Mourinho Withdraws from England Consideration

Former Chelsea boss José Mourinho has, as I predicted before here on this site and over at epltalk.com, ruled himself out of the running to become England's next manager.

Mourinho has stated multiple times that he believes a national team's manager should be of that nationality and that the only country he'd ever truly consider coaching is his own, Portugal, and even then not until the end of his career.

At just 42 years of age and with the managerial résumé he has, taking the England job would have been a big step down for Mourinho. It's likely that he didn't want to commit himself for the next two and a half years without the prospect of returning to domestic soccer, his love, and I feel confident that the FA wouldn't include an "out clause" in any potential contract to allow him to resign his post to take a club job without considerable compensation.

Mourinho has won the Champions League and four consecutive league titles (two with Porto, two with Chelsea) in his managerial career and is one of the greatest enigmas in the world of soccer today. He has an enormous ego, which is something England as a whole does not need any more of, and although he would probably produce results with England and lead them to success, Mourinho cares much more about club soccer and the greater challenge that it brings.

If you're England, you can wish all you want that he'll change his mind and accept the post, but really, I don't think he's the best guy for the job and to me, it's a blessing in disguise that he's withdrawn his name from consideration. This is not to say he's not one of the best managers in the world; as I said, his track record speaks for itself, but why would you want someone who only has half his heart in it and doesn't have the passion and fire for that particular job?

In my opinion, Mourinho was just stirring things up and never had any serious intentions about taking this job. I think he's after either the AC Milan or Barcelona jobs as both of them could be available sooner rather than later, and in announcing his "interest" in England, he tried to force those clubs to make a move and get rid of their current managers.

The funny thing in all of this, though, is the fact that the English media had made it sound like if the job was offered to Mourinho, he would take; it was a shoo-in that he would be England's next manager because hey, mighty England called and who would turn down that job?? Newsflash for England: If you can't qualify from a group with Andorra, Macedonia, and Estonia, you simply don't deserve to go to Euro 2008 or any other tournament. The reality is that England simply isn't as good of a side as their media likes to make out. They are not truly the Three Lions; they are more like the Three Little Pigs.