Jose Mourinho makes claim that Newcastle United fans will love - but Arsenal supporters will hate

Jose Mourinho has revealed he ‘didn’t enjoy’ managing at St James’ Park during his time in the Premier League after enduring a very disappointing record as a visiting manager. The 61-year-old recently left AS Roma as manager and is seeking new employment following a two-and-a-half year stay in the Italian capital.

He has recently been linked with a shock return to English football with Old Trafford and St James’ Park touted as potential destinations for him. Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on the Five podcast, Mourinho detailed who he enjoyed coming up against during his managerial career - and why he didn’t enjoy taking his teams to Tyneside.

Mourinho said: “When people speak about me and [Arsene] Wenger, we had our things on the touchline, in words. But what I enjoyed the most was beating Arsenal every time we played against them, because it was every time Chelsea, boom, boom, boom. That was what I enjoyed.

“I didn’t enjoy to play in Newcastle because I never win. Every time I went to Newcastle it was lose or draw, lose or draw. I think I won there once probably with Chelsea, with Man United or Tottenham. Out of 10 I would win once or twice.

“There was no rivalry with [Alan] Pardew or with [Sam] Allardyce or anyone there. I just knew that going to play St James’ was really, really hard.”

Mourinho actually won on his first visit to St James’ Park as his Chelsea side claimed a 2-0 League Cup win over the Magpies back in November 2004. He repeated the feat two years later when the Blues defeated Newcastle 2-0 in another League Cup meeting.

However, these would be his only wins at the ground until his Spurs side defeated Newcastle 3-1 in July 2020 - a match that was played behind-closed-doors because of Covid-19 restrictions. His record in the league at St James’ Park currently stands at nine games played, one win, four draws and four defeats.

Alan Shearer recently spoke about speculation linking Mourinho with replacing Eddie Howe at Newcastle United, telling the Rest is Football podcast: “He has had an amazing career, Jose. Where he goes next I’m not sure. But, no, I am very happy with Eddie Howe at Newcastle and the job he has done and the role he is doing.”