JOSE MOURINHO’S three toxic years at Real Madrid were marred by dressing-room controversies and bust-ups with the board.
But in a no-holds-barred interview, the new Chelsea manager insisted he had “no regrets” about his spell at the Spanish giants.
And the Special One even borrowed a line from legendary US crooner Frank Sinatra when he said: “I did it my way.”
Mourinho’s last match at Real came at home to Osasuna on Saturday — a meaningless 4-2 win following Barcelona’s runaway title success.
And he blamed the jeers of the vast majority of the Bernabeu crowd that day on an orchestrated and “unethical” campaign against him.
Mourinho shunned Press conferences before and after the Osasuna clash, opting instead for a TV interview given on Saturday night and screened late on Tuesday by popular TV show Punto Pelota.
In it, he defended his record and methods while conceding that his position had become untenable — as it was the worst kept secret in town that he had lost the dressing room.
Mourinho said: “I left because I think it’s the best for me and the actual situation at the club.
“If I started next season, I would start with a series of problems that are dragging on.
“On Saturday, you had the maximum example of the dynamic and the objective of those problems.
“So it’s best for everyone, including the players, who are the most important.
“They have to have the support and tranquillity of being able to start a new project with a new coach to whom I, — whoever it is, although it seems it will be Carlo Ancelotti — wish the best.”
In his first season, Mourinho won a power struggle with technical director and club legend Jorge Valdano, who was promptly ousted.
But bust-ups with captains Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos, as well as £80million star man Cristiano Ronaldo, dominated the headlines from that point onwards.
French striker Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil and, more recently, Pepe were other stars who fell out with Mourinho.
Yet the Special One’s revelation that he did NOT thank his players in his final dressing-room address still came as a shock.
Particularly as, despite the off-field strife, he still guided Madrid to La Liga title in 2012 with a record 100 points and 121 goals scored.
So, does he have regrets?
Mourinho said: “It’s not worth it to regret anything. It’s terminated, it’s finished.
“I always say that when I was about 30 years old and starting in football, I thought I knew everything. But I knew nothing because every year I learn more and I am stronger, better and more prepared.
“This is the conclusion to which I arrive: You must always be in a state of permanent learning, analysing everything that has happened.
“I do it permanently with my collaborators, looking for feedback at positive and negative times.
“I’m sure I committed my mistakes and other persons with responsibility certainly committed them too — but it’s part of the game.”
And is he proud of his time in the Madrid hotseat?
He added: “I carry with me the pride of being part of Real Madrid.
“I came exactly because I thought that my career would have no sense if I had passed up on this monster — and I mean that in a positive sense.
“If you ask me if I would have come knowing what happened in those three years, I still would have come.
“Without coming here I could never say that I won the three most important leagues in the football world.”
Mourinho then had a parting shot at president Florentino Perez, claiming he attracted all the negative headlines on himself so that the club’s bigwigs did not have to.
He said: “I am a coach who is comfortable for the others.
“When you have a person like me you don’t have to show your face, you don’t have to get into a certain type of situation.”
On Saturday, following his final dressing-room team talk, TV pictures showed Mourinho opposite Ronaldo in the players’ tunnel and the two did not even look at each other once — a scene that captured the breakdown between manager and players.
Mourinho added: “I was telling the players that I don’t have to thank anyone because you have done what they pay you to do.
“They pay you to train, play and have a social life.
“I respect that clubs criticise me but, as Frank Sinatra once said, ‘I did it my way’.”
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