{"id":809031,"date":"2026-08-10T14:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809031\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T14:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T14:18:16","slug":"jose-mourinho-reveals-he-signed-contract-to-succeed-alex-ferguson-at-manchester-united-in-2013-jose-mourinho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809031\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Mourinho reveals he signed contract to succeed Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in 2013 | Jos\u00e9 Mourinho"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jos\u00e9 Mourinho has revealed he signed a contract to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013 only to tearfully renege on the deal and return to Chelsea. The Scottish great announced he was retiring<\/a> having overseen a 13th Premier League title triumph during a spell of unrivalled dominance at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

United have failed to return to the top of the English game since Ferguson stepped down, with his successor, David Moyes, sacked<\/a> after 10 months in charge.<\/p>\n

Mourinho was later brought in, spending two and a half years in charge from 2016, but in a new Netflix documentary about his life said that he had agreed to come earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go to Chelsea in 2013<\/a>, but in that period there is something nobody knows,\u201d he said in the documentary, Mourinho. \u201cI think I can say because I don\u2019t hurt anyone with the truth and the objective of this work that we are doing is to tell the truth. When I left Real Madrid, I signed to go to Manchester United after Sir Alex.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was, of course, very flattered, because Manchester United<\/a> has an incredible appeal. When I say Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world, I have to say that Manchester United is very, very close.<\/p>\n

double quotation markHe phoned me and he was crying. He says: \u2018Alex, I can\u2019t take it \u2013 I\u2019ve given my word to Chelsea.\u2019Sir Alex Ferguson<\/p>\n

\u201cBut one thing is love for football and another thing is love for a certain club. I think this is more powerful than love for football and, fundamentally, after Real Madrid<\/a>, I needed to feel that I\u2019m loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson was interviewed for the documentary and admits he was under the illusion Mourinho was accepting the offer. \u201cEarly evening, he phoned me and he was crying,\u201d Ferguson said. \u201cAnd he says: \u2018Alex, I can\u2019t take it \u2013 I\u2019ve given my word to Chelsea<\/a> and I\u2019m not going to break my word.\u2019 The reason he gave to me I could understand, but I was disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mourinho had a strong bond with Chelsea after leading them to two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups during his first spell.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n

Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alex Ferguson\u2019s long spell as Manchester United manager ended in May 2013. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The Portuguese parked differences with the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, to return to Stamford Bridge after leaving Real Madrid, winning another league crown and League Cup before being sacked in December 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me to lose the chance to be the coach to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a> was dramatic, but I don\u2019t regret because it was a decision I made with my heart,\u201d said Mourinho, who is now back in charge of Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it is nature that says when you do something for love, you are never doing anything wrong. I think it\u2019s nature. I did it for love.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back with the feeling of, yes, I go home, but with big responsibility because what I did before is history, and you don\u2019t want to destroy your legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Mourinho has revealed he signed a contract to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-809031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}