Respected: Jose Mourinho greets Sir Alex
Ferguson
Jose Mourinho snubbed Manchester
City's millions because his dream is to
manage Manchester
United.
The charismatic former Chelsea boss,
now at Inter Milan, rejected discreet overtures from Eastlands some
weeks ago. Mourinho says he intends to see out his contract at the
San Siro, which ends in 2012, a commitment he repeated in Italy
last week.
'At the moment I am and will be Inter manager until
2012, that's when I have signed up until and we are convinced we
will reach 2012,' he said in a television interview.
But sources close to the Portuguese have indicated his Inter
contract was only part of the reason for cold-shouldering City.
They believe Mourinho's ambition is to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson
and that, if he bides his time, the Old Trafford job will become
conveniently available. Ferguson who will be 68 on Thursday, is
showing no sign that he is ready to quit in the immediate
future.
But significantly, the Scot will be invited to make
recommendations about his successor and has a lot of admiration for
Mourinho, the only other manager to win the Premier League in the
last five years. Mourinho, 46, finished top in the first two of his
three years in charge at Stamford Bridge.
He has made no secret of the fact that he wants to return to
manage in the Premier League, saying recently how he much he misses
English football, particularly over Christmas.
'Stadiums were full of children and families and there
would be a really good atmosphere,' he said. It has been revealed
that Roberto Mancini could have missed out on the City job if the
recent Middle-East backed takeover of Notts County had gone
ahead.
Mancini was the first choice of his former mentor, Sven Goran
Eriksson, had the purchase of County by Munto Finance been
completed. Eriksson and Mancini talk to each other on a daily
basis.
'He would certainly have been approached by Sven had things
worked out as planned,' said a source.
'Not only did Mancini's playing career develop and flourish
under Sven at Sampdoria but he also gave him his first coaching job
at Lazio. Mancini regards Sven as his biggest influence both as a
player and a coach.'
Eriksson may also have played a part in Brian Kidd's promotion
from the City academy to assistant manager under Mancini. Kidd had
a spell on the Swede's staff when he was in charge of England.