken.

“In a certain period of my career, with a profile of club I was getting in hands, we didn’t need as much time to reach success,” Mourinho argued. “We did it at Porto, Inter, Real [Madrid], Chelsea, both times, we did it without that need of that longevity and also my desire to try different things and my crazy desire to go to many countries, and to try to win it, and try to get different experiences in many different countries, was perfect because was about winning, and goodbye, and let’s try another thing.

READ MORE: Jose Mourinho and why the transformative power of the manager has never been higher

“The first club where I felt I need time and time was not given was at Manchester United, because I felt that I left at the middle of the process, but I learn very early to respect decisions, which I did at United.

"We did what we did, we did what was possible to do, and we move on. I am happy, they are happy, and we have a great relation, which is something I am very proud always to say, when I leave clubs, I keep very good relationship with everybody, and United is one more example of that.


“Now, in Tottenham I know the profile of job I have in hands, and hopefully until now I am enjoying very, very much to be in the club, I believe that the club is happy to work with me, so I see myself staying for a long time, but if we can accelerate the process, like we are accelerating, and being doing good things like we are doing, of course we are not going to waste time.”

United remains the only job where Mourinho hasn’t won the title, as they found themselves falling down the table in his last season in 2018-19 before a December sacking. His last match happened to be away to Liverpool, a 3-1 defeat.