The Benfica boss is a surprise name to be linked with the Celtic Park hot seat in the summer
Jose Mourinho(Image: Getty Images)
Legendary boss Jose Mourinho has been warned off a blockbuster move to Celtic by Gordon Strachan.
The Benfica boss has surprisingly emerged as one of the favourites to replaced Martin O’Neill when his contract comes to an end in the summer. Mourinho has a contract in Lisbon until the summer of 2027 but holds break clause at the end of this season.
The former Hoops manager worked closely with principle shareholder Dermot Desmond during his spell as boss with the pair publicly sharing their admiration for each other over the years. Celtic haven’t been shy in making some high profile appointments over the years like Brendan Rodgers – but Strachan reckons the Special One should be swerved.
He insists that a gaffer with experience of the Scottish game should be brought in to replace the Parkhead icon O’Neill. He told Bet Victor: “I can’t see Jose sitting on the bench at Livingston on a plastic pitch, or Kilmarnock with a plastic pitch.
“He lives on the edge anyway and he’s been great for football. I just can’t see Jose at Kilmarnock with a plastic pitch.
“No, that’s not going to happen. For the guy’s mental state, I wouldn’t advise it either. It doesn’t matter what age you are or what you’ve done in the game, the key is understanding the players you have and determining the best system for them.
“Critically, you need good people, both as characters and players, around you. We’ve seen young managers come in and fail quickly, and we’ve seen older managers come and go.
“There is no one-size-fits-all identikit for this club. Success comes from someone understanding the club, understanding what is needed to win games, regardless of the system.
Celtic’s Dermot Desmond congratulate’s manager Gordon Strachan (right) after his third league title in a row(Image: SNS Group 0141 221 3602)
“Like set-plays, there are different tactical systems, but no one is definitively better than another for every situation.
“The priority is getting your best technically, physically, and mentally strong players onto the pitch. Manchester United recently eventually changed their approach when they realised the initial system wasn’t working for their players.
“It’s similar to Celtic’s experience, when a manager insisted on three at the back, despite the club having won 14 out of the last 15 titles playing a different way.
“There is no age requirement for this job, it’s about common sense and understanding what you have. It’s not about making yourself the best coach, it’s about making the players better and winning games. It’s not about the coaches who think they won the game.
“Notice how coaches often say the players stuck to the great system when they win, but when they lose, it’s always the players’ fault. A strange thing about coaching is that when a younger coach wins, it’s credited to their coaching, but when they lose, it’s blamed on the refereeing or something else, never themselves.
“The examples of two of the biggest clubs in the world, Celtic and Man United, show that if you bring in the wrong person and try to implement the wrong approach, you’re doomed.
“That’s why you revert to common sense, with someone like Michael Carrick, who understands the league, or a vastly experienced manager like Martin O’Neill.”
The stance of Strachan could shift Mourinho’s previous stance – when he left the door open to a switch to Scottish football while in charge of Fenerbahce.
Speaking in March 2025, he 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. It’s a league of passion. And 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.
“And Celtic and Rangers, they are big clubs with big fan bases, with big emotions, big responsibilities, big expectations. Why not?”
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