At the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola appeared to grab the fourth official’s electronic board after being angered by Anthony Taylor signalling four minutes of stoppage time, but was not punished.
“I was for many years a good example of bad behaviour on the touchline, and I was always punished for it,” Mourinho told Sky Sports ahead of Spurs’ clash with Leicester, live on Super Sunday.
“In this moment, I honestly consider myself – and I believe the referees feel the same – a great example of good behaviour on the touchline.
“But I see others doing incredible things, some of them going in a direction I would never go, and nothing happens. This I can speak about, because I live it. I live day-by-day [on] the touchline.”
Asked why they get away with it, Mourinho said: “Probably because we don’t say anything.”
Mourinho was asked which manager he would least like to fight with back in 2007, and answered without hesitation: “Big Sam. He would kill me!”
Thirteen years on, Allardyce has been appointed manager at West Bromich Albion, replacing Slaven Bilic – a change that has Mourinho in two minds.
“In this moment I don’t fight with anyone because I learnt how to behave,” he said. “But I promise with Big Sam for sure I am not going to fight. For sure!”
“I am very sad with Slaven Bilic leaving. It shows how football is today. Promotion last year and this year seven points from a very difficult start. I feel very very bad for him,” he says.
“On the other side, for Big Sam and Small Sammy, both back, I’m very happy. They are good guys they are good friends they still have a lot to give, despite people thinking that after so many years you get tired and lose ambition, these guys don’t get tired, they don’t lose ambition.”
Nothing given to Rodgers on a silver plate
On Sunday, Mourinho goes head to head with a manager who used to be his assistant – Brendan Rodgers – with his Leicester side challenging towards the top of the Premier League table.
Mourinho says he is delighted to have played any part in Rodgers development as a coach and insists “nothing was given to him on a silver plate”.
“It’s not about me giving them a chance,” said. “It’s about them having that potential to develop. If they feel I had any responsibility for what they did, then great, of course, I feel very happy with that – but it’s about them.
“Brendan had to go to lower divisions and smaller clubs before he reached Liverpool and Scotland [Celtic] and went to Leicester. Nothing was given to him on a silver plate. I always felt he was a young guy with talent and desire to learn.
“He’s a fantastic coach. That’s the only thing I can say, it’s nothing to do with our relationship, and I’m really happy he’s doing so well.”
Heung-Min Son picked up FIFA’s Puskas award for goal of the year this week – for the scintillating solo run across the length of the pitch last December, to Mourinho’s delight.
But he revealed: “One of the things he told me about the award is that he would change it for a win on Wednesday [against Liverpool]. This says everything about him and the team player he is.
“It was the goal of his life. Of course he will score, and has scored already, more important goals than that one, especially because it was in a victory where the goal was not crucial to win the match, but that was the goal of his career,
“It’s a goal that every Maradona, every Messi of this world would love to score too. And he did it.”
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