'You play like a f***ing elephant!' - Joe Cole reveals why you didn't want to get on Jose Mourinho's bad side at Chelsea

The Portuguese manager is known to be a combustible character who has often thrown his players under the bus before the media in the past. However, not many knew that Mourinho was even more hostile inside the dressing room and would take his players to the cleaners for minor errors, even if they had an otherwise brilliant outing.

While speaking on the The Obi One Podcast, Cole revealed, "I loved Jose but people always think we had a bad relationship. I played a league game and we won 3-0 at home. I set two goals up, and thought I played well, but probably took a few little flicks around. I've gone through one-on-one with the keeper late on and should've slotted it in but instead, I gave it to Crespo, but he's not run anywhere near it and the defenders got it.

"I thought nothing of it, but we were doing the warm down the next day and Mourinho came over and he said, 'See you do that s*** again boy you'll never f***ing play for me again' and I was like what? Another time I scored the winner against Liverpool and they were our big rivals. I thought I was the bee's knees and we'd gone out and had a great night. The next morning my phone's blowing up and he's battered me in the press. It was just a way of keeping us down but I think he knew every time he did that to me I'd respond."

Ricardo Carvalho was considered to be one of the favourites of Mourinho but he was also slandered after he struggled during a friendly.

"It was a belter when he dug out Riccy Carvalho. Riccy's his boy, he took him everywhere and loved him, but I don't know why (he went for him)," he said.

"I was right in front of him and he's going 'You're playing like a f***ing elephant' and he's done the trunk sign and I'm there laughing."

John Obi Mikel jumped in and added: "When he's angry he picks one person that he will really go after and that day Jose killed me. 'You play like a f***ing elephant, you can't run', he destroyed me. I went back and after 10 minutes he took me off."

Getting back to the Carvalho incident, Cole further stated: "There was sometimes no rhyme or reason for it (his dressing downs). He never played badly for more than two games, and hardly ever made a mistake. He's gone to Riccy 'You're f***ing s***. I'm not going to play you. I'm going to play JT (John Terry) and then (William) Gallas. Then I'm going to play Robert Huth then I'm going to play the youth kid Steve Watt. If I don't play him, I'm going to play the kitman, I'm not going to play you'. And I get the giggles when there's things like that."

Mourinho inspired Chelsea to successive Premier League titles during his first stint between 2004 to 2007. Cole made 123 appearances under Mourinho and boasts of having 21 goals and 13 assists during that period.

Mourinho is currently a free agent after he was shown the door by AS Roma following a dismal run of results. However, he is linked with a move to Saudi Arabia's Al-Shabab which could potentially see him return to coaching very soon.