Chelsea sack Jose Mourinho: The manager's most memorable quotes
Thursday 17 December 2015 16:39, UK
Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea for the second time just seven months after winning the Premier League title.
The 52-year-old leaves by mutual consent with Chelsea languishing in 16th place and just three points above the relegation zone after a dreadful first half of the campaign.
Here, we recall some of the most memorable quotes of his colourful managerial career.
On taking over at Chelsea for the first time in 2004: "I have top players and, I'm sorry, we have a top manager. Please do not call me arrogant because what I say is true. I'm European champion, I'm not one out of the bottle, I think I'm a special one."
On pressure: "For me, pressure is bird flu. I'm feeling a lot of pressure with the problem in Scotland. It's not fun and I'm more scared of it than football."
On the lack of funds available to him to improve his Chelsea squad, 2007: "It is omelettes and eggs. No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem."
One of the greatest managers of his generation struggled to cope with adversity.
On Arsenal rival Arsene Wenger: "I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea."
On who would play him in a film: "If they made a film of my life, I think they should get George Clooney to play me. He's a fantastic actor and my wife thinks he would be ideal."
It's not important how we play. If you have a Ferrari and I have a small car, to beat you in a race I have to break your wheel or put sugar in your tank.
On conspiracies (or facts): "The circumstances are difficult for us with the new football rules that we have to face. It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United and it is not possible to have penalties in favour of Chelsea. It is not a conspiracy, it is fact. I speak facts. If not, I need big glasses."
On why he had his hair shaved off: "I want to push the young players on my team to have a proper haircut, not the Rastafarian or the others they have."
On how his first spell at Chelsea might end: "There are only two ways for me to leave Chelsea. One way is in June 2010 when I finish my contract and if the club doesn't give me a new one. The second way is for Chelsea to sack me. The way of the manager leaving the club by deciding to walk away, no chance! I will never do this to Chelsea supporters."
On being sacked: "If the club decide to sack me because of bad results that's part of the game. If it happens I will be a millionaire and get another club a couple of months later."
On God: "He must really think I'm a great guy. He must think that, because otherwise He would not have given me so much. I have a great family. I work in a place where I've always dreamt of working. He has helped me out so much that He must have a very high opinion of me."
He's a specialist in failure. If he is right and I am afraid of failure it is because I didn't fail many times. Eight years without silverware, that's failure.
On young players: "Young players are like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100% sure that the melon is good."
On Newcastle's time-wasting tactics: "You may as well put a cow in the middle of the pitch, walking. And then stop the game because there was a cow."
On his managerial philosophy: "I would rather play with 10 men than wait for a player who is late for the bus."
On returning to Chelsea in 2013: "I am the Happy One."
On Cristiano Ronaldo: "I had just one problem with Cristiano, very simple, very basic and it's from a tactical aspect that I noticed, which I brought up in order to improve upon and make him better. And at that moment he didn't take it very well because maybe he thinks he knows everything and the coach cannot help him to develop more."
When I go to the press conference before the game, in my mind the game has already started.
On a Crystal Palace ball boy who took too long to give the ball back: "One day somebody will punch you."
On Dr Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn attending to Eden Hazard: "I was unhappy with my medical staff. They were impulsive and naive."
On the defeat that apparently sealed his fate: "The two goals are very difficult to accept. It's a big frustration to accept because I feel like my work was betrayed, if that's the right word."
