Ex Tottenham boss declares future Rangers or Celtic manager interest as he pays compliment to Brendan Rodgers

A former Tottenham manager has said he’d be up for a crack at Rangers or Celtic one day in the future.

Jose Mourinho is one of football’s most famous faces. A serial winner, he is now boss of Fenerbahce in Turkey and will face the Light Blues in the Europa League last 16 this week. He was last in the UK with Tottenham Hotspur but has also managed Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United and more

Mourinho was Porto boss when Celtic lost the UEFA Cup final in the Martin O’Neill era. The former Tottenham and Roma manager was asked about the possibility of him becoming Rangers or Celtic boss one day and it didn’t shut that down at his pre match press conference.

Mourinho on Rangers and Celtic management

He told the Scottish Sun, with a compliment for current Celtic leader Brendan Rodgers: "In this moment no because I have a job, because I have a job that motivates me and a job that demands loyalty. Why not in the future? People can say that the Scottish league is a league of two teams but it's a league of passion. A league of passion.

"For me, passion in football is something that for me is everything. For me to play in empty stadiums, competitions where there is not that fire of the passion, for me it doesn't make any sense. Celtic and Rangers, they are big clubs with big fan bases with big emotions, big responsibilities, big expectations. Why not?

"But in this moment I have a job. Celtic have a fantastic coach in Brendan, Rangers have Ferguson now so full respect for them and I'm not searching for a new job."

Clement swipe

The Portuguese boss has also taken a swipe at recently sacked Philippe Clement, who was handed his jotter by Rangers last month. He had criticisms of Mourinho’s style after drawing his Turkish side and now it’s interim manager Barry Ferguson who will go up against the ex-Tottenham and Real Madrid gaffer.

Mourinho said to the Daily Record: “Do you think I’m going to comment on - what’s his name? Philippe Clement? I think it’s going to be much more difficult for us with Ferguson as a coach than it would have been with the previous coach. Because the previous coach was more worried about philosophies than on the pitch. It’s on the pitch where you win matches, it’s not with philosophy. Ferguson will be much more pragmatic and objective. It will be hard for us but it’s going to be hard for Rangers also.

“I know Barry’s history as a player for Scotland and Rangers. I don’t know much about his career as a coach but I respect a lot the emotional connection between him and his club. That’s a very important thing in a football club, the connection between the fans and the coach. So you can tell me that he doesn’t have much experience in European football as a manager or any other negative things you can find. But I prefer to go on the positive side.”