Plenty to ponder: Mourinho revealed he came close to accepting the England manager's job in 2007

The FA tried to recruit the Italian as successor to Sven Goran Eriksson but were blocked by Juventus - in particular Juve deputy director general Roberto Bettega - and only then turned to Luiz Felipe Scolari and McClaren.

They explored the possibility of recruiting Mourinho but always suspected he would choose to remain in club management and they were proved right. At no point, they insist, was he ever the preferred option to the Italian.

When Capello was informed of Mourinho's interview yesterday, he insisted at first that he did not care.

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