adminLONDON — Jose Mourinho and Arsène Wenger have ended their bitter personal feud ahead of renewing their on-field rivalry next season.
A series of chance meetings at international tournaments and then a dinner together have helped to forge an unlikely friendship between two men who, during Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea were regularly in angry conflict.
Most notoriously, Mourinho called Wenger “a voyeur” and claimed that he was obsessed by Chelsea and, even as recently as 2010, Mourinho said that Wenger should, “explain to Arsenal supporters how he can’t win one single little trophy since 2005”.
Speaking on Wednesday at Chelsea’s Jakarta training base, Mourinho did say that he would feel “strange” not to have won silverware for such a long time but revealed that he had actually come to regard Wenger with respect and even affection.
“He’s a nice guy,” Mourinho said. “I respect him a lot and I will show my respect always. I wouldn’t bet for one single problem between us. I have had a chance to meet him much, much better when I left England. I started meeting him at the Euros, the World Cup. We had dinner.
“When you are not in the same league and when you are not playing against each other, it is easier to know people, it is easier to go deeper. I enjoyed speaking with him about football. He is a person with a big culture, very open to give his opinion to things.”
Mourinho even admitted that he had the ambition of emulating Wenger’s 17-year tenure at Arsenal with Chelsea. “Our last conversation was that I want to be here 17 years — he has to teach me how. I respect him a lot and I have the feeling that he is the same in relation to me.”
Asked if he could go eight years without a trophy, Mourinho said: “Not because of my mentality. I would feel strange. But you can do very good work for a club without winning lots of trophies. He had all these chances to leave, all these good, important clubs interested in him.”
Mourinho also claimed he never doubted the intentions of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The pair parted ways by mutual consent in September 2007, with Mourinho leaving the club as its most successful manager with six trophies in three years.
However, the self-titled ‘Special One’ returned to the Blues this summer after spells at Inter Milan and Real Madrid, and hailed the Russian’s foresight.
“There was always the question, ‘When is he going to sell it?’ ‘Is he in love with the club?’ ‘Is he in love with football?’ ‘Is he doing this for the right reasons?”’ Mourinho said.
“Peter Kenyon (then chief executive) and I were worried about just creating the right conditions and having a good base. Roman was always going for more, always going for the future. He said, ‘If we can build 15 pitches here, why build only four?’
“We said: ‘Because four is what we need now — two for the first team, one for the reserves and one for the youth’. He said: ‘No, no, if we can build 14 or 15, then do it for the future, for the kids. — The Telegraph.
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