Jose Mourinho has admitted that he 'didn't enjoy' managing at St James' Park because the Special One felt like he 'never won' at the home of Newcastle United.
Mourinho only triumphed on Tyneside on three occasions during his time managing Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs. The first two wins came in Mourinho's maiden spell at Chelsea - the Blues knocked Newcastle out of the Carabao Cup in 2004 and 2006 - while the Portuguese's only league victory to date was with Spurs in 2020 when there were no fans present for the Premier League clash at the height of the pandemic.
Remarkably, up until that 3-1 win, Mourinho had managed more away league games against Newcastle without success than any other club in his career.
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"I didn't enjoy playing in Newcastle," Mourinho told VIBE with FIVE. "I never won. Every time I was going to Newcastle, it was lose or draw, lose or draw.
"I won there with Chelsea and Tottenham. But out of 10, I would win once or twice. There was no rivalry with [Alan] Pardew or [Sam] Allardyce or any one of them there. I just knew going to play at St James' was really hard."
Mourinho is, nonetheless, a self-confessed 'little Magpie' following his stint as Sir Bobby Robson's right-hand man at Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona.
"Every time I think about him or speak about him, because I speak about him a lot with friends or family, I smile or tears are coming a little bit," he added. "I had things with him that were quite unique.
"Every time he was having lunch or dinner with me, he paid. I didn't pay once and he was always saying, 'I have more money than you and less years than you to spend.'"
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