Jos\u00e9 Mourinho has disclosed that he was initially due to become Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s successor at Manchester United in 2013, before changing course and returning to Chelsea.<\/p>\n
The revelation adds a fresh layer to one of the most scrutinised managerial transitions in recent Premier League history. David Moyes was ultimately chosen to follow Ferguson at Old Trafford after being personally selected by the departing manager. The appointment earned Moyes the nickname \u201cThe Chosen One\u201d, but it proved to be a short-lived reign, ending before he completed a full season as United struggled to maintain the standards of the Ferguson era.<\/p>\n
For years, that decision has been viewed as a major misstep by Ferguson and the Manchester United hierarchy. Mourinho\u2019s version of events now presents a different path, one in which he was the intended successor before the deal collapsed.<\/p>\n
On the new Netflix series Mourinho, the current Real Madrid manager said: \u201cWhen I left Real Madrid, I signed to go to Manchester United after Sir Alex.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferguson, who also appears in the docuseries, backed that account and described how close the arrangement came to being finalised.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat him [Mourinho] down and explained the situation,” the 84-year-old claims. “As far as I was concerned, he was accepting. And then, within hours, it changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mourinho said he then reversed his decision and chose Chelsea, the club where he had already won two Premier League titles earlier in his career. Ferguson recalled the moment the change became clear: \u201cOne night, he phoned me and he was crying and he says: \u2018Alex, I can’t take it. I’ve given my word to Chelsea and I’m not going to break my word.’<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason he gave to me, I could understand, but I was disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mourinho explained the choice in emotional terms: \u201cOne thing is love for football, another thing is love for a certain club,\u201d Mourinho reasoned as he explained his decision to choose Chelsea over United..<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is more powerful than love for football and fundamentally, after Real Madrid , I needed to feel that I\u2019m loved.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me to lose the chance to be the coach to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson was dramatic, but I don\u2019t regret [it] because it was a decision that I made with my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
The disclosure leaves open the view that a different ending at Madrid might have altered Manchester United\u2019s post-Ferguson years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mourinho says he was set to replace Ferguson at United before changing course to return to Chelsea instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,179,987],"tags":[1836,182],"class_list":["post-18389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-manchester-united","category-real-madrid","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}