Jose Mourinho has decided to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season to take up a job in the Premier League.
The Portuguese manager, formally named the best in the world after winning an unprecedented treble of Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia in 2010, has grown tired of factionalism and resistance to his improvements at the Bernabeu.
Five points ahead of Barcelona in the Primera Liga entering yesterday's fixtures and with a perfect record in this season's Champions League, Mourinho intends to guide Real to the domestic title for the first time in four years and to European success for the first time in a decade before leaving the club in May. He has already decided on his next destination.
Mourinho, 49, has resolved to return to England, where he won five major trophies in three full seasons at Chelsea. In selecting a club to move he will place an ability to work with the full support of players and ownership ahead of status and a readiness to match his €10 million (Dh47m) net salary at Madrid.
His timing is such that he is unlikely to be short of offers. Roberto Mancini is expected to deliver the title to Manchester City while Manchester United's succession is one he has long sought to be a part of but which depends on the intentions of his friend Sir Alex Ferguson.
Chelsea's struggle to retain their Champions League status has placed a question mark over the long-term prospects of Andre Villas-Boas. Arsene Wenger is facing a similar challenge at Arsenal and can expect to be again targeted by Real president Florentino Perez as an alternative to Mourinho.
Harry Redknapp has made no secret of his desire to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager, a move that Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, reportedly would welcome. Redknapp is also under threat of jail sentence from his ongoing trial for tax evasion. At Liverpool, a consortium ownership have not been as impressed with Kenny Dalglish's management as are the club's supporters.
Though Mourinho's efforts to restructure Real into an efficient, modern club have met significant internal opposition, reports last week that Perez will dismiss him unless he wins both the league and Champions League were inaccurate.
Rather, it is Mourinho who intends to end his contract there regardless of whether he becomes the first coach to achieve a "grand slam" of English, Italian and Spanish titles.
Fundamental to Mourinho's decision is a frustration with the workings of Real.
His attempts to restrict the influence of the city's press on club matters which ultimately involved limiting access to training and interviews have proved problematic, with his management style, tactics and attitude regularly questioned.
Those critiques have been fuelled by the relationship between the media and Real's core of Spain internationals. As World Cup and European Championship winners, Xabi Alonso, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos are effectively immune from press criticism, and have expressed resistance to their manager's methods.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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The biog
Favourite Emirati dish: Fish machboos
Favourite spice: Cumin
Family: mother, three sisters, three brothers and a two-year-old daughter
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Read more about the coronavirus
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
more from Janine di Giovanni
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm
