Why capital is Mourinho's kind of town

Evening Standard11 April 2012
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

On London...

"It's incredible. In just one year everything in London has become so familiar to me. That and the fact that my family and I were received with such open arms means I've felt like a Londoner from day one."

On Cockney...

"I've started to understand a little bit. Like apples and pears, yes?"

On managing England...

"If I stay here for the next five years I will feel even more English. So with six years of loving London and England, I will have something of England and its people in my heart... but I still think it's really for an English person."

On his favourite actor...

"For year-after-year consistency I'd say Anthony Hopkins. He was good 20 years ago and he's still good now. He's one of the few actors whose new movies I get excited about. Sean Connery is fantastic but makes the sort of movies you see once and understand everything. Hopkins's movies have more depth, make you think and you want to see them again."

On his favourite London haunts...

"I like Hyde Park very much. The kids love it there and we don't get bothered. So the kids ride their bikes and we feed the ducks. I've been to Stockwell once or twice for shopping. The supermarkets are good and we can get things from Portugal there that the kids really like."

On London's food...

"It's bad. I like some of the Italian restaurants - San Lorenzo, Scalini, La Famiglia - but the only good English restaurant I've found is Soho House. I loved it there but I'm not a member, so I'm forced to go with a member of Chelsea staff who is."

And a favourite bar?

"I don't drink beer. I've only been to a pub once and that was to get cigarettes for my wife at 11.30 in the evening. I prefer bars to sit and drink tea and coffee. Oriel in Sloane Square is the closest I come to a pub."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT