Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur all had Jose Mourinho managing their first-team squads at various points in his career.
Mourinho’s most significant spell in the Premier League was at Chelsea, though he also managed to win silverware with Manchester United and took Tottenham to a cup final.
Mourinho has forged a reputation for himself as an outspoken manager who’s never been afraid to stand up for himself and his team.
Now, former referee Mark Clattenburg has lifted the lid on what Mourinho was like to deal with and what he used to do to referees during his time in England.
Chelsea legend Jose Mourinho ‘charmed’ referees
Clattenburg, speaking on The Overlap, revealed the stance of several top Premier League managers when it came to dealing with referees.
He revealed that Mourinho was the kind of manager who “charmed you” and tried to “make you feel special” – all as part of “mind games”.
“You had managers that used to want to try and befriend you, to make you feel special,” said Clattenburg.
“Jose, they call him the Special One, that’s what he tried to do, he charmed you.
“It wasn’t gifts or anything like that, but it was the way that, after the games – they’d won of course – ‘oh Mark Clattenburg had a great game’, and you’re like f—— b——-!
“But that’s… it was to make you feel good and in your head you’re like ‘oh he likes us!’.”
READ MORE: Who Jose Mourinho once named as the worst manager in the history of the Premier League
Graham Poll shares numerous Jose Mourinho anecdotes
Graham Poll, another former referee who used to be one of the Premier League’s best, also commented on how Mourinho tries to charm referees.
Indeed, Poll wrote an article in the Daily Mail back in 2013 in which he shared a number of anecdotes about the former Chelsea, Man United and Spurs boss.
“Jose Mourinho is Mr Charming with referees,” wrote Poll. “He is most effective in domestic leagues when he knows each referee personally.
“When Mourinho first arrived at Chelsea in 2004, one of the first things he did was invite me to the training ground to introduce himself.
“He knew I was one of the leading referees in the country and, as it turned out, I ended up refereeing six Chelsea games that season.
“He was very charming and introduced me to the team as ‘the best referee in Europe’ (I had refereed Porto three times and they had won every game which probably helped).
“He works with such a charm that you don’t think you’re being worked. Before the game he is lovely, too.”
Poll then shared a story in which Mourinho acted upon one of Poll’s tongue-in-cheek requests when it came to an interior design-related issue.
“I was in charge of his very first Premier League match, a 1-0 victory over Manchester United,” continued Poll.
“He asked me afterwards if everything was OK for me and I flippantly replied that the referee’s room needed a lick of paint to say the least!
“Five weeks later I returned. The referee’s room had two new showers, complimentary toiletries and a flat-screen TV.”
However, there were times when Mourinho wasn’t quite so charming.
“At the end of his second season, I was also in charge when Chelsea were beaten 2-1 in an FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool at Old Trafford,” continued Poll.
“He was less than charming in the tunnel afterwards. He stood there shaking his head at me and looking disappointed.
“He made one comment: ‘I thought you were my friend’. You can make your own inference from that, but I chose to ignore it.”
