Mourinho chasing a return to England (From The Northern Echo)

Mourinho chasing a return to England

9:16am Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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JOSE Mourinho insists a return to English football is on his career agenda as he once again set foot inside Stamford Bridge.

Mourinho, sacked by the Blues in September 2007, returned for the first time to take charge of Inter Milan’s pre-match press conference.

The self-proclaimed Special One won every domestic honour during his time as manager of the Blues including back-to-back Premier League titles.

Mourinho, despite winning the title in his first year with Inter and sitting one point clear at the top of Serie A, appears to have a more than frosty relationship with the Italian media.

And the former Chelsea boss made it clear that he plans to return to English football as part of his future career path.

‘‘I have, as I said before, three things to do in my career – one is to come back to English football; another thing is to win the Spanish championship, because noone has won Italian, English and Spanish titles; and another one, when I’m old, is to coach my national team. But, for now, I would like to keep winning with Inter.’’ Mourinho’s relationship with the club’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich had become so strained that the club opted to axe him following a 1-1 draw with Rosenborg in the Champions League in 2007.

Asked what he might have achieved had he stayed at the club, Mourinho retorted: ‘‘I feel sorry but I look forward. I feel sorry because, when I look at the big four teams while I was in England, they (the managers) are all there.

‘‘Sir Alex Ferguson is here.

Arsene Wenger is here. Rafa Benitez is here. I did more than enough to be here. But the decision was made.

‘‘Chelsea looked forward. I look forward. They move on. I move on. I keep winning important things. They keep winning. . . something.

‘‘They won an FA Cup. The most important thing is the relation we have. No regrets, no big problems. Just respect.

‘‘In football, coming back to an old team, it’s important to feel like I feel. It’s one of the most beautiful things in football.

They move on, I move on.’’ But Mourinho did have one regret and that was the timing of his exit because it left him outside of the game he loves.

Mourinho explained: ‘‘Change one thing? It would be . . . I would have left the day after the FA Cup final after my third season.

‘‘The timing was wrong. I waited three or four more months more and, after that, I left in September and I didn’t enjoy my time from then to the day I went to Inter.’’ Chelsea’s goalkeeping crisis remains acute with Ross Turnbull set to play only the second Champions League game of his career.

Turnbull, from Newton Aycliffe, who made his league debut for the club in Saturday’s 4-1 demolition of West Ham, will play against Milan due to Petr Cech’s calf injury and Hilario’s groin problem.

The former Middlesbrough goalkeeper’s only previous experience of Champions League football was the 2-2 home draw with Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia in the group stage.

Ancelotti confirmed: ‘‘There’s no chance of me taking a risk on Cech. Turnbull is a confident lad and we have confidence in him.

“Turnbull is a good goalkeeper who has played very well this season and improved every day.

‘‘So, for me, it’s not a problem.

“Cech has more experience than Turnbull for sure, but Ross is young and has enthusiasm to play.

“He wants to play and, for him, this will be a great, great experience.’’