Jose Mourinho 'broke down in tears' when he missed out on Manchester United job to David Moyes

The revelation comes in Spanish journalist Diego Torres' latest book Prepare to Lose: the Mourinho Era

Jose Mourinho (GETTY IMAGES)

Jose Mourinho broke down in tears when he heard the news that David Moyes had been tipped for the Manchester United job by Sir Alex Ferguson, according to an allegation made in respected Spanish journalist Diego Torres’ latest book.

Torres, who writes for Spanish newspaper El Pais, wrote in Prepare to Lose: the Mourinho Era, that the appointment of Moyes “provoked an earthquake”, with Mourinho upset that Ferguson had overlooked him for the role.

"Mourinho ... thought that Ferguson was, besides his ally, also his friend and godfather. He was convinced that they were tied by a relationship of genuine trust. He thought that his fabulous collection of titles constituted an 'endorsement' unreachable to any other contenders. When he knew that Ferguson had chosen Moyes, the Everton coach, he was struck by a terrible disbelief. Moyes hadn't won absolutely anything!"

It was then said by Torres that Mourinho spoke to his sports agency Gestifute, on more than one occasion. “Mourinho wouldn't stop calling them. His 'interlocutors' had heard him sob loudly and they were spreading the word. The most feared man in the company was crushed."

However, Mourinho’s agent Eladio Parames has rubbished the claims, stating that Torres’ motivation is his personal vendetta against the current Chelsea boss.

"This story does not have any sense," Parames is quoted as saying by Portuguese newspaper O Jogo. "It is completely false, it has no head or tail.

"This gentleman (Torres) is an inventor of stories about Mourinho and Real Madrid. Always has been and continues to be. Can anyone imagine Mourinho sobbing loudly on the phone, as this gentleman wrote? It is all a big lie, one more of this man."

Torres continues that Mourinho was “tormented” by United legend and club director Sir Bobby Charlton’s words that Ferguson’s good feeling towards the Portuguese was a fable, and that his behaviour towards former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova was a big factor in putting the 1966 World Cup winner off giving the go-ahead on Mourinho.

"He was tormented by the memory of an interview of Sir Bobby Charlton in the Guardian in December,” Torres continues. “His judgments gave him a big uncertainty. 'A United coach wouldn't do what he did to Tito Vilanova', stated Charlton, evoking the finger in the eye, when asked if he saw Mourinho as a successor for Ferguson. In regards to the admiration that Ferguson professed towards him, the veteran footballer implied that it was a fable: 'He doesn't like him that much'.

"In the morning he called (his agent Jorge) Mendes so that he urgently got in touch with United. Until the end he wanted his agent to pressure the English club as an attempt to block any operation. It was an act of desperation. They both knew that Mendes had put Mourinho in the market a year earlier."

Gestifute also continued that “The problem is that when things don't work for Mou, he doesn't do club politics. He does José politics.” Torres goes on to claim that Mourinho felt “betrayed” by the decision, although his desire to return to Chelsea and his wife’s preference to live in London, released by Gestifute, would suggest otherwise.

"On the 9th of May someone from Gestifute got in touch with Record newspaper to say that Ferguson offered his crown to Mourinho four months ago but that he refused it because his wife preferred to live in London, and that was why he ended up choosing Chelsea. At the same time Mourinho offered an interview to Sky in which he declared that Ferguson kept him in the loop about his decisions but that he never made him the offer because he knew perfectly well that he wanted to coach Chelsea. The contradictions were not planned."

Upon his return to Stamford Bridge, Mourinho claimed that he would have turned down every job in the world – including the United role – for Chelsea, with whom he brought major success to the club during his first sepll.

"I knew that Ferguson was retiring many months ago," he said. "I would have turned down every job in the world – the Manchester United job, every one – for Chelsea."