Jose Mourinho's Decision to Turn Down Manchester United

Jose Mourinho has finally confirmed what many inside football long suspected: he shook hands on succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United – then walked away to go back to Chelsea.

The revelation comes in a new Netflix documentary charting Mourinho’s career, and it lifts the lid on one of the great sliding doors moments of the modern Premier League era.

The job that was his – until it wasn’t

Ferguson stepped down in 2013 after 26 years at Old Trafford, leaving behind 13 Premier League titles and a club built in his image. Publicly, he anointed then Everton manager David Moyes as his successor. Privately, another plan had already been set in motion.

"When I left Real Madrid, I signed to go to Manchester United after Sir Alex," Mourinho says in the documentary, laying out in plain terms that an agreement was in place.

Ferguson backs that up. "He was offered the job," the former United manager recalls. "I sat him down and explained the situation. As far as I was concerned, he was accepting. And then, within hours, it changed."

Within hours, the future of three clubs changed with it.

A phone call, and tears

What changed was not United’s offer, but Mourinho’s conscience.

Chelsea, where he had become “The Special One” and delivered back-to-back league titles in 2005 and 2006, were calling him home. He had already given them his word.

"One night, he phoned me and he was crying," Ferguson says. "He said: 'Alex, I can't take it. I've given my word to Chelsea and I'm not going to break my word.'"

For Ferguson, the explanation made sense. It still hurt.

"The reason he gave to me I could understand, but I was disappointed," he admits.

Mourinho knew exactly what he was turning down. "Very flattered," is how he describes the offer to replace Ferguson. "Because Manchester United has an incredible appeal."

But then he draws a line between the game and the badge. "One thing is love for football, another thing is love for a certain club," he says. "I think this is more powerful than love for football and, fundamentally, after Real Madrid I needed to feel that I'm loved."

The pull of Stamford Bridge, of familiar faces and a fanbase that adored him, proved stronger than the chance to walk in behind Ferguson’s statue.

"For me to lose the chance to be the coach to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson was dramatic," Mourinho admits. "But I don't regret it because it was a decision that I made with my heart."

Moyes, ‘The Chosen One’, and a brutal comparison

While Mourinho returned to London, United turned to the man Ferguson had publicly championed. David Moyes arrived from Everton and was greeted by a giant banner at the Stretford End declaring him ‘The Chosen One’.

The title proved cruelly ironic. Moyes lasted just 10 months in the job, sacked before completing his first season as United manager.

Mourinho, back at Stamford Bridge in 2013, quickly underlined what United had missed. He won his third Premier League title with Chelsea and added the League Cup, restoring the swagger he had first brought to the club a decade earlier.

Two managers, two very different trajectories, born out of one late change of heart.

Old Trafford, second time around

United’s path and Mourinho’s were always likely to cross again. They did in 2016.

Three years after turning them down, Mourinho accepted a second chance to take over at Old Trafford, this time succeeding Louis van Gaal. The romance of directly following Ferguson had gone, but the scale of the challenge remained.

Across two and a half years, Mourinho collected the League Cup and the Europa League, adding tangible silverware to a post-Ferguson era that had often lacked it. The end, though, was familiar: a slump in results, rising tension, and a dismissal in December 2018.

The documentary now adds the missing chapter at the start of that story – the night Mourinho cried down the phone to Ferguson and chose Chelsea over Manchester United.

How different might English football look if he hadn’t?