Jose Mourinho has revealed he changed his mind over an agreement to replace Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager before Everton's David Moyes took the job
Jose Mourinho and David Moyes (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
Jose Mourinho and David Moyes (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
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A revelation by Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho that he went back on an agreement to join Manchester United in 2013 has cast new light on David Moyes’ Everton exit that year.
When Sir Alex Ferguson, who steered the Red Devils to 13 Premier League titles, five FA Cups, four League Cups, two Champions Leagues, a European Cup-Winners’ Cup, an Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, announced his retirement, he recommended Moyes be appointed as his successor, and even invited his fellow Glaswegian around to his house to tell him so.
This led to Moyes to be dubbed ‘The Chosen One’ by United supporters who hung a banner saying so at the Stretford End of Old Trafford. However, speaking in a new documentary series about his career which will be released on Netflix on August 11, Mourinho, who returned to the Bernabeu this summer, said: “When I left Real Madrid, I signed to go to Manchester United after Sir Alex.
The Portuguese coach – who would later take charge of United between 2016-18 – admitted he was “very flattered” to be offered the job because the club “has an incredible appeal.” However, he added: “But one thing is love for football, another thing is love for a certain club.
“I think this is more powerful than love for football and fundamentally, after Real Madrid, I needed to feel that I’m loved.
“For me to lose the chance to be the coach to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson was dramatic, but I don’t regret [it] because it was a decision that I made with my heart.”
Now 84, Ferguson confirmed that Mourinho was “offered the job.”
He said: “I sat him down and explained the situation. As far as I was concerned, he was accepting, and then, within hours, it changed.
“One night, he phoned me and he was crying and he says: ‘Alex, I can’t take it. I’ve given my word to Chelsea and I’m not going to break my word.’
“The reason he gave to me, I could understand, but I was disappointed.”
Moyes, who is now back in charge of Everton for a second stint, recalled his own situation that year in an interview with The Rest Is Football podcast in 2024. He said: “If I told you I’d been contacted at that time by – I don’t know – 10 teams. I’d been 11 years at Everton and there was part of me saying: ‘I don’t want to overstay my welcome’ and every year we just couldn’t break in because we didn’t have enough money to really go again.
“I didn’t want to stay the next year and one of the years where we’d end up at the bottom, so a lot of clubs had phoned me. The Man United one, I’d fallen out with Alex a little bit because we’d drawn four each with them the year before which let Man City win the league.
“Sir Alex had said to me that we’d tried harder in that game than we did against Liverpool in the semi-final of the FA Cup at Wembley. I said to him: ‘Do you know what I’d have done to beat Liverpool as Everton manager at Wembley in the semi-final of the FA Cup? I’d have given anything!’
“At that time we were actually a better team than Liverpool but we lost 2-1. The next week we drew four each and it was the usual as you go into Alex’s room and it’s great wine but he never looked at me, he kept looking at the racing on the telly and he said: ‘You should have f****** tried as hard as that last week.’
“I used to go to Alex for quite a lot of advice, him and Walter Smith. Over my career, I’d been offered loads of jobs and I’d go to Alex and say: ‘What do you think?’
“Years ago I got offered the Sheffield Wednesday job and different jobs and he’d say: ‘Nah, you can’t do that son because of him, him and him.’ But the time I was offered the Manchester United job was near the end of the season.”
David Moyes is unveiled as Manchester United manager
David Moyes is unveiled as Manchester United manager
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Named LMA Manager of the Year three times while at Everton, Moyes was running his contract down so the Blues were not in a position to receive any compensation for him despite him going into the biggest football job in the country at the time. He remembered how he had to keep his upcoming appointment from some of those closest to him, including several loved ones and the late Everton chairman Bill Kenwright.
Moyes said: “I remember it really well because I’d just turned 50 and my wife had just bought me a watch and I was going through to Manchester because the strap needed to be altered. It was a day off and I had jeans on and a t-shirt.
“We were actually in Manchester, we were in Altrincham. The phone rang and it was: ‘Hello son, where are you?’
“I went (to his wife Pamela): ‘F****** hell, it’s Alex.’ He says: ‘Can you drop up to the house?’ I said: ‘Aye, ok, ok.’
“I said to the wife: ‘I cannae go to Alex’s house with jeans on. I’ll need to go up to Marks and Spencer and get some trousers.
“I dropped her off at the shopping centre and I said: ‘Oh he’ll be wanted me to taking someone off him on loan.’ Over the years we’d taken (at Preston North End) David Healy and Michael Appleton from Man United as young boys and the meetings I’d had with Alex, I’d met him privately when he was taking Wayne (Rooney) to Man United so we’d had lots and lots of things at different times and I had huge respect for him because he’s a Scottish manager.
“So, I got to the house, he took me in and made me a cup of tea, took me up to his lounge up the stairs and we sat down on a leather sofa and he says: ‘I’m retiring and you’re the next manager of Man United.’ I could feel myself sliding down the leather seat.”
Moyes, who steered Everton to nine top eight finishes in his first spell, including fourth place in 2005 – their highest Premier League position to date – added: “There was no formal interview, character references or anything like that, it was Sir Alex’s trust. But the bigger thing was he told me: ‘You can’t tell your family, just tell your wife.’
“I had such a good relationship with Bill Kenwright and he knew that there were always things going on and I wasn’t sure what I was doing at Everton. It was near the end of the season as we were playing Liverpool the next Saturday and as long as we didn’t lose to them, we would finish above them in the Premier League.
“I had to go back and pick the wife up and get her in the car. I said: ‘I’m the new manager of Man United.’
“We couldn’t go back and tell the kids and my Dad, I couldn’t tell my Dad, it was terrible. I was more in shock that Alex was retiring.”