Jose Mourinho celebrated the completion of a full set of English
trophies by insisting he would still be at Chelsea next season.
Speculation that the Portuguese would quit or be forced out this
summer has swirled around Stamford Bridge throughout Mourinho's
third season in charge.
But after watching Didier Drogba secure a 1-0 FA Cup final win
over Manchester United at the new Wembley with an extra-time
winner, Mourinho said he had no doubt that he would be staying in
London.
"I am moving house, because you (the media) have shown my
address to the whole world, but I am not going back to Portugal. I
love this club, I love living in this country and I don't want to
leave," Mourinho said after adding an FA Cup triumph to the two
Premiership titles and two League Cup trophies he has won with
Chelsea.
Mourinho's disappearance down the tunnel as soon as the final
whistle blew on Saturday immediately reignited the rumours that
tensions beteween him and Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, would
lead to a parting of the ways.
But the manager said he had simply gone to find a quiet spot to
phone his family. "It is a big victory for me and at this important
moment in my life I wanted to speak with my wife and kids, so I
went to make a couple of phone calls and then came back to the
field."
Asked if he had any doubt that he would still be the Chelsea
boss next season, Mourinho gave a withering reply.
"If you have doubts, what can I do. I can't do anything about
it. I have a contract, I want to stay, the club told me they want
me to stay. I look at them as honourable people, not as liars, so
when they say publicly they want me to manager next season, I have
no reason to doubt.
"The only way to stop this (speculation) will be on July 9 in
Los Angeles (when Chelsea begin a pre-season tour) and I will be
there."
Although United had enjoyed the better chances in the 115
minutes that preceded Drogba's winner, Mourinho insisted that
Chelsea had deserved their victory on Saturday and could not resist
a jibe at Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
"My feeling was that we could be here three hours and they would
not have scored a goal," he said. "We controlled the game so well
defensively. We know the way they want to play and we did not give
them that game."
Predictably, Mourinho's interpretation was disputed by Ferguson,
who described the contest as a "stalemate" that neither side had
deserved to win.
The Scot admitted that several of his players, including
Cristiano Ronaldo, had looked jaded at the end of a hard
season.
"You can't do much about goals when they come as late as that,"
he said. "We were too tired to mount any challenge but that is
football.
"I didn't think we played well. We didn't deserve to win the
game, or lose it - it was one of those games. There was not enough
attacking momentum from either side to deserve to win the
match.
"We had the better chances but it was a stalemate really. The
pitch was slow which didn't help and we had two or three players
who looked tired. They have played a lot of matches and it is
understandable. Cristiano looked a bit tired, he has had a long
season for a young lad."
United came agonisingly close to taking the lead at the end of
the first period of extra-time, when Ryan Giggs slid in to meet a
low Wayne Rooney cross. Petr Cech saved but Giggs's momentum
carried him into the goalkeeper and the ball crossed the line in
his arms.
Ferguson acknowledged that the linesman would have been unable
to see clearly that the ball had crossed over, but he insisted
referee Steve Bennett should have awarded a penalty for what he saw
as a foul on Giggs by Michael Essien.
The United boss went on to suggest that Mourinho had succeeded
in influencing the official with his pre-match comments.
"He does it before every big game. There's 22 players out there
and he's talking about the referee all week - maybe it works for
him. I was disappointed with the referee, for an FA Cup final I
would have expected better."
Despite his disappointment at missing out on a fourth league and
cup double at the helm of United, Ferguson said the club had had a
fantastic season.
"We set out with the Premier League as our priority and we
excelled ourselves in that respect," he said.
(China Daily via AFP May 21, 2007)