Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, clocked 55 on Friday.
The Portuguese tactician is undoubtedly one of the best in the game at the moment.
Mourinho has enjoyed an incredible career, winning titles almost everywhere he’s worked.
To celebrate his birthday, we take a look at five of his extraordinary facts.
- Turned down Newcastle job in 2000
In 2004, Mourinho revealed that four years earlier he had turned down an offer from Sir Bobby Robson to be his assistant at Newcastle.
“I didn’t take him up on his offer, knowing sooner or later, my time would come,” Mourinho stated.
2. Arrested for dog crimes
Few days before taking his Chelsea team to the 2007 FA Cup final, Mourinho was arrested and cautioned by police. Because he refused to let his dog, Gullit, who the police thought did not receive proper injections, to be taken into quarantine and tried to smuggle the pet dog out from the back door of his house.
3. Not interested in school
At 23, just after quitting his playing career, his mother, Maria Julia, enrolled him into a business school. Mourinho left the place in a day after attending class to pursue his dreams to become a manager. He played with various clubs from 1980-87 but never managed to break through to the big stage.
4. PE tutor
Jose Mourinho was a physical education (PE) teacher in Lisbon, Portugal, at a number of primary schools, helping children with different abilities play football before he became the world famous manager that he is now. “Until he arrived, no girls would want to do PE. But under Jose, no one was taking sick leave anymore,” one of his former pupils said.
5. Multilingual
Jose can speak six different languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and French. But never call him a “translator”. He feels that its insulting to people who are professional translators because he is not fluent in the languages.
