Former Aston Villa Manager David O'Leary: Jose Mourinho Rates Me

"Some with loads and loads of dollars. Jose Mourinho was very good and recommended me for a really big job but I just felt I couldn’t live where it was with the family really. That was about six or seven months ago.

"We’re not friends but Jose has always kind of rated me if you know what I mean. He was asked a question to recommend somebody for something or put them up and I was very grateful that he did it.

"When I thanked him he said, 'David, I wasn’t doing you a favour even though I like you, it’s because I rate you' and that’s his attitude.

‘I saw [Fabio] Capello at the soccer writers’ function the other week and he came down from the top table and said 'when are you bloody getting back in the game'?

"It was nice getting that from Capello. A lot of them know that you’re too good to be out of it. That’s not me trying to big myself up. People in the game know how difficult Doug Ellis and Aston Villa was."

O'Leary also feels that his record at Aston Villa stands up against that of his successor Martin O'Neill, especially with regard to the funds which were available to him to spend in the transfer market.

"I read people now and they like Martin. He’s media savvy and he’s saying he’s dealing with a young, small squad. Yet, when I said that it was 'Oh, he’s making excuses'. I said the club needed investment to keep it alive. Why did Martin need £50 million this summer?

"At the end of the day, Martin, for all the money he has spent over three years - and they’re raving about him - hasn’t finished any higher than what I finished. Those are the facts."

Zack Wilson, Goal.com