Jose Mourinho has stated that Manchester United are not expected to win trophies, and that the expectations placed on him to win trophies – both at Old Trafford and at Tottenham – are unrealistic.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson's final season in charge in 2013, United has not won the Premier League title, and Louis van Gaal's FA Cup triumph in 2016 was their only other trophy outside of Mourinho's rule.
The Portuguese coach also addressed speculation that he could be Roma's Sir Alex Ferguson (Picture: Getty)
Shortly after, the Dutchman was fired and replaced by the self-proclaimed Special One, who went on to win the Community Shield, Carabao Cup, and Europa League, the last trophy United has won in a barren five years.
Manchester United are not expected to win trophies, according to Jose Mourinho.
With Roma, Mourinho is aiming for his fifth European crown (Picture: Getty)
Mourinho was fired from United in December 2018, with the club 11 points outside the top four, and had a similar fate at Spurs, failing to qualify for the Champions League and being fired just days before the Carabao Cup final.
It was suggested that the 59-year-old was too old for modern football, but he has had a resurgence with Roma, leading them to the Europa Conference League final for the first time in 31 years.
Carlo Ancelotti, three years older than his Portuguese colleague, received similar criticism when he was at Everton, but is now in the Champions League final with Real Madrid and has already won La Liga.
When asked if he and Ancelotti had quiet their detractors, Mourinho turned the question around, claiming that the problem was never with their coaching skills, but rather with the teams they were at.
'I believe Carlo Ancelotti's issue was that when you coach Everton, you are not about to win the Champions League!' he explained.
'And people saw me accepting jobs where they thought I could win trophies, but they weren't jobs where we were expected to raise trophies.'
'However, when you have such a successful career on a cyclical basis, you can expect it, and people can say that.'
'I'm not concerned about being replaced by younger coaches,' says the coach. I don't think about generations; I think about quality.'
'It's a matter of quality, ambition, and enthusiasm,' he continued. You're done if you don't have passion. You're done without the pressure of huge games approaching. I am quite familiar with myself, and Carlito is also very familiar with me, but there are many more instances we could use.
'But we'll call it when we're ready to stop, and I'm afraid people will have to wait a long time for me to say it's over!'
Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho
At Everton and Spurs, Ancelotti and Mourinho struggled (Picture: Getty)
Roma may have missed out on a Champions League spot due to their Serie A performance, and they could finish as low as eighth, but Mourinho is enjoying his time in Rome - though he scoffed at ideas that he could be Roma's Sir Alex Ferguson.
'I believe Sir Alex Ferguson coached Manchester United for over 20 years.' I am already 59 years old, so adding 20 years would get me to 79, which is maybe a bit much! It would be challenging. Maybe till I'm 70 years old.
'However, I understand your query. I really enjoy it here. You can see it and sense it. I accepted a project with a different profile than my prior ones; it was a three-year commitment.
'We'll see what happens.' I intend to stay for three years and have no plans to leave sooner.
'However, projects sometimes go closer to what you think with time, and sometimes they get further away, but football is today.' So I'm here now, and I'll be here next season, and then we'll see what happens. This is the most truthful response I can give to your query.'
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