Jose Mourinho has urged
those above him at Chelsea to come out and end the speculation
about his future.
Mourinho is contracted to the club until 2010 and maintains that he
wants to stay at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of the
season.
Yet speculation persists that a new manager may be appointed in the
summer, due to an alleged rift between Mourinho and billionaire
owner Roman Abramovich.
Mourinho admits the Chelsea board have not told him if he will
still be in charge next season, and believes the only way for the
pressure to be taken off him is for someone to speak out.
"If I could choose I wouldn't speak. If people higher in the club
speak, I don't speak so much. So please speak and give me some free
time," he said.
"Managers and players have the contractual obligation to come and
talk and the other people, they can make a choice.
"I think the same way I take pressure off of my players by speaking
more than them, if the people on the top of me could speak and
leave me free of this pressure in my life it would be better for
me.
"Supporters? They know. From me they know everything. Imagine if in
the end of the season I say to the club 'goodbye, I go', what do
the people think about me? This guy is a liar.
"So no doubts. I've left everything very, very clear. That is what
is in my head. If in the end of the season I'm leaving the club you
have the right to come to me and say 'Jose, you are a liar'.
Although Mourinho is keen to stay at Chelsea, he admits there are
elements of managing in England that he finds difficult.
"I don't like the fact that I lost my private life and my family is
paying for that and it affect me, and affects my wife and my kids
and it affects everybody," he explained.
"But that's not just me, that's every manager and every player that
works at a high level. Our face is in the media every day and that
affects all of us."