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Rediff.com  » Sports » Mourinho has no interest in England job

Mourinho has no interest in England job

September 20, 2005 17:06 IST
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has rejected suggestions he would be interested in managing England and says he is keen to coach his native Portugal before he retires.

Mourinho, who led Chelsea to their first championship title in 50 years last season, said in an interview with Time Out magazine that part of him felt like an Englishman now, hinting that in the future he could do the England job.

"Jose loves living in England. However, any suggestion that he would change his nationality is totally wrong and misleading," a spokesman for Mourinho said in a statement on Tuesday.

"He is a passionate Portuguese citizen and has made it very clear that one day he would like to manage the Portuguese national team. He also totally supports Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager."

In the Time Out interview, the 42-year-old, who took charge at Chelsea last year after winning the Champions League with Porto, said if he stayed in England for the length of his Chelsea contract, he would feel even more English.

"With six years of loving London and England I will have something of England and the people in my heart and so I could do it (the England job) in a professional way and also with my heart," he said.

He added he believed the job was really for an English person, however.

Chelsea said Mourinho was unhappy the interview had been used to put pressure on Sweden's Eriksson, who has been heavily criticised following some poor recent performances from the England side.

England lost 1-0 to lowly Northern Ireland and only managed to scrape a 1-0 win over Wales in their World Cup qualifiers earlier this month.

The team were also trounced 4-1 by Denmark in a friendly in Copenhagen in August, their biggest defeat in 25 years. England have since dropped out of the top 10 in FIFA's world rankings.

"Mourinho is unhappy that the context of his interview in Time Out magazine has been used to put more pressure on England's under-fire coach Sven-Goran Eriksson," Chelsea said.

"The Portuguese coach has never had any plans to become a British citizen and stressed his support for Eriksson in the interview."

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Source: REUTERS
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