Jose Mourinho hasn’t mellowed any at the age of 62 and has been as outspoken as ever ahead of facing Rangers.
The Fenerbahce boss aimed a dig at Philippe Clement yesterday after the ex-Gers boss’ negative comments about his negative style of play when still in the job.
At the same time, the legendary Portuguese boss talked of his respect for Barry Ferguson.
But Mourinho also claimed Rangers have an unfair advantage with four of his players out injured for the Europa League clash.
He’s conveniently forgetting the injury troubles Gers have had with Fergie sweating on the condition of John Souttar and Leon Balogun after they returned to training.
The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham boss did have some kind words to say about the Scottish game and claimed he could see himself managing Celtic or Rangers one day.
Jason Cundy claims Mourinho was being disingenuous ahead of Rangers clash
Asked about managing in Scotland, Mourinho said: “In this moment, no, because I have a job that motivates me and a job that demands loyalty. But why not in the future? People can say that the Scottish League is a league of two teams, but it’s a league of passion.
“For me, passion in football is everything. For me, to play in empty stadiums, to play in competitions where there is not that fire of the passion doesn’t make any sense. Celtic and Rangers, they are big clubs with big fanbases, with big emotions, big responsibilities, big expectations. Why not?
“Celtic has a fantastic coach like Brendan [Rodgers]. Rangers has Ferguson now, so full respect for them and I’m not searching for a new job.”
But talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy, who regularly derides Scottish football, reckons Mourinho knew what he was doing.
He says he couldn’t exactly come out slaughtering our game before facing Rangers as he would be on a hiding to nothing.
Speaking on talkSPORT’s Sports Bar last night, he said: “What he’s doing there, I think he’s quite smart. He doesn’t want to upset Rangers, he doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of them.
“He’s pretty smart Jose, if he came out now and said ‘no the league is garbage, it’s a lot of old rubbish’ all he’d be doing is rattling everybody.”
Alan Brazil could see Mourinho at Rangers
But another talkSPORT figure in Alan Brazil reckons he could see Mourinho in the dugout at Ibrox. With the 49ers Enterprises coming, he says it’s not out of the question.
He said: “With the new people coming in, they’re going to put money into Rangers and clear the board, clear the can of worms out and put their own people in with big investment. So Rangers will come back, it just depends when.
“At the end of the day, he’ll know Rangers are a sleeping giant. He’s not stupid, he’s clever. With the right funding as his knowledge, it would be interesting. I could see it happening.”
However, the Cetic-supporting Scot added: “Don’t even think of going there Jose. There’s only one place to go. Don’t even think about it!”
