Rui Faria opens up on admiration for Jose Mourinho and eagerness to get into management

Rui Faria has finally opened up on his decision to leave Manchester United, his desire to get into management, and his admiration for Jose Mourinho.

After 17 years as Mourinho’s assistant, following him around right from his early days at União de Leiria to clubs such as Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United, Faria suddenly dropped the bomb that he would be leaving his role at Old Trafford in May.

The Portuguese stated a desire to spend more time with his family before taking on a new challenge, one that would involve him finally becoming his own man and taking the step up to become a club’s head coach.

However, four months on, he is ready to get into the swing of things once more – ‘a stop to restart’, as he calls it.

In an in-depth interview with The Times, Faria revealed all and spoke glowingly of how working with Mourinho for so long inspired him to finally take on a challenge as a leader. He said:

"“I have a passion to get into management. Being assistant for so many years, working with the best, in the best clubs in the world with someone who lives football 24 hours a day like José does, you are influenced by the desire to lead, start a project and coach.“Being José’s assistant for so many years, I couldn’t be an assistant to somebody else. Working with José is the best experience you can have."

Faria also mentioned how unfair it was that Mourinho is under constant pressure to win titles, unlike a number of his colleagues in the Premier League.

"“José is maybe the only manager when he takes a club that there’s a demand on him immediately for silverware. Other managers in different clubs can be there for four or five years, not winning anything, and people like them and are happy with what they deliver to the club. There are managers who have special pressure on them and others who don’t. It’s difficult now. The Premier League is so competitive. Manchester City bought four defenders for £300 million and if they don’t do well the next year, they just sell them and replace.“José’s a special person and a special professional. He loves what he does 24 hours a day, his motivation levels are incomparable. He is demanding but the more you deliver, the less he asks of you. You can get knowledge from a school but wisdom comes with experiences and I don’t think there’s a manager in the world with the experience José has and the wisdom."

The last couple of weeks have been incredibly hard on Mourinho. A poor start to the season with Manchester United and a very public spat with Paul Pogba have put him in the spotlight once more. Betting companies and several newspaper outlets have also tipped him to be the first manager to get sacked this season.

The shocking lack of respect he has been shown recently will not be a new experience to him. Mourinho has undeservedly faced it throughout his career and according to Faria, all it takes is a mere mention of the name ‘José Mourinho’ by a manager, pundit or player and it will be front page news. He added:

"“You don’t just erase what he did in football. People should respect José more than they do. If they showed more respect, maybe people would have a different person towards them. When you feel you’re not being respected you have a tendency also to answer the same way. And José sells [newspapers] like no one. If you’re a manager who hasn’t worked for a while and wants to get on the front page of the paper you just say something bad or critical about José and it will be front page.”"

Mourinho has looked far from a happy camper since Faria’s departure and though Michael Carrick has been doing a decent job since retiring from the game to take over his role, it is understandably not the same. Rui was José’s go-to person for so many years and his presence was a massive help during the hard times.

Of late, he has had to face the backlash on his own and with all the negativity in the media at the moment, it goes without saying that Faria’s praise and words of support in the interview will resonate with the United boss at a time he needs it the most.