By NEIL ASHTON
When Jose Mourinho took afternoon tea with Sir Alex Ferguson at The Lowry before Real Madrid’s Champions League clash with Manchester City, there was plenty to discuss.
Mourinho loaded the bullets for Ferguson after Chelsea appointed Rafa Benitez and two days later the Manchester United manager took aim at the Spanish coach.
Fergie and Mourinho are close enough to discuss the Portuguese coach’s future as he prepares for a return to English football after three years at Real Madrid.
The end game is fast approaching for Mourinho and he is ready for the next big challenge. His behaviour at the Bernabeu is becoming increasingly eccentric and he was the centre of attention before Real’s 2-0 derby win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
He had promised to walk on to the playing surface at precisely 8.20pm to gauge the reaction of Real’s supporters after he was jeered during a Spanish Cup tie with Alcoyano last Tuesday.
Most of them voiced approval for the man who prised the title from Barcelona last season for the first time since the 2008 triumph under Bernd Schuster.
Mourinho nodded, turned on his suede shoes and headed back down the tunnel to the dressing room.
This time he is on his way back to England and even the possibility of becoming the first coach to win the European Cup in three different countries will not stop him leaving.
His team are 11 points behind Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona in La Liga and Real president Florentino Perez is unhappy with the atmosphere at his club. Mourinho addressed the issue ahead of the match against Ajax in the Champions League, in the face of reports in Spanish newspaper Marca that his reign is as good as over.
Asked if Perez was happy, a tetchy Mourinho replied: ‘Ask him. I don’t have to say when I spoke to the president and I don’t have to say what we spoke about. I don’t suppose the president will say anything either. We have a very good relationship.’
His availability has been noted in the boardrooms of United, Manchester City and Chelsea. With Pep Guardiola also on the market, it will be impossible to ignore Mourinho as he flirts with a return to the English top flight.
Both command £15million-a-year salaries but Mourinho guarantees success. As he prepared for the Ajax game, he claimed Ferguson would carry on for another decade.
‘Friends always speak well of each other,’ he said yesterday. ‘His succession isn’t near. It should be in 10 years or so. He is getting better and better. He is stronger all the time. Why should he retire?’
United’s boardroom is divided about Mourinho. They know he would bring trophies and the money men believe his appeal would double the club’s commercial revenue overnight.
Ferguson has confided to friends that the current United team need rebuilding, which is the reason he was forced to spend £24million to recruit Robin van Persie in the summer.
At 70 he shows no sign of slowing up, but he recognises this is one of the weakest United teams since they won their first Premier League title in 1993.
City are the realistic alternative, particularly as doubts continue over Roberto Mancini’s suitability for the Champions League.
Mancini was replaced by Mourinho at Inter Milan in 2008 and he went on to win the Champions League with an impressive win over Bayern Munich in 2010.
He ruffled Mancini’s feathers again in Manchester when Real drew 1-1 at the Etihad, claiming his opposite number should expect the sack after failing to progress from the group for the second year running.
Mancini retaliated at the weekend, claiming Mourinho should stop hawking himself as his spell in Spain comes to an end.
A return to Chelsea is another option for Mourinho as he positions himself alongside Guardiola as the most wanted manager in world football. Chelsea are convinced they have reached an agreement in principle with Guardiola, but the former Barcelona coach’s advisors are telling a different story behind the scenes.
They fear Guardiola’s reputation could be affected by the chaotic Chelsea regime if he takes the job when he completes his year-long sabbatical in the summer. And Roman Abramovich approached Mourinho about a dramatic return to Stamford Bridge last May, but was turned down.
After winning La Liga, Mourinho signed a new contract at Real until 2016 and was convinced he could capture the Champions League this season.
Three managers — Ernst Happel, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Mourinho — have won the European Cup with two different clubs. Mourinho wants to become the first to win it in three different countries, but his dream of winning it in Spain with Real may soon be over.
Instead his future, as he always maintained, is in English football.
