Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho gave his first clear gesture
of interest in becoming next England manager on Friday.
Although the English Football Association earlier denied having
interviewed Mourinho or any other potential candidate, Mourinho has
been linked with the vacant post since Steve McClaren was sacked
last month after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
The 44-year-old was caught at the gate of his residence in
Portugal by a reporter from Sky Sports News while Friday morning
reports said that he had flown to England by private jet to meet
with the FA.
When asked if he could be the successor to McClaren in a brief
exchange, Mourinho replied with a smile and a "Why not".
"Being England manager is a big job," he said, "A big job is
what I want."
He confirmed that he had planned to travel to England but
cancelled it to avoid speculation.
"I would like to be in London with my family for a couple of
days but nobody would believe the reason why I am there -- just to
see friends and do some Christmas shopping.
"So to try to stop speculation, we decided to stay here."
?
He went on to play down talks that he is using The FA to get a
leading club job elsewhere, suggested as in Real Madrid in
particular.
"I'm not using The FA to get another job. I was upset when I
heard the reports," he said.
"People need to trust The FA. They should let them do their job
properly. The fans should support the next man more than ever."
It has been widely reported that the FA has narrowed down their
search of the next England manager to a shortlist of five
candidates: Mourinho, Fabio Capello, Marcello Lippi, Jurgen
Klinsmann and Martin O'Neill, which was also denied by FA on
Friday.
Only Capello out of the five has declared his interest to manage
England while Lippi and O'Neill both ruled themselves out of the
running.
Aston Villa boss O'Neil backed Mourinho for the job on Friday's
Times.
"I think Jose would be an excellent choice, simple as that," he
was quoted.
(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2007)