The Portuguese acknowledges he is operating in the shadow of legends at Old Trafford, but feels he is still only halfway through his career.
Jose Mourinho admits to feeling like a “nobody” at Manchester United, but feels he still has 15 years in management to put that right.
The Portuguese was drafted into the Old Trafford hot-seat last summer with the remit of bringing success back to the club.
He has delivered on that front, with Wednesday’s Europa League final triumph over Ajax seeing him collect a third trophy of the season.
Mourinho, though, acknowledges he is working in the shadow of iconic figures such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby and has a long way to go before he can be considered a success in his own right.
He told Rio Ferdinand on the BT Sport documentary ‘Old Trafford Uncovered’: “In this club it makes me feel that I did nothing.
“Especially because you have two legends — many of them, but two [Busby and Ferguson] are legends in terms of titles and trophies. I feel that I am nobody. I always have to prove.
“I just feel that what I did in this club is not enough to deserve to be here [pointing to wall enshrined with pictures of Ferguson and Busby]. That’s why I am there [pointing to a picture of himself on a wall on its own].
“Sometimes when I stop and look back I did a lot of things, I have things that nobody else has. No manager won in Spain, Italy and England. In these three countries I won all the competitions, not just the league.
“For example, when we won against Anderlecht I was told that I equal the record of Sir Alex and [Giovanni] Trapattoni of 10 European semi-finals. They have finished. I still have a chance to get some more semi-finals. So there are things that I’m really proud of.”
While rightly proud of his achievements to date, Mourinho has sounded an ominous warning to his coaching rivals by declaring he is only halfway through his career.
He added: “I was really lucky in the way my career developed. I played the Spanish derbies, the Italian derbies, the Portuguese derbies, the English derbies, all these country’s cup finals, played for the titles, an amazing experience of life.
“If I finish my career tomorrow I should be very happy with my experience, but the problem is my career just reached the halfway stage. I have 15 more years.”
Mourinho will again have United competing on multiple fronts next season, with the club back in the Champions League and seeking to piece together a Premier League title challenge.
