Jose Mourinho On......

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho revealed all to Sky Sports' Jeff Stelling and Rachel Riley in an exclusive interview before Friday Night Football.

Ahead of Southampton's trip to Manchester United at Old Trafford, the Portuguese boss opened up on a number of subjects, including his relationship with United fans, the summer spending and why the title should not be an obsession in his first season.

Jose on Friday nights...

I'm happy with this one, because the players are working very hard, and it's a great chance to give them Saturday and Sunday off, which they are not going to get many times, and they really deserve it. Hopefully we enjoy Friday night, and to enjoy you have to win, that's our philosophy.

On Old Trafford and United fans...

I've managed many, many times against Manchester United. I've enjoyed it. Even as an opponent I could create a good relationship with the fans, I never had problems, and I have not always behaved the best way. The first time I was running to celebrate a goal at touchline. Maybe it is Sir Alex Ferguson's doing, with the relationship we had, I always tried to be nice and have a relationship with the fans at Old Trafford.

This time I go and for the first time I can do what I never did, which is ask for their support. I always play against them, and this time they are on my side.

As a fan you can go to the stadium and watch the game, or you can go and play, and what I ask them to do is go to Old Trafford and play. If they play, it's 80,000 + 11, versus 11, and the opposition has no chance. I give them that responsibility, if they are behind my players we have a big chance.

I try to protect myself and live in a quiet way. I come here to the training ground at 7.30, and I leave at 5.30, 6 o'clock, and then it's dinner time and rest again. I don't have a social life where I can feel the fans a lot, but I've played a few friendlies already, Wembley, Bournemouth, Rooney's testimonial, and I know they will be there for the players.

After the match at Bournemouth I was told they have a song, but I couldn't react because I didn't understand it or because I was so focused on the game. I just reacted on the typical "Sit down Mourinho" song, which by them I am used to! I got it in a funny way of course!

On his career...

This is like the top of my career, but it comes in the early stage of my career, because as a manager I am really young, and I think I have the best years of my career to come up.

I was not joking [when I say 15 more years as a manager]. 53 plus 15 is 68, so I would say 14, 15, 16 more years, but I don't see myself going home before 70.

On counting trophies...

I look more to what is next. Sometimes when you stop it is good to look back, to find motivations. You have some numbers that you want to repeat, sometimes memory in football is short and people forget what you did, so sometimes the only solution is to keep repeating until the end.

But statistics don't win matches, the effort of the players and the work we do during the season before the match is what wins matches.

On Southampton...

Southampton are a good team, they stay stable, they buy very well, and they won here last season.

I think they come with a good feeling, they don't come to Old Trafford with a feeling of fear because they know what it takes to beat us in our stadium. So it will be very difficult, but if we play with 80,000 plus 11, we will be very strong.

On missing football after Chelsea...

The first months were fine, the first couple of months you do things you cannot do when you are working. I had a Christmas with family in Brazil, which you have no chance to do when you're a manager. But I wanted the next Christmas to play and play and play, and be tired, be exhausted.

I don't want to go to Brazil again on a Christmas holiday. After two months you miss it, and after two months you start looking at the future, what options there are. Then some proposals start arriving, some whispers, some rumours, and then it's just a question of waiting for the right club and the right time.

On whether he would spend £89m on Paul Pogba if it was his money...

I think I would. Because the market is going in such a direction that what you think is a crazy investment today, a couple years later is not a crazy investment.

I think people who make football their business do not lose money. They have chances to make money all the time, but that's not my business. My business is to work for a club, to give everything, get my salary every month, and to do the best for the club, the players and fans.

What I try to advise the club is always what I think is best for the club. Reading Manchester United's story after Sir Alex's departure, we all thought that such a giant club needs to change, needs to go again into a positive direction.

To bring four very good players is better than bringing 15 ordinary players. We made that decision and hopefully results will come.

On Pogba's United past...

I didn't know him at that time. What I know is that the club tried everything to keep him, so sometimes people are a bit unfair about it. I know the club did everything, Sir Alex did everything, but sometimes between players, families and agents they have different decisions.

But the reality is that he is only back because he has that positive feeling about the club. There is no way he'd be back with a negative feeling. The feeling and relationship was there.

You see him here, and you don't see someone who was out for four years, you see somebody so comfortable with everyone. He is not coming back as a big star. He is a big star, but he is not behaving like a big star, he is behaving like he is coming home the same kid as when he left.

On winning the Premier League title…

I don't see it as a necessity. I think if I saw it that way it would not help me in my job. You cannot look at it as an obsession, you just have to work hard to improve. When you believe in your work and your players and everyone around, you are going to improve for sure. Is it enough to win it in the first season? Maybe it is enough, maybe it is not enough.

The reality is we have to feel improvement. That's the objective, and we have a lot to do. We started well, won two matches, so the feeling is good. But I have too many years of football, so I am really calm, and know we have to improve a lot, so that's the message to the players, and they want to do it.

On young players…

My message is that first of all I hope we are not in the same situation we are in last season. Sometimes you bring in players because you really believe in them, sometimes because it is a necessity, you don't have another choice.

Last season they came in because they didn't have a choice. They had 10 players injured, no strikers, no defenders, I don't like that. I like to feel that my squad is stable, my squad is healthy, that the recovery process is a good one.

I want to bring the young players up when they are in the right moment. But the reality is, some of them come to stay. For example, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Marcus Rashford, we realise that the level they are at is so good that they don't need the step back.  So they are first team players, and we play in five competitions, and play in the Europa League on Thursdays, we are going to need all of them and they are going to play a lot.

Credit: Skysports.com