A new three-part Netflix documentary titled simply Mourinho has produced what critics are calling its headline revelation: Jose Mourinho says he agreed to take over Manchester United in the summer of 2013, before changing his mind at the last minute and returning to Chelsea instead, according to The New York Times.
In the film, made by producer John Battsek and director Joe Pearlman, Mourinho recounts the end of his first three-year spell at Real Madrid and what happened next. "I go to Chelsea in 2013, but in that period there is something nobody knows," he says, according to The New York Times. "I think I can say, without hurting anyone with the truth. I think the objective of this work we are doing is to tell the truth." He then explains that he had accepted the job to succeed the retiring Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United before Everton manager David Moyes was ultimately offered the position. Mourinho says he performed a U-turn and chose Chelsea instead because, in his words, "after Real Madrid, I needed to feel love."
The claim is not left to stand on its own. Ferguson himself appears in the documentary to corroborate the story, saying Mourinho called him in tears to explain he had changed his mind, The New York Times reported. The account complicates the widely accepted narrative around Mourinho's path to Old Trafford, which he did not actually join until 2016, when he was appointed United manager following Moyes's own sacking and Louis van Gaal's subsequent departure.
The documentary arrives at a pointed moment for Mourinho, who was reappointed manager of Real Madrid this year for a second spell, 13 years after his first stint in Spain ended. The New York Times noted that the timing raises the question of whether Mourinho remains "box office" despite a trophy drought that has stretched to four years and a league title drought of 11 years.
Pearlman told The New York Times that Mourinho began discussing the project in 2022, while managing Roma in Italy. "I think he was ready to try to set the record straight," Pearlman said, "and to say to everyone, 'I'm Jose Mourinho, remember what I did, and this is what I'm going to do'. That's the person I thought I met. That changed over the years, but when I met the man, it felt like it was a score to settle."
That score-settling instinct surfaces repeatedly across the series. According to The Guardian, Mourinho pushes back on the origin of his famous nickname, insisting "The Special One" was "some special shit some guys in England thought up for me" — even though Pearlman then cuts to archival footage of Mourinho using a version of the phrase himself at his first Chelsea press conference, where he actually said "a special one." The Guardian described this insistence on the distinction as typical of a man determined to control his own narrative.
The documentary also revisits some of the most contentious moments of Mourinho's career, including his accusations against referee Anders Frisk, which led to threats against Frisk's family and his resignation, and prompted UEFA to formally clear Mourinho of responsibility, per The Guardian. There are also references to old rivalries, including a veiled dig at former adversary Pep Guardiola, with Mourinho declaring: "Don't talk to me about sabbaticals. To me, sabbatical means weakness."
Both outlets pointed to the documentary's third and final part as its emotional core, where Mourinho's guarded exterior briefly slips. He discusses his relationship with his father, Felix, also a football coach, saying, "He is the opposite of me, because everybody loved him." The New York Times noted this comes alongside another Mourinho line — "I'm not nice, that's just the way it is. I do it with pride. Anything to get your players not to lose" — suggesting he may have consciously built himself in opposition to his father's more universally liked persona. "I don't want to change," Mourinho adds. "It's too late."
He also speaks about his family life away from football, admitting, "I know that they enjoy life much more without me." The Guardian noted that Mourinho's family is only briefly introduced roughly 15 minutes before the end of the final episode, underscoring how little of his personal life outside the game the documentary — or Mourinho himself — is willing to show.
The series features contributions from figures central to Mourinho's career, including former players John Terry, Frank Lampard and Iker Casillas, along with several of his former assistant coaches. The Guardian noted that Terry claims he would have left the pitch "in a coffin" for Mourinho, part of a recurring pattern of players describing the family-like bond he cultivated at his clubs — bonds The Guardian observed were "frequently barely functional" and lacked staying power once trophies stopped arriving.
Despite agreeing to be the subject of an in-depth three-part series, Mourinho appears resistant to the process itself. Near the end of the final episode, when pressed by Pearlman about his father, he tells him: "You are pushing me to speak about myself, which I don't want to." The Guardian called this remark almost paradoxical given that Mourinho chose to participate in the documentary in the first place, suggesting his motivation was less about self-exposure than about correcting what he views as years of misrepresentation.
Both reviews agreed that the documentary captures a manager whose spectacular early achievements — including winning the Champions League with FC Porto in 2004 and dominant spells at Chelsea and Real Madrid — have given way to a longer period of what The Guardian called "boom and bust" management, marked by diminishing returns. Whether his new chapter at Real Madrid changes that pattern remains, for now, unanswered.
