What Mourinho might do next

The day most Chelsea fans must have been dreading has arrived. The Special One will no longer be gracing Stamford Bridge with his presence after he left the club by ‘mutual consent’. While Chelsea have been quick to make their future plans clear, with the announcement that director of football Avram Grant and assistant manager Steve Clarke will take charge of the first-team, Mourinho’s intentions remain a mystery. MSN takes a look at the options Mourinho might be mulling over.

If Mourinho has his eyes on the England job, then his timing couldn’t be worse. If he’d walked out of Chelsea at the start of the season, when England gaffer Steve McClaren was still under fire, he could probably have strolled into the top job in English football. McClaren is currently enjoying a period of relative comfort in the job after two consecutive victories, but if England don’t make the Euro 2008 finals and Jose is still job-hunting, it could be a match made in heaven.

When discussing Chelsea’s youth team, Mourinho once said: “Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 % sure that the melon is good. Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don't taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic." His avid interest in fruit could be a telltale sign that he’s considering setting up his own fruit retailing business. It might even be a ‘pick your own’ as Jose would relish the freedom of not having things picked for him.

After three years at Chelsea, working under enormous pressure and relentless scrutiny, Mourinho could be forgiven for wanting a quiet life and drifting into an early retirement. At the age of just 44, he’s probably earned more than most people do in a lifetime, so financially, at least, retirement could be a viable option. The petulant streak we’ve seen so often could also be a factor and Mourinho might just turn his back on the beautiful game once and for all.

Jose hit the headlines in May 2007 when he was arrested and cautioned by police over a row about his dog. He had rushed home from an awards ceremony to rescue the terrier from the clutches of health officials. He allegedly bundled the animal into the street and set it loose before boasting "I've sent my dog to St Tropez". His apparent ability to work with and care for animals gives him the perfect credentials to become a pet detective and give Ace Ventura a run for his money.

The self appointed ‘Special One’ might decide that he’s had enough of working for other people and set up his own club where he would have complete control. He’d obviously take his favourite players with him, so expect Special FC’s line-up to include the likes of Lampard, Carvalho and Drogba, but there shouldn’t be a Ballack or a Shevchenko in sight.

“Omelette, eggs. No eggs, no omelettes. It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have eggs, class one, class two, class three. Some are more expensive than others, and some give you better omelettes. When the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem.”
Jose clearly knows more about eggs than your average person, so perhaps he could find a job that utilises his specialist knowledge of egg quality.

Mourinho is one of the most stylish football managers the English league has ever seen and he has already become a bit of a trend setter. His favourite, lucky grey coat fetched £22,000 at a charity auction and prompted Portuguese sculptor Jose Coelho to create a life-size replica of it, which was displayed at an exhibition. A career in fashion surely beckons for Jose.