Mourinho praises ‘innovative’ SFA coaching course

Fenerbahçe manager José Mourinho recalled his “fantastic experience” on the Scottish Football Association’s coaching pathway in a lecture to current Pro-Licence hopefuls last week.

Mourinho, 62, graduated from the SFA’s Largs coaching programme in 2000 with a UEFA B-Licence.

The two-time Champions League-winning manager gave a remote Q&A session to the Scottish FA Coach Education department, discussing his career and coaching philosophy with the SFA’s latest group of Pro-Licence pupils.

“It was a fantastic group of people on my course and the thing that was important for me, coming from a Portuguese university, was the fact that so much of it was practical and on the pitch,” Mourinho told the SFA’s website after the masterclass.

The former Real Madrid and Internazionale boss was a member of Louis van Gaal’s Barcelona backroom team when he completed his B-Licence at the Inverclyde National Sports Centre in Largs.

He added: “Being on the pitch with people who were at the top of the game like Andy Roxburgh, Craig Brown and Archie Knox was a fantastic experience, from a human point of view as well as a football one.

“It was innovative as well—there was a lot of focus on small-sided games and everything was in tight spaces. I was coaching Under-18s in Portugal at the time and it was really important for me to give me a good base of work.”

The SFA’s Largs campus was graced by several high-profile football managers between the 1980s and 2000s. Italian coaches Fabio Capello, Giovanni Trapattoni and Marcello Lippi all visited the Ayrshire town before establishing themselves in football management, while British gaffers Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Brendan Rodgers have also taught or studied in Largs.

Mourinho said he was “so happy” to offer advice to the SFA’s latest crop of Pro-Licence trainees.

“I was a young coach and every time I had the opportunity to be with somebody who had a lifetime of experiences at the high level, I was always very curious to learn things,” he said.

“I use the phrase ‘completing the puzzle’—I think that’s what every coach has to do until the end of their career. I’m still trying to complete the puzzle and I haven’t yet. For these young coaches there is still lots of the puzzle to complete and if I can help with my experiences then I’m happy to do so.”

The SFA’s coaching courses have since moved to Oriam, Scotland’s national performance centre for sport, on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

SFA Chief Football Officer Andy Gould said: “This was a brilliant unique opportunity for our cohort to hear from one of the game’s most successful managers. 

“José has always been enormously generous with his time and we are grateful to him for, once again, returning and delivering such a candid, engaging and thought-provoking session. 

“This group is full of talent—as you can see by the levels some are already working at—and as they near their graduation, we’re looking forward to seeing them take their next steps on their football journey over the next few months and years.”

Aspiring coaches on the current Pro-Licence programme include former Scotland midfielder Leanne Crichton, Scotland Men’s Under-15 boss James Grady and Nottingham Forest academy coach Owen Coyle Jr.