“I learn with them; they learn with me. I like that a lot.”
Jose Mourinho has been speaking about his experience of being a football pundit and working alongside Roy Keane and Graeme Souness on Sky Sports.
The Portuguese coach said he gained an insight into the mentality of former elite footballers by working with the pair.
Jose Mourinho on working with Roy Keane and Graeme Souness.
Mourinho, who was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur after almost 18-months as manager of the north London club, worked as a pundit for talkSport for the European Championships last summer.
The last time he was between coaching roles, following his dismissal as Manchester United manager in December 2018, Mourinho worked as a pundit on Sky Sports.
The former Real Madrid manager has often been critical of the media and pundits during his coaching career, but has said that he has learned from working alongside Keane and Souness.
“I tell in a soft way. I like to listen to the opinions of people with different experiences,” Mourinho told The Times.
“For example, when I sat with Roy Keane and Graeme Souness in the same match, they have experiences as top players that I didn’t have. I have experiences as a coach that they didn’t have.
“They know what it is to play Champions League final as a player. I know what it is to play Champions League final on the touchline, as a coach. I learn with them; they learn with me. I like that a lot.”
Jose Mourinho on working as a pundit.
The former Chelsea, Inter Milan and Porto coach also said that he enjoys working as a pundit.
“I enjoyed it very much because I felt I could make a difference,” Mourinho said.
“When it is a career, then for profile, success and audience, a pundit sometimes has to go into directions that I don’t need to go. I don’t want an audience.
“It’s not a job for me. They have to be more extreme, more aggressive, to make a name for themselves. I go with two perspectives.
“One is, I do it for myself. I’m not working. I’m on holiday. I have some fun. I meet people. I learn something. That’s the selfish part of it.”
The Portuguese coach also said that he believes that working as a pundit is almost a “service to football” and that he does not have an “agenda.”
“I don’t have this need of audience. I go there and I’m just pure. I tell what I see.”
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(Originally published on May 2, 2021).
Read More About: Graeme Souness, jose mourinho, Premier League, roy keane
