“But Jose just had a way to keep everything fine. He was forward-thinking and pre-meditated. For example, in the 2006-07 season, we were playing Spurs in the FA Cup. He pulled me aside on the Thursday to say I would not be starting but if we are losing, he will bring me on, we will draw and then I will start the return game. It went exactly like that! We drew 3-3 and then we won 2-1 at White Hart Lane and I scored. When a manager does that, you have to trust him.
“Jose brought a lot of personal touches. I had two kids and when it was my time to have them, I sometimes took them along to training. We were training at 100 miles per hour and I looked over to see him kicking a ball and playing football with my son. It made you feel like a unit. He had time not just for players but for our families.
“Even when I left, I was at QPR and we played Chelsea during his second spell. Jose came over and the first thing he said was, ‘How are you? How is your son?’ That just shows he genuinely cared. It is normal around games he gets lost in it and can lose his temper. Players do it too. But when he does it, it just seems so much worse than everyone else!
“If anyone knows Mourinho and the press in England should by now, he is a lot cleverer than you think. There was always a reason for doing what he did. We, as players, noticed what he said. He doesn’t just come out and make a fuss for no reason. I could say pre-meditated. Even as players, he knows what you will ask him and how he will answer it. You can’t mess with him on stats as he knows them all already. If you are going to question him, he puts it to bed before you know it. He is so forward-thinking upstairs it is unbelievable.”