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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Mourinho 'invites England offer'

Jose Mourinho
Mourinho has been out of work since leaving Chelsea in September
Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has reportedly expressed an interest in becoming the new England manager.

Mourinho, who left Chelsea in September, said he would be prepared to talk to the Football Association.

"You will have to speak to the FA to see if they are interested in offering me the job," he told the Sun newspaper.

"I cannot say what I think until they say they are interested. Tell the FA to come and get me. We will have to wait and see, but I rule nothing out."

Mourinho would be a popular choice to replace Steve McClaren at the helm with England because of his hugely impressive record with Chelsea and Porto.

He won two Portuguese championships, the Uefa Cup and the Champions League with Porto, before leaving to win two Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup with the Blues.

The 44-year-old had been tipped to stay in club management in Europe, having previously suggested that he would only be interested in coaching his native Portugal at international level.

FA chief executive Brian Barwick has said that nationality "would not be an issue" when it came to appointing the next England coach.

England, who have dropped down to the second pot of seeds in qualification for the major tournaments, avoided Portugal in Sunday's draw for the World Cup.

Barwick will lead the FA's search for a new coach after they missed out on a place at Euro 2008, alongside the organisation's development director Sir Trevor Brooking.

The FA has already had to listen to several potential candidates rule themselves out of contention for the position with Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill, West Ham's Alan Curbishley and Newcastle's Sam Allardyce all distancing themselves from speculation.

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