By Stephan Shemilt - BBC Sport

Like a lover in a stale relationship, Jose Mourinho has fluttered his eyelashes in the direction of the Premier League, with former squeeze Chelsea the apparent object of his desire.

"I know in England I am loved," he said after current club Real Madrid's Champions League exit to Borussia Dortmund. "I know I am loved by some clubs, especially one."

With Mourinho looking to be nearing the finale of his Madrid affair, inevitable end-of-relationship questions arise.

Was I better off with the ex? Am I more or less in love than I was before? Is it better to stay put?

The Portuguese has seemingly already made up his mind. None can match the love he felt from fans and media when he was at Chelsea. Indeed, the affection from Real supporters and the Spanish press has drained away.

"I am loved by the fans and the media [in England] who treat me in a fair way," said Mourinho. "I know in Spain it is different because many people hate me."

Hate is a strong word, but Mourinho is right to say his bond with the Spanish media is beyond repair.
"Mourinho effectively has no relationship with the Madrid-based media," Spanish football journalist Andy West told BBC Sport. "He doesn't trust them and has made that distrust plain, which of course has made them distrust him. It's become a vicious circle.

"He hardly ever attends press conferences unless he has to. The rest of the time he sends his assistant Aitor Karanka and avoids any media contact apart from the odd TV interview back in Portugal."

Perhaps the 50-year-old would be in a better place to accept a lack of love from the media if he was adored by the Bernabeu faithful, but that relationship is also in tatters.

Defending champions Real are trailing Barcelona by 11 points in La Liga, and Mourinho has often been greeted with hostility rather than the warm embrace of home - even when his side have been winning. (external)
High-profile rows with fan favourites Sergio Ramos (external) and Iker Casillas (external) have not helped, the latter conflict also bleeding into Mourinho's stand-off with the media.

"They've never got on," continued West. "Casillas's girlfriend, Sara Carbonero, is a well-known television presenter so is obviously well connected throughout the Spanish media.

"Mourinho clearly suspects - possibly quite rightly - that any leaks from the camp come via Casillas.

"There was an obvious example of this a few weeks ago when Carbonero herself appeared on Mexican television and said Mourinho had a bad relationship with the players because he never communicated with them. It's pretty obvious who her source was."

All in all, the Real-Mourinho courtship looks to have only a handful of awkward dates - one of which is the Copa Del Rey final against city rivals Atletico - left to run.
And, after Real's third Champions League semi-final defeat in as many seasons, Mourinho, who has previously stated that his next job will be in England, has turned his eyes on the Premier League. According to some reports, a return to Chelsea is as good as sealed.
Much of Mourinho's previous three-year spell at Stamford Bridge was a mutual love-in involving Blues fans and large swathes of the media.

To the press, Mourinho was great value, a one-man headline factory. To supporters, the achievement of wrestling Manchester United and Arsenal aside to end a 50-year wait for a league title and then immediately following it with another, gave him a messianic status.
His declaration that he was "a special one" was the first of a string of memorable one-liners.

Eggs and omelettes, bird flu, Aston Martins, haircuts and his wife would all be topics of conversation during Mourinho media briefings, the entertainment of which had the press on his side. That advantage goes a long way to boosting a manager's popularity.

"He used the media very well, and everyone realised that no-one really failed from that transaction," said former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin.
"I once spoke to him and asked who he was actually speaking to when he came out with the one-liners - the players, the fans, the media, referees?

"He said: 'Number one, it's the players. Number two: the players and number three: the players. All the rest of it I am just having a laugh.

"'If they want complicated technical insight, I will give it to them, but they don't seem to want it so I just give them the lines'."

There were times, however, that Mourinho's mouth got him in to trouble, annoying and angering other clubs and their fans.

Accusing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger of being a "Viewer", constant antagonism of then-Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez and, most seriously, suggesting referee Anders Frisk colluded with Barcelona's Frank Rijkaard during Chelsea's Champions League semi-final defeat, allegations that caused Frisk to quit.

Writing in the Daily Mail some five months before Mourinho's Chelsea exit, Paul Hayward said the manager used comedy as a shield (external) from the unthinkable - the sack.

Still, despite Hayward's prediction, Mourinho's dismissal in September 2007 was such a shock that even Prime Minister Gordon Brown had his say.
"The day he left I was inundated by thousands upon thousands of emails pleading with me to talk to the club to bring him back, they were utterly devastated," said Nevin.

Chelsea, having surrendered their Premier League crown to Manchester United in the previous campaign, were lying fifth in the table, two points behind leaders Arsenal.
They had just drawn 1-1 with Norwegian side Rosenborg in their opening Champions League match of the season, watched by a crowd of only 24,973 - a sign, perhaps, that Mourinho's brand of football had lost some of the supporters' good will?

"Mourinho's style of play didn't always impress everyone," continued Nevin.
"I talked to someone very, very close to him at the time and he told me if Chelsea were 1-0 up he was happy, if they were 2-0 up he was content and if they were 3-0 up he was quite angry.

"He didn't want to go 3-0 up, two was fine. He didn't want to continue attacking if they were 2-0 up. It was purely about winning, not entertainment.
"There were a few people that began to get tired of that and there was a bit of me that wondered if the next guy might provide more entertainment."

There have been seven 'next guys' through the Stamford Bridge entrance door since Mourinho's exit.
Carlo Ancelotti matched his achievement by winning the title, while Roberto Di Matteo went one better by bringing owner Roman Abramovich the Champions League crown he coveted above all others.

When Di Matteo was sacked in a move similarly unpopular as the removal of Mourinho, Abramovich, in Nevin's words, "trawled the world and found the manager the fans least wanted" by appointing Benitez.
With the Spaniard leaving Stamford Bridge at the end of the season and Mourinho set to exit Real, he and Chelsea look to be available to one another once more.

There is, however, one question remaining for The Special One, one that maybe even he cannot answer.
Will the ex take me back?


http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22367374

Is this an excuse for failing? He can go to pure water club(chelsea) is he chooses.

Afam4eva: Is this an excuse for failing? He can go to pure water club(chelsea) is he chooses.

The writer never said it was an excuse in any way... In summary he said he wasn't loved in Spain, the press even the fans of Madrid never showed that he was wanted and appreciated. Some of his players were snitching on him to the press, what was suppose to be dressing room talk got out to the press.

How can one work in such an environment and be happy?

Afam, I know you hate anything Chelsea with a passion, but pls look beyond the prism of your hate for Chelsea and endeavor to make this thread get to the fp.

Afam4eva: Is this an excuse for failing? He can go to pure water club(chelsea) is he chooses.

Speak no evil against the special one...Sorry, the 'Only One'

Imagine if he had won the champions league?...

Not my business.

He has good marketing skill

D bluez awaitz ur return d special one

Afam4eva: Is this an excuse for failing? He can go to pure water club(chelsea) is he chooses.

Can you remind me the score line yesterday between Bayern and Barca

executinal:
Can you remind me the score line yesterday between Bayern and Barca

I'm also a Madrid fan, so don't go there.

Blues all the way......punch the 3rd line

executinal:
Can you remind me the score line yesterday between Bayern and Barca

na 70-0...sowie,i mean 7-0.

Pls o fellow nlers,jst heard 4rm a frnda abroad dt gov chime of enugu is dead in an indian hospital..jst wanna confirm

Afam4eva:
I'm also a Madrid fan, so don't go there.

You are also what

following

Johnnyhoo:

na 70-0...sowie,i mean 7-0.

Pls o fellow nlers,jst heard 4rm a frnda abroad dt gov chime of enugu is dead in an indian hospital..jst wanna confirm

India hospital he left to london since last year?

Chime is alive

[size=20pt]i must dance EtighiZonto... abeg come back o, i await ur return like i used 2 like ma ex-GF's bossom . BLUES FOR LIFE[/size]

yuzedo: BRAKEING NEWS: I just commentated on dis tread from my eye pad in my seating room penthouse in Banana Ice land. Am i not bless? Pls help me tank Obatala my guy. If i can did it, u also can did it. Baanaana iscland have free land for sale, 1plot =N1billion. save now and buy. is good investment to be my nerbor. tenks and no futher comments.

GET WELL SOON, BRO!

BarcelonA get a new sponsor last night after Unicef drop them.. Laff wan kill me die..

Take it, Leave it....

There is only one special 'One'

How many other coaches in this modern football era have come close to replicating his achievements across several leagues?

I can wait.

NB; I hear Falcao is coming too.. i hope he doesn't become the next Torres, #Madridconnection

Jose Mourinho knew he had to quit Real Madrid
after seeing the way on-loan Chelsea midfielder
Michael Essien had been treated by his
'teammates'.

The Sun says the on-loan Chelsea star invited all his
Madrid colleagues to his birthday bash but only a
handful of them turned up.
And it was left to the Bernabeu boss to console his
upset player.
He told the Ghana international that it was nothing
personal — it was not that his team-mates did not
like him and, sadly, it was not because they had
anything better to do.
It was simply because they were more interested in
themselves than anything or anyone else.

Good news
(Goal.com) Chelsea have successfully signed Falcao
and Mourinho. The Jose Mourinho signing will be
announced in the coming weeks according to
Goal.com and Falcao will be his first signing.

Haters oya over to you

The structure in chelsea is still as rigid as ever, Enemalo is still there and is position is position is cemented and not threatened. If Mourinho goes back to Chelsea without resolving whatever rift there are between him and the Billionaire boss, he should be ready to accept players imposed on him- ofcourse bought by the same Enemalo.
Abeg come with Essien and Alonso if possible, and Ronaldo of thinkable. Would really appreciate it.
I'm dancing Gangnam style! Alex Ferguson in trouble as his last years to retirement would be trophy less

Johnnyhoo:

na 70-0...sowie,i mean 7-0.

Pls o fellow nlers,jst heard 4rm a frnda abroad dt gov chime of enugu is dead in an indian hospital..jst wanna confirm

you mean gov chime of oyo state?

mourinho should go bak to kainkain club ...

mourinho is not coming to any chelsea...he said it himself in a press interview. i dnt kno where this false news came from

Rubbish!

1 request tho Mourinho, pls don't forget to tell ur man Essien to pack his bags and follow u.......Chelsea welcomes y'all 2 back

If he goes on a no-win spree like he did with Madrid in this season's beginning, Abrahimovich will definitely give him the boot. Lose anyhow with Chelsea and face the owner's wrath.