Tottenham boss Mourinho takes aim at inexperienced managers like Chelsea’s Lampard who are getting big jobs ‘so easy’
JOSE MOURINHO has had a veiled dig at inexperienced managers like Frank Lampard who are getting big jobs “so easy”.
Mourinho’s words will stoke the fires ahead of Tottenham’s clash with Lampard’s Chelsea next weekend.
Today the Spurs boss will come up against another of his former Chelsea players, John Terry, who is assistant to Aston Villa boss Dean Smith.
And when Mourinho was asked if he thought Terry would become a boss, he told BBC Football Focus: “I can and I can especially because it looks like he chose the good way to do it.
“Because in this moment opportunities for inexperienced people is coming, like, so easy.
“Of course there are exceptions, but many of them, they are not ready for the dimension of the challenge.
“But John, I think he will arrive, but I think when he arrives, he will arrive with more stability, with more know-how.
“Because one thing is to be a top player, but another thing is to be a head coach or a manager.”
Mourinho did not mention Lampard by name but it’s hard to think who else he could mean – and he could have made it clear that the Blues boss was one of the “exceptions”.
The former Chelsea and Manchester United head coach riled Lampard and assistant Jody Morris earlier in the season with comments he made about the club as a TV pundit.
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Mourinho will take Tottenham to Stamford Bridge next Saturday for what will be an emotional and vital game in the race for a top-four spot.
He replaced Mauricio Pochettino in November as Spurs drifted away from the top four and looked off the pace to deliver some long-awaited silverware.
But Mourinho had admitted that he may not be the man who ends the Tottenham trophy drought that stretches back to 2008.
Mourinho said: “Tottenham of course doesn’t win titles for a few years but this relation between the amazing stadium we have and the amazing fanbase we have gives us very very good conditions to do fantastic work.
“If it’s going to lead us to titles in my period here. I don’t know. I cannot promise.
“But if it comes after me and my work has done some contribution, some influence in that, I will be happy anyway.”
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That will be hair-raising stuff for any Spurs fans who are banking on Mourinho to deliver tangible success.
And the man himself has had some trouble with his barnet.
Mourinho is sporting a new shaven-headed look and explained: “The reason behind the haircut is that the barber was bad. He did a bad job.
“When I looked at myself in the mirror, I told him: ‘Come on, bring the [grade] one, and shave it.’
“Because now I know that it will come, it will take a little long, but it will come back to normality.”