Jose Mourinho reveals that Ed Woodward sent him a congratulatory text after taking Tottenham job

Jose Mourinho

New Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has revealed that he received a congratulatory text from Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward after landing the job in north London.

The Portuguese was appointed by Spurs earlier this week, less than 12 hours after they announced the dismissal of long-serving manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Mourinho has been out of the game since being sacked by Woodward and United after a 3-1 defeat by Liverpool in December 2018.

But the 56-year-old revealed that there is no bad blood between the pair, with the Red Devils chief among the hundreds of people to send their best wishes to him in his new role.

And Mourinho says he also enjoys a positive relationship with many other Old Trafford employees.

"I received messages from everybody, everywhere [from my former clubs]," he told Sky Sports.

“Maybe I get the opportunity to apologise for not answering 500 of them that I couldn't answer. I have 700 but only had time to answer 200.

"But it was curious to see, from my last club, so many people showing me that respect, empathy and feeling. It was nice.

"All of them were special. The first one was from [United managing director] Richard Arnold. The third, fourth or fifth was Ed Woodward. And they were my bosses."

Mourinho is also confident that he will have a strong working relationship with his new boss at Tottenham, club chairman Daniel Levy.

"Yes, I think we will get on well," he added. "He explained to me the vision for the club and I embraced that. It was one of the most important reasons I accepted. So when I did that, it's a very good start."

Mourinho’s tenure at Tottenham begins with a trip to the London Stadium to take on rivals West Ham in Saturday’s early kick-off.

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).