Roma manager Jose Mourinho released a lengthy interview to Sky Sport where he reflected on his career highlights.
During the interview with Italian journalist Federico Buffa, Mourinho also commented on his time at Roma, his relationship with the fans and what the future might hold for him.
“There is what I call Mourinhismo and Anti-Mourinhismo, especially here in Rome there’s both,” said the Portuguese technician.
“Mourinhismo is known to those who know what I have achieved. Anti-Mourinhismo is spewed by those who were happy when Roma wasn’t winning anything and didn’t have any kind of European success. They have fun talking on the radio and that’s fine. Anti-Mourinhismo sells, Mourinhismo is a way of carrying yourself in life.”
“I say this because I find people on the street, in every place of the world, who identify with me and with my way of being in life. However, the most important match is always the next one. The rest is in the past, it is history.”
“When I first arrived here, I didn’t know Roma. I had played against them with Inter. I didn’t know Rome either as a city with a football heart, or Roma as club. I had managed three big teams in England, Manchester, Chelsea and Tottenham and so I wanted to leave England. Roma came to me with a proposal that I liked, and it was the ownership that made me come.”
“Later, when I came and learned about Romanism, I learned about all the fans’ doubts, I learned about all their frustrations and I tried to get into their headspace. I asked myself many questions, which I need to answer over time. I became very fond of the players at this club. I like Romanism. I like the pure Roma fan, I like the Roma fan I meet on the street, the one who goes to Trigoria in the morning just to get a photo with me and the players. I like people who follow the team everywhere.”
“When you reach two European finals and take the city with you, when you cry with joy with them, you become even more one of them. That’s what I feel now, it was natural. When I’m on the bench and I look to the right [to the Curva Sud] at the Olimpico I still get emotional. When I look to my right it gives me shivers, these are people who stay with me, even when one day I will leave.”
“Will I stay? I do not know. Before Budapest I promised the players that I would stay. After Spezia, at the Olimpico, I told the fans that I would stay here and now I am here.”
