Mourinho: I am a lonely guy in the modern world of football

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho says he feels out of place in modern football and has claimed he does not have many friends in the game.

The 52-year-old is a divisive figure in the sport and was punished by the Football Association after criticising the decisions of referee Robert Madley in the wake of Chelsea’s 3-1 loss at home to Southampton earlier this month.

Mourinho is no stranger to incurring the displeasure of the authorities, but what has come as an unpleasant surprise to the Portuguese is his team’s poor form so far this season.

The former Porto, Inter and Real Madrid coach is arguably enduring the worst period of his glittering career to date.  

And he has now claimed he feels that he no longer belongs in the football world, although he is happy to continue receiving the ‘affection’ of players and fans.

“I feel lots of affection, more than I could imagine. I feel affection from my players, lots of people in the street. I have lots of affection,” Mourinho told The Irish Times.

“It’s the football world that is changing. I feel that I am a strange case because my world is football. I love it, I love my job. This is the job I always wanted and I dedicate myself to it.

“But I don’t belong, I don’t belong to what Desmond Morris called many years ago ‘The Tribe of Football’ (sic),” he said, referring to 1981 book The Soccer Tribe.

“I belong to the tribe in the Desmond Morris concept of the tribe of football, but in the modern concept of the tribe of football, I don’t belong. 

“I live in a different world. I’m not with the power. I’m a lonely guy in this modern world of football. I do my work. I’m not a politician, I’m not a PR, I don’t care what people think about me. I don’t, you know, I’m just [am] what I am. 

“When I am in a great moment it looks like nothing’s happened; when I am in a bad moment, I pay for this a little bit. I don’t have many friends in the football world.”