Jose Mourinho hints at why Man Utd & Spurs jobs were more difficult for him than Chelsea & others

Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has provided some insight into why his time at Old Trafford was a struggle in comparison to his first spell at Chelsea and other successful jobs he’s had throughout his career.

Speaking to Fabrizio Romano on his YouTube channel, Mourinho discussed a range of topics, including taking his time over picking his next job, and the possibility of managing the Portuguese national team or a club in Saudi Arabia.

Watch below for the interview in full, in which the Special One makes an intriguing claim about the kind of environments he tends to work best in, which is when he just gets to focus on being a coach, rather than managing other aspects of the club.

Mourinho insists he likes to just be able to focus on the work he does on the pitch, the training ground, and the dressing room, which he says he felt he was able to do in his first spell at Chelsea, and at Porto, Real Madrid and Inter Milan.

Without naming names, Mourinho then suggests he didn’t have that luxury and more was expected of him at other jobs, which of course means United and Tottenham.

The Portuguese tactician has had a great career at the highest level, but there’s no doubt he struggled to replicate that at Old Trafford in particular, where expectations were really high, but several off-the-pitch matters tended to dominate.