Mourinho discusses career regrets: “I should have left Roma after Budapest.” | OneFootball

Former Roma boss Jose Mourinho reflected on his career and his two-and-a-half-year spell in the Italian capital with Roma.

In an interview with Corriere dello Sport, the Special One – currently in charge of Fenerbahce – said, “I never felt fulfilled as a coach. I want to win the next match and feel accomplished for a couple of days, but that’s about it.”

“Why did I not take a sabbatical year? Because I love football and I love my job. I don’t want to wait and wait for the perfect opportunity, the perfect place. I know that many like to put their career on hold, or at least that’s what they tell us.”

“I said yes to a club that wanted me so much and showed it to me from day one.”

“The best and worst moments of 2024? On a personal level I choose my daughter’s wedding, it was a wonderful moment and I’m very happy for them…”

“As for the worst… Leaving Roma was hard, but I don’t wish to throw that away either.”

“Usually when people talk about me they think about what happened fifteen, twelve, eight or ten years ago. It is like that for most of the great coaches who usually lead the best teams and have the best chances of reaching the final.”

“In the last few years I have reached three finals, one with Manchester United and two with Roma. I look at all of this with a bit of amusement, and at the same time with pride because when you do this with a club with no history in Europe, you realise that you have achieved something special.”

“My regrets? If we talk about matches, a lot because when you lose you always think that you could have done differently, and I have lost a lot of matches. If instead you refer to professional choices, then saying no to Florentino Perez. He told me ‘Mou, don’t leave now, you’ve done the hard part and the good part is yet to come’… I knew it would be like that, but I wanted to return to Chelsea after three years in Spain of great struggles…”

“And after Budapest [with Roma]. Not for the mess created by Taylor, but for the fact that I didn’t leave immediately. I should have left Roma, I didn’t and I was wrong not to.”

“Would I return to coach in Italy? Of course.”

“When I was sacked by Roma I decided to buy tickets to the next game at the Olimpico, in order to bid farewell to the fans. I bought not one, but four. I was in the hotel with my assistants who told me: ‘Mister, you deserve to greet the fans and the fans deserve to say goodbye to you. Let’s go.'”

“I thought about it for a few hours, then I feared that they would accuse me of wanting to disturb and impose and I don’t do these things, ever.”

“I haven’t watched Roma play since the day I left,” he added.

“Bove? Bove is like me. Nobody gave him anything. He started out with me because we have similar principles, even though one is twenty and the other is sixty.”