Jose Mourinho reportedly left a nine-word note in the dressing room after his most recent managerial sacking in a hugely petty move.
On Thursday night Mourinho’s Fenerbahce take on former club Manchester United in the Europa League, a competition he won with the Red Devils in 2017.
He took the Fenerbahce job in June – months after he was given the boot by AS Roma and replaced by Daniele De Rossi.
Although he won the Europa Conference League, Roma’s first trophy in 14 years – and guided the Giallorossi to the Europa League final in successive years, Mourinho was relieved of his duties following four defeats in seven games.
His tenure in the Italian capital was just less than three years and it’s fair to say he did not leave on good terms.
When he was sacked, it was reported that Mourinho returned the ring Roma players got him to remember Conference League triumph which secured him a fifth European title in 2022.
In a brutal act, he is said to left it in the locker of captain Lorenzo Pellegrini at the club’s Trigoria training complex.
The same claimed that Mourinho also left a nine-word message on a note, which read: “When you are men, give it back to me”. Mourinho is reported to have done both these acts this as he felt betrayed by the players he coached.
Not long after he was given the boot, he aimed a dig at Roma when he wrote a column for Football.com and said he was sacked “by someone who has little knowledge of football”, while also calling his dismissal “unfair”.
Mourinho vowed to be back in European competition and he now leads a Fenerbahce side which includes the likes of Fred, Sofyan Amrabat, Dusan Tadic, Edin Dzeko and Allan Saint-Maximin.
In their two Europa League games so far, Fenerbahce have taken four points – winning one and drawing another.