Why I Said No to Man United Job in 2013 - Mourinho

Real Madrid coach, Jose Mourinho, has shared that he was ready to become Manchester United manager in 2013. But he changed his mind and went back to Chelsea instead.

Mourinho said he had agreed to take the job after Sir Alex Ferguson left Real Madrid. But in the end, he followed his heart and returned to Stamford Bridge.

“When I left Real Madrid, I signed to go to Manchester United after Sir Alex,” Mourinho said in a new Netflix documentary about his career. This was reported by BBC Sport on Monday.

Ferguson confirmed that Mourinho was offered the job and seemed ready to accept it.

“I sat him down and explained the situation,” Ferguson said. “As far as I was concerned, he was accepting. And then, within hours, it changed.”

Mourinho said he felt he could not turn down Chelsea, where he had won two Premier League titles before.

“One night, he phoned me and he was crying and he says, ‘Alex, I can’t take it. I’ve given my word to Chelsea and I’m not going to break my word’,” Ferguson recalled.

“The reason he gave to me, I could understand, but I was disappointed.”

Mourinho said he felt “very flattered” by the chance to replace Ferguson at Old Trafford because of Manchester United’s big appeal.

“But one thing is love for football, another thing is love for a certain club,” he said.

“I think this is more powerful than love for football and fundamentally, after Real Madrid, I needed to feel that I’m loved.”

Mourinho added, “For me to lose the chance to be the coach to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson was dramatic, but I don’t regret (it) because it was a decision that I made with my heart.”

Mourinho went back to Chelsea in 2013 and won his third Premier League title with the club, along with the League Cup.

Three years later, he took charge of Manchester United, succeeding Louis van Gaal in 2016.

During his two-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, Mourinho won the League Cup and Europa League. But he was dismissed in December 2018 after a poor run of results.

This revelation adds another interesting part to the story of Ferguson’s succession at Manchester United. It also raises the question of how different the club’s post-Ferguson era might have been if Mourinho had taken the job in 2013.